Shane Steichen evaluates Anthony Richardson’s performance in NFL debut

After spending the No. 4 overall pick in the draft to get him, you can bet the Indianapolis Colts were watching quarterback Anthony Richardson‘s performance in his first preseason game intently.

Richardson has loads of athletic ability but is one of the most raw first-round NFL Draft picks at quarterback in recent memory, having started only 13 games in college before entering the pros.

Things didn’t start off very well for Richardson, who was picked off on his first drive.

But head coach Shane Steichen and others with the Colts were more impressed with how Richardson bounced back from the early mistake than anything else.

“I thought he had great poise,” Steichen said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN. “I knew we had the early interception. That’s my fault. We’ve got to do a better job communicating on that one. … That starts with coaching, starts with myself. Other than that, I thought he was efficient.”

Richardson would respond from the interception with quality work on his next two drives, which both stalled out but had some promise.

Anthony Richardson’s performance was good for a 7-of-12 day for 67 yards. He threw a potential touchdown pass but had it dropped, only for the team to miss a field goal minutes later.

So his outing was probably a bit better than the numbers might indicate.

“You go out there and you have a s—-ty pick the first time out, but you come back from that and you recover from that,” center Ryan Kelly said. “You go out there and just control the huddle, control the game and I thought he did a great job of that today.”

It was Anthony Richardson’s performance as a sophomore starter for Florida that earned him the eye of Indianapolis.

He started all 12 regular season games and went 176-for-327 passing for 2,549 yards, with 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also added 654 yards and nine touchdowns rushing, flashing the dual-threat ability and athleticism that the NFL seems to have come to crave in recent years.

The Colts are hoping Richardson can bring that to the mix right away, but Richardson will be in a competition with Gardner Minshew for the starting job, and it isn’t yet clear which way Indianapolis is leaning.

Minshew finished the first preseason game 6-for-6 for 72 yards working with the second-team offense.