The Indianapolis Colts benched 2023 first-round pick Anthony Richardson for Sunday night’s game against the Vikings in part for Joe Flacco, following a 23-20 loss to the Texans, where Richardson He finished 10 of 32 passes and admitted to taking. He himself went out for a play date and got tired.
In some ways, you can’t blame the Colts, as Flacco is an upgrade currently and Indianapolis is 4-4 with playoff aspirations. On the other hand, Richardson needs more reps as he entered the NFL as one of the rawest but talented quarterbacks of all time.
So far, that translates to possibly the biggest boom-or-bust season for a quarterback since the 1970 merger.
Richardson ranks first in the NFL in completion rate (44.4%), most recently the last single-season quarterback since the Bengals’ first-round pick Akili Smith in 2000, considered one of the biggest busts in history. of the draft. Truth be told, this is not the kind of company you need to book if you’re Richardson. Also on the list, Tim Tebow and JaMarcus Russell. The other three in the chart below started a combined four more games in their careers during those seasons.
Lowest completion price in a season since 2000
Richardson has some other very concerning numbers here. Its completion price stands at 48.4% with a blank patch. 37.5% in the first half right now. 29.4% compared to male protection. And an abysmal 26.5% compared to the bombing. Ranks first in the NFL in completion rate over expectations (-12.5%).
His season has been a kind of industrial “Dos Equis.” He doesn’t complete passes regularly, but if he does, they gain a ton of yards.
He leads the NFL in yards per completion (16.2) right now, the best in a season since 2000. He’s taken our breath away with throws like this:
So in 2024, he will post the lowest completion rate and best yards per completion in a season since 2000. That’s the definition of rise or fall and one of the reasons Indianapolis is making a transformation at the quarterback position. field for the moment.
He is the only quarterback certified in the maximum 35 seasons with a completion rate below 50% and a yards per completion mark above 15.0.
The best quarterback to have the most completions, but first in yards per completion, as Richardson does recently, was Heath Shuler in 1994, 30 years ago.
This is one of the most unstable quarterback profiles of all time. The results of his occupation are almost as extensive as the magnificent canyon, from as low as a Tebow or Russell to as tall as Cam Newton or Michael Vick.
Possibly this statistic sums it up highest. He is the first player with a sub-50% completion rate and 15+ yards per completion over a six-game span since Tebow from 2010-11. But the most to do this in a period of six games within the same season Once it was Vick in 2001.
So can he turn it around? Completely.
His 10-for-32 efficiency in Year 8 offers insight into the problem of overreacting to a sinful game. He was rarely as sinful as he seemed on paper and did not deserve to be benched. He posted his lowest off-target price at the time (12.5%) and most of the incompletes were essentially not his fault. He will simply have had a bigger game. He had eight incomplete passes on throws more than 15 yards downfield that were dropped, defended or miscommunicated, the most of any quarterback in a game this season.
He has the longest moderate movement territory (12.8 yards downfield) through any quarterback in a season since Tebow in 2011 (12.9). That’s one of the reasons why your completion price is so low and why you want to enjoy more information, better contact, and advice on how to speed up checkdown, among other things.
Can Anthony Richardson turn it around?
Is the bench a mistake? I consider it that way. He wants the representatives to increase. He has thrown just over 600 passes and made 23 starts in his entire school and professional career. The Colts made questionable loyalty by starting him in Year 1 as a rookie, even if he was once one of the greatest potential raw quarterbacks of all time. How can they modify the route now, even if you have already pressed the idle button on your building several times? He has played in the top 10 of 25 games imaginable in his NFL career and has left four of those contests on and off due to trauma. Here are some reasons for optimism:
- 23 start in NFL school/occupation (10 in NFL)
- Join the fewest school starts by first-round quarterback since 2000 (13)
- Year 8: Lowest off-target price of the season (12.5%)
- Year 8: 8 incomplete passes on throws 15+ yards, drops, defense or miscommunication (most of any QB in a game this season)
- 2024: Longest moderate movement territory (12.8) since Tebow in 2011
The Colts don’t have a Super Bowl ceiling with Flacco and he’s not the long-term solution, but do they run the risk of not playing Richardson for the rest of the time and slowing their expansion in order to build for the playoffs? It seems that society is more concerned about their jobs than what is best for the group.
