PHILADELPHIA – Colts rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson is growing into Shane Steichen’s offense by the weeks and hours and sometimes by the throw.
Pre- and post-snap, this is a 21-year-old rookie growing up because he has to.
Take a second-quarter play from the Colts’ 27-13 preseason victory over the Eagles on Thursday: Richardson was in the shotgun on a 2nd-and-4 when he spotted something in the defensive alignment before the play, so he stepped forward and yelled a check to his teammates to the right and left.
“We were trying not to do too many checks in the preseason. We were trying to keep it a little vanilla just so that we can get reps and play fast,” Richardson said. “But Coach Steichen was on the sideline telling me to check it, and I was like, ‘Okay fine, let’s check this.’”
What he checked into had a quick answer. Richardson took a five-step drop and fired immediately to where tight end Kylen Granson was running a flag route from the slot to the short side of the field against zone coverage. The linebacker to Granson’s back shoulder made the adjustment, but Richardson’s throw had enough loft on it to avoid his hands and fall into the outstretched white gloves of his 6-foot-3 tight end.
Granson collected the ball as the defender fell to the ground and stepped out of bounds for a 17-yard gain.
“We work that throw all the time in practice,” Richardson said. “I had a pretty good feel on that and I knew the coverage was going to roll down like that. I was just trying to give my guy a chance and luckily he caught the ball.”
The coach who asked for the check was standing right along the sideline where Granson made the catch.
“The linebacker was trying to undercut it right there,” Steichen said. “He put it only where Granson could catch it. It was a heck of a throw.”
Richardson doesn’t have it all figured out quite yet. He has yet to face a pro defense that has game planned for him. Against the Eagles, he was 6 of 17 passing, and though some of the misses were drops, he also has a tendency to miss high or wide to receivers outside the numbers. It’s all part of the process of being a 21-year-old rookie with 13 starts above the high school level.
Richardson’s floor is supposed to be his rushing ability, translating a historic mix of 6-foot-4 and 255-pound size with 4.43-second 40-yard dash speed and 10-foot-9 broad jump burst into the type of scrambler and designed runner who can flip the math on defenses trying to defend the run. He displayed that most consistently Thursday, evading pressure in order to lead the Colts with 38 yards on five carries for a healthy 7.6-yard average.
But 14 training camp practices in a red no-contact jersey have forced Richardson to work on the parts of his game that are less developed, such as drop-back passing. He completed 54.7% of his passes at Florida with 24 touchdown passes to 15 interceptions, and he has not hidden from how far he needs to come in the most fundamental area of becoming a quarterback.
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But he has made strides in his understanding of Steichen’s playbook, which incorporates heavy shotgun looks and RPO concepts and was advanced enough to enable Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to ascend to the Super Bowl last season with the No. 3 offense by Football Outsiders’ DVOA metric, which measures efficiency against the league average.
Richardson has also made strides in his connections with certain receivers, from pre-snap communication to audibling to the routes they can run best to placing the ball in spots where they can expect it and prefer it in order to execute various concepts.
All of it was on display on that throw to Granson.
“It’s just an innate feeling going in,” Granson said. “You can feel the confidence going in from his side and from your side because you know where the ball is going to be and he knows where you’re going to be. I feel like it’s a confidence that works both ways.”
The real games are coming now, and they will present chess moves to the types of schematic advantages Steichen is trying to give his young quarterback. Richardson won’t be facing backups in those games, like he was Thursday night.
But he’s going to start as many as his health allows this season because the goal is to get reps and to learn and build through them. Along the way, he and Steichen will find their own common identity, marrying concepts with abilities and sprinkling in some improvisation, all in the hopes of building this unique quarterback who flickers and pops each time he takes the field.
“We were talking about it in the locker room that it’s going to be a grind for sure,” Richardson said. “But I’m excited to see how we game plan against certain teams and see how the offense does.”
Contact Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: How a throw to Kylen Granson shows Anthony Richardson’s growth