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Stephen Holder, ESPN
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On a crisp spring morning in northeast Florida, the future of the Indianapolis Colts could be found in a nondescript warehouse located at the end of a narrow alley behind a strip mall.
Inside, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson had just wrapped up a session with his private coach. New Orleans Saints backup Nathan Peterman was winding down his own workout and would soon vacate the 50-yard long indoor turf field.
That was Anthony Richardson’s cue to initiate the next small chapter in what he hopes will be a memorable comeback season. The second-year Colts quarterback played in parts of just four games of his rookie season in 2023 because of injuries, including season-ending right shoulder surgery.
After some plyometrics and sprints, Richardson’s trainers put him through a dynamic warmup that included tossing a small, weighted ball against a padded wall. Richardson, after putting a bit too much torque into one of the throws, left an obvious mark.
“Oh!” he exclaimed after a loud thud. “My bad.”
“Don’t worry about it,” replied Denny Thompson, quarterback trainer and owner of the facility, 6 Points.
Before long, Richardson started throwing, working on various routes with private quarterback coach Will Hewlett. He worked each route to both sides of the field, all of it aimed at re-establishing muscle memory so the rhythm of the throws once again becomes second nature.
The notion of not throwing for months was once a crushing reality for Richardson. He struggled to cope during the initial days and weeks after learning that his AC joint sprain would require surgery in late October.
Maybe that’s why Richardson can’t seem to get enough these days.
He had finally worked up a good sweat with a series of high-velocity throws when Hewlett and Richardson’s performance coach, Tom Gormely, suggested he pump the brakes. Richardson remains on a pitch count — roughly 40 or so throws per day — and he was already pushing that number. But he didn’t want to hear it.
“OK, let’s just throw a sail [route], nice and easy,” Hewlett said. It was supposed to be Richardson’s last pass of the day.
“Best throw of your life right here,” Hewlett said.
But Richardson was just a hair off and didn’t love it.
“Nah, one more,” he said.
The next throw was also something less than perfect in Richardson’s estimation, and he asked for another. The request was granted. Finally, wisdom prevailed and they shut Richardson down for the day. It was his fifth session of the week and he had thrown more than 200 passes in all, just five months post-surgery.
The workout was just one small step in Richardson’s ongoing journey. Rehabbing is a marathon, a months-long test of patience. Problem is, Richardson is not a patient person.
He realized a dream by becoming the NFL’s fourth overall draft pick last year and debuting as the Colts’ opening-day starter. But when his rookie season was cut short, it lit a fire within the 21-year-old franchise quarterback. The Colts fell one win shy of the postseason after Gardner Minshew replaced Richardson, and Indy believes Richardson could be the difference in 2024.
“I’ve never waited this long to get back to playing football,” Richardson said. “I’m just on a mission this year. Once that mission’s complete, then I’ll be good.”
RICHARDSON SAID HE’S a perfectionist, but he’s actually trying to dial it back a bit. Then again, it’s hard to lower your standards when the hopes of an entire franchise rest on your surgically repaired shoulder.
“I used to be really bad,” he said. “The old me, we probably would have been there [throwing] for another 30 minutes. But I’m just trying to find that balance.”
The Colts have also been preaching about perspective. Both coach Shane Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard have said in previous interviews they believe it is imperative to be smart with Richardson as he rehabilitates.
Ballard, in particular, has emphasized the importance of being deliberate, a lesson that stems from his experience at the end of the Andrew Luck era in Indianapolis. The three-year saga of the former Colts quarterback with his own right shoulder injury left the franchise in flux for multiple seasons. The emotional and physical toll also contributed to Luck’s decision to retire early.
In fact, it was Luck’s stunning departure before the 2019 season that ultimately led the Colts to Richardson after four seasons of what turned out to be one-year placeholders at the position.
Still, even Ballard is finding it difficult to restrain himself. Last month, not long after Richardson had resumed throwing, he visited Indianapolis for a check-in with the team’s training staff. As Ballard, Steichen and offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter watched Richardson throw, they were stunned by what they saw.
“I was like, ‘my God,'” Ballard said. “I mean, you wouldn’t know that he’s still in rehab watching him play football.”
Similarly, during the NFL’s annual meeting last month, Steichen expressed elation about the prospect of Richardson being cleared for offseason workouts with the team, with players scheduled to return for voluntary work later this month.
“I know he’s super fired up and ready to roll for spring practice and training camp,” Steichen said.
Then, like Richardson, Steichen realized he needed to tone things down a bit.
“Yeah, I’m not going to say for sure,” Steichen said. “But he should be decent.”
The anticipation is understandable.
Richardson only whetted his team’s appetite in his limited action as a rookie, whether it was his two touchdown runs against the Houston Texans or his improbable 38-yard completion while in the grasp of Los Angeles Rams great Aaron Donald.
“I’m really excited about Anthony,” Ballard said. “The more you’re around the guy, the more belief [you have].”
Still, Richardson played just 173 of a possible 1,148 offensive snaps for Indianapolis. With a player capable of anything on any given play, each of those 975 snaps he missed represents a “what if?”
Just wait, Richardson said.
“People didn’t really get to see everything I could do on the field,” he said. “So, it’s kind of like a rookie season for me still. But now I’ve gained a lot more knowledge and understanding about football and the NFL. So, I’m a rookie at heart, but now I’m slowly turning into the leader that my team needs me to be.
“I’m ready for every opportunity that’s in front of me.”
AFTER THE MORNING throwing session was complete, there was more work to do.
Following a quick snack (a friend delivered some Chick-fil-A), Richardson hopped in a car and drove across town to a private gym for a workout.
The emphasis wasn’t lifting large amounts of weight. Instead, the focus was on areas like range of motion and flexibility. There were some unconventional exercises, like the one that called for Richardson to forcefully toss a giant medicine ball as far as possible. The medicine ball was larger than a basketball, but Richardson was able to throw it clear across the room.
Richardson still remembers his first throw post-surgery, back in mid-February. At that time, he felt nothing like the guy who has built a reputation for having a rocket arm, capable of flinging a football 70 yards through the air.
“I felt like a robot,” Richardson recalled. “I know my feeling and how I’m supposed to feel throwing the ball. But that first one, it was like, ‘Dang.’ I was like, ‘That’s not me, and I want to be me right now.'”
Richardson, like all of Gormely’s clients, is learning that’s not how it works. But progress, as Richardson is proving, can come quickly. His apprehension soon gave way to anticipation.
“Eventually, I think they usually start to see a little bit of light, and mentally, they start itching to get back,” Gormely said.
That’s where Richardson is now. He’s no longer talking about his comeback in theoretical terms. Now, he can see the progress. He can feel it, too. His body is once again doing the things he’s accustomed to, and it’s allowed his mind to flash back to the parts of the game he missed last season.
“I miss just running out on the field, running through the tunnel with pads on,” he said. “I miss being able to contribute and help the team. I just miss being out there. I just want to win.”
For now, there’s a victory of another sort to celebrate. Richardson recently became a father when he and his fiancée — Jada Richardson — welcomed a baby boy: Anthony Richardson Jr. Dad might even add a “Sr.” to his jersey nameplate this fall.
Between that life-changing event and the perspective he’s gained going through his rehab, Richardson seemed to exude a certain seriousness.
“You start to look at life differently,” he said while lying on a massage table as Gormely worked on his shoulder. “It’s like I was just saying about putting in the work, I’ve got people to take care of. [Whether] I want to get up and go put in the work or not, I have to, not only for myself but the people I have to provide for.”
In those initial dark moments, back when Richardson was dealing with the weight of the physical and emotional pain of his injury, he could not have envisioned where he is now. At that time, it was too difficult to conceive throwing deep routes with ease again.
Yet, here he is.
As Richardson reflects, he touches the scar on his right shoulder. That scar helped transform him, he said. And when this journey is over, he believes he’ll be a better player and a better man because of it.
“It’s a blessing, really,” he said. “The way I see it, if this didn’t happen to me, I don’t think I would be where I am now and have the mindset I have now. I appreciate the little things in life a little bit more. I appreciate the people around me a little bit more. I appreciate my opportunities a little bit more.
“I have to live with it, and I’m happily living with it. It’ll make me stronger mentally, physically, and emotionally. So, I’m thankful for it because it’s given me a different outlook on myself and the season I’m about to have.”