INDIANAPOLIS — Anthony Richardson walked out to the podium at the NFL Scouting Combine wearing a skin-tight, long-sleeve red shirt. It was the first time he’d been — quite literally — on an NFL stage.
Fifteen minutes later, after Richardson was done making his claim as to why he should be a top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, there was a seven-second exchange where I thought Richardson had torpedoed his chances of being drafted fourth by the Indianapolis Colts.
The young quarterback had no problem raving about his athletic abilities and his limitless potential, but when asked about his 54.7 completion percentage at Florida, his attitude shifted a little.
“I can definitely get better at delivering the ball and helping my guys out,” Richardson said. “But I can’t also catch every pass. If I could, I would.”
Despite his otherworldly physical tools, that response just sounded like he wasn’t ready to lead an NFL locker room of grown men.
But now, more than a year removed from that moment, it’s become clear the 20-year-old kid on that stage is far different than the 22-year-old man who’s now the face of an NFL franchise. Richardson, no longer needing to sell himself to realize his dream, has settled into being authentically, and sometimes boringly, himself.
He’s not a fan of the massive media scrums at his locker every Wednesday, but it’s not because he doesn’t want to face the music. He owns all of it. Sometimes too much of it, wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. noted.
“Quarterback is the hardest position in all of sports,” said Pittman, who had one of a few drops by Colts pass catchers last week. “There’s a lot we can take off his plate, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Regardless, Richardson still doesn’t care for the mics and phones being shoved in his face every few days because he thinks it’s all a bit performative. He’d rather show his teammates, especially now that the Colts are in an 0-2 hole, who he is and what he’s made of rather than talk about it with the world.
“I guess I show the team that I’m going to still be me regardless of what happened,” Richardson said, describing how he’s won over the locker room. “We have a big play, of course, I’m going to celebrate. But that’s in the past. We gotta keep it pushing. We have a bad play, I have to think about it and recover, but it’s still in the past. You’ve just gotta make it work. Go out there and ball out regardless of what happened. I think (I’ve) showed that to the squad, and I feel like everybody’s rallying behind me.”
GO FURTHER
Colts locker room has no doubts about Anthony Richardson: ‘We got his back’
