Anthony Richardson came into the 2024 NFL season with a lot of hype for a player whose debut season lasted fewer than four games.
Richardson, the fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft, played just 173 snaps as a rookie thanks to a pair of injuries that forced the Indianapolis Colts to turn to Gardner Minshew for last year’s 9-8 campaign. That convinced general manager Chris Ballard to keep the band together this offseason, re-signing a handful of priority free agents while adding little outside help aside from his draft picks. Indianapolis bet the difference between “good” and “great” would be its second-year quarterback.
It took less than 10 minutes of game time for Richardson to make that wager look smart.
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Richardson, at the peak of his potential, has the tools to be a Josh Allen clone or perhaps even better. In Week 1, he put that on full display, avoiding pressure, standing tall in the pocket and then, incredibly, launching a rainbow that flew nearly 70 yards in the air from his back foot. That deep toss landed perfectly in the hands of a sprinting Alec Pierce to give the Colts an early 7-3 lead.
This is the future for which Indianapolis fans and fantasy football speculators have hoped. While it’s an absurdly small sample size, Richardson needed only four passes to showcase the ceiling of his skills. There’s still a long way to go — and the former Florida star will have to prove he can not only keep this up but stay healthy for a full season — but the optimism is flowing in Indiana.