Quarterback Anthony Richardson sustained an oblique injury during the Indianapolis Colts’ Week 4 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, forcing him to leave the game early. His status for Week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars remains uncertain, though he was a limited participant in Wednesday’s practice.
Injuries have unfortunately been a recurring issue for Richardson early in his career. He suffered a season-ending shoulder injury just four starts into his rookie season, and now, four games into his second year, he’s dealing with another injury. When asked about the perception that he’s injury-prone, Richardson responded, “It’s football… if people came out here and got hit by someone running 20-plus miles per hour every week, they’d be sore and dealing with injuries too.” He added, “I’m not worried about it; I’m just focused on improving day by day.”
While Richardson tries to downplay the injury concerns, availability is crucial. In his rookie season, the No. 4 overall pick missed 13 starts, and was only able to finish one game healthy. He exited his first NFL start in the fourth quarter due to injury, suffered a concussion in Week 2, missed Week 3 because of that concussion, and then sustained a shoulder injury in Week 5.
Going forward, Richardson will need to be cautious about the hits he takes, but his ability as a runner makes him special. With 277 rushing yards in his first eight starts, he ranks sixth among quarterbacks since the 1970 merger. Notably, he left half of those eight games early due to injury.
As a passer, Richardson has struggled. While he has connected on some impressive deep throws, he’s tied for the league lead in interceptions with six and has a league-worst 50.6% completion rate. Even from a clean pocket, he’s completed just 53% of his passes, the lowest in the NFL.
