Anthony Richardson's main takeaway from a turbulent second season in the NFL – one in which he said he learned a lot about how to handle adversity – was the critical importance of being intentional.
"I feel like you have to be intentional about every single thing you're doing every minute of the day," Richardson said. "You can't just let it fly by because you've been doing it for so long. I think just being intentional is something I definitely learned about this year, this past season. I'm definitely looking forward to this year just being intentional about every single thing."
Richardson missed six games in 2024: Two due to an oblique injury (Weeks 5 and 6), two due to being benched (Weeks 9 and 10) and two due to a back injury (Weeks 17 and 18). When he played, he had electric moments – like his thunderbolt of a deep ball to Alec Pierce in Week 1 and late-game comebacks against the New York Jets and New England Patriots – but completed just 47.7 percent of his 264 passing attempts.
Richardson, though, rushed 86 times for 499 yards (5.8 yards/attempt) with six touchdowns.
"In Year 2, obviously, he made strides," head coach Shane Steichen said. "He won us some games, he made some big-time plays. Did the first two years go the way the way that we wanted them, no, but it's learning experience and it's growth experience for everybody."
But whether it's consistency staying on the field or consistency when he does play, Richardson will enter 2025 with elevated expectations for himself.
"I expect more out of myself," Richardson said. "Obviously we fell short this past season, especially with not making the playoffs, but I feel like I could've done a lot more, I could've done a lot more in the building, outside of the building, just in my life just to be a better player."
Richardson will head into the 2025 offseason in a completely different place health-wise than a year ago, when he was still recovering from season-ending shoulder surgery. On Monday, Richardson said his back feels "way better," and he expects he'll be close to 100 percent in a couple of days. He also doesn't expect the issue – he had back spasms – to impact him much going forward.
"It's up to me to find out whether or not I can mange it in the right way," Richardson said. "So I'm looking forward to that and I think I'm gonna be good."
Steichen on Monday was not ready to say the Colts will bring in competition for Richardson – "I think that's a conversation that Chris (Ballard) and I will have moving forward," he said – but Richardson explained that he wouldn't be against it, if that's the direction the Colts' decision-makers take in the coming months.
"I'm a natural competitor," Richardson said. "I've been competing all my life. I love competing. So if the team feels like that's the right direction we want to go in, I'm all for competing. If not, I'm still here competing, working my tail off to be the best person I can for this team. I can't really control everything that comes with the NFL but I know I can control what I can, and I'm gonna do my part to be the best version of myself for the organization."
Whatever things look like around Richardson in the coming months, though, as he said are out of his control. So Richardson's focus moving forward will be on not just making strides as a player, but doing them in the kind of thoughtful manner that can produce tangible results next fall.
"Like I just said, be intentional, whether that's footwork drills, studying film, studying the playbook or just being in the building," Richardson said. "You know, talking to Shane – communication. Just everything, just being intentional. Trying to have an end goal of everything and just trying to make everything better and just being intentional about it because I feel like that's just going to push it."
