Coach Reich: Richardson’s Growth Depends on…

According to ESPN’s Stephen Holder on 93.5 / 107.5 The Fan’s ‘The Ride with JMV’, he believes the Indianapolis Colts could’ve done a better a job of communicating their expectations to recently demoted 2nd-year pro Anthony Richardson, given the latter’s general lack of awareness regarding the rigors of the NFL’s starting quarterback position because of his own youth and naivety:

“One of the things that I think has frustrated Richardson’s camp—at least the player specifically is that, ‘Okay, if I’m falling short in terms of preparation and understanding the rigors of the job.’ I mean for the listeners out there, it’s a very different job playing quarterback,” said Holder Monday on ‘The Ride with JMV.’ “I mean if you play wide receiver, you show up in the morning, go through your meetings, do your deal, and go home.”

“It’s not like that for quarterbacks, right? You’ve got to be in there when the game plan is being put together—even on days off. . . . You get there early. You’re staying late. I think the problem with Anthony (is Anthony) is a great human being. Everyone who knows him says that. I’ve dealt with him enough to know that—as far as I can tell at least.”

“So the problem for him was not an unwillingness or not taking the job seriously. The problem is ignorance frankly. He doesn’t know, and I think maybe it should’ve been better communicated to him, ‘Hey, this is the expectation. This is what we need you to do.’ That conversation could’ve happened a month ago, and then you put him on notice. And then if he doesn’t do what needs to be done, then you do what you have to do as an organization.”

“But I don’t think that happened, and I think that’s unfortunate because he’s a 22-year-old kid who didn’t go through the whole ‘Elite 11s’ circuit and the quarterback camps. He didn’t do all of that. He barely played the position even in high school. So I don’t think he understands the gravity of what is expected from him, and maybe he should know, I don’t know. But if he doesn’t, he doesn’t. You’ve got to communicate, and I think that was perhaps a failure of the organization to not make it clear to him what the expectations were.”

However, in Holder’s eyes, Richardson is not blameless here and shares in at least some responsibility for his recent benching, by not doing similar things that his top peers are doing right now at the starting NFL quarterback position as far as study, building, and work habits—even though the organization’s initial communication was still ultimately lacking.