INDIANAPOLIS – Anthony Richardson’s rookie season didn’t work out exactly as he envisioned, ending after an injury in a Week 5 game against the Tennessee Titans.
Richardson suffered an AC joint sprain that required surgery. The team placed him on injured reserve and said he wouldn’t return for his rookie campaign.
Richardson spoke to the media for about 20 minutes on Thursday. He said surgery was the best option for his long-term career.
Even though the sample size is small, Richardson showed off plenty of potential in his rookie season. He flashed big-play ability, both with his arm and his legs, and demonstrated leadership on and off the field.
While he was initially disillusioned with the injury, he acknowledged the season served as a learning experience.
“The injury definitely opened my eyes to the fact that I need to be healthy for the team, for everybody in this building. It allowed me to slow my mind down a little bit and sit back and really learn the game a little bit,” he said. “Just sitting back and learning from [quarterback] Gardner [Minshew] and coach Shane [Steichen] and just being in the building a lot, it definitely taught me a lot of things this year.”
Richardson admitted he initially didn’t want to go through surgery. Ultimately, however, he came to believe it was the right move.
“I wanted to play. I wanted to be out there with the team,” he said. “This injury kind of set me back a little bit. But after talking to the training staff and getting different opinions from different doctors and talking to my agent and my family, they said, long term, this was the best thing for me to do. If I did try to get out there and play again, I probably wouldn’t be able to throw it, I would only be able to run it.”
In addition to the shoulder injury, Richardson spent a few other games banged up. He missed Week 3 in Baltimore after suffering a concussion against the Houston Texans in Week 2. In the Texans game, he slowed down as he approached the end zone on a touchdown run, allowing a defender to hit him. He ended up banging his head on the turf, leading to a concussion that forced him to leave the game in the second quarter.
“It’s just a matter of me being out there and learning when to get down and not to get down. Some of those injuries were unfortunate, like my ankle getting stepped up on, hitting my knee on the turf really hard,” Richardson said. “The ones that I can control, you know, I’ve got to prevent those, like my slowing up near the end zone [against Houston], getting a concussion. That was completely on me.”
He tried to brace himself on the hit that injured his shoulder against the Titans. Still, he couldn’t prevent the injury.
“I don’t think I have to change the way I play—[it’s] just being a little smarter when the time does come.”
He said he planned to keep being himself and playing his game--while staying aware of the on-field situation.
"I can't try to run through everybody. If it's first and ten, [I need to] get what I can get, and get down. Get out of bounds. Get to the sidelines," he said. "But if the game is on the line, I've got to go out there and compete. It's just a matter of being smart for myself and the team."
Richardson said it's his nature to play a physical brand of football--something most people don't expect from a quarterback. He acknowledged that being injured took a toll on him both physically and mentally. In the end, though, it gave him perspective.
"I'm blessed to be in the NFL. I'm blessed to be on this team. I'm blessed to be talking to y'all," he said. "So, I just had to look at the bigger picture and understand it was all part of the process."