There's a mural of Anthony Richardson on the west side of Indianapolis.
It's a portrait, only focused on the quarterback's head and shoulders. It doesn't show his number anywhere. The only sign that he's a Colts player is a white headband with the horseshoe across his forehead.
Everyone knows who it is.
There's a graphic on the J.W. Marriott in downtown Indianapolis with Richardson front and center.
It's a full-body photo, with images of wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and running back Jonathan Taylor on either side of Richardson. The number five is big and bright across the front of his jersey, the white font unmistakable against the blue jersey behind it. His face is covered up by his helmet.
Everyone knows who it is.
Go anywhere in Indianapolis and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't know who Richardson is. It's not just on Sundays that you'll find people walking around with No. 5 jerseys on or talking about what the Colts' first-round draft pick from 2023 can do with the football.
Now that he's fully recovered from the shoulder injury that sidelined him for most of the 2023 season, Richardson's return is causing a flurry of excitement. There is a palpable sense of anticipation surrounding the Colts, largely because of their QB1.
But there's also a quieter, and arguably more important, emotion present not just in the Colts' locker room, but all around Indianapolis.
"It just brings a certain type of peace, I think, that flows within the city," cornerback Kenny Moore II said. "I think we can all feel what we have here."
So, what do the Colts have? What is it about Richardson that elicits a feeling of peace, of all things?
Here's a basic answer: Richardson will be the first quarterback to start in consecutive season openers for the Colts since 2016. Consistency brings peace, even if Richardson did only play in four games in 2023.
Here's a better answer: One of the ways Richardson's teammates can best describe him is as something out of a video game. His style of play won't be peaceful for opponents, but his teammates know they can count on him to make big plays.
"He's like a create-a-player," rookie wide receiver Adonai Mitchell said in May during Colts OTAs. "He's like one of them players that can legit do anything on the field."
"It's like, I'm playing Madden, then I come out on the field and he's doing the same things I just did on Madden," tight end Drew Ogletree said last August, after Richardson's first NFL training camp. "It's crazy."
It is crazy. But it's not unexpected.
The Colts knew all about Richardson's athleticism and raw power when they chose him fourth overall in the 2023 NFL Draft, and he's made good on their expectations despite his limited playing time. In the four NFL games he played in before his injury, Richardson completed 50-of-84 passes for 577 yards and three touchdowns with just one interception. He also had 25 carries for 136 yards and four touchdowns. In his NFL debut, Richardson became the youngest quarterback to start a game in franchise history (he was 21 years old at the time) and was the first rookie quarterback in franchise history to register both a passing and a rushing touchdown in a season opener.
Because as much as Richardson was lauded for his arm strength, it was his physicality coupled with his speed and agility that really made him stand out. It still does.
"It's exciting because the playbook is open to everything," head coach Shane Steichen said during training camp. "You've got a quarterback that can do everything. He can throw from the pocket, he can get out of the pocket, he can run the football."
The Colts have always had a strong grasp on what Richardson's abilities. And yet, there's still a lot to discover about the young quarterback.
Some might even argue that Richardson is still a rookie – not literally, of course, but because he has only thrown 84 pass attempts and played in four NFL games in his career so far. After all, wide receiver Josh Downs said his teammates claim (jokingly) he has to play three more games before he's not a rookie, and Downs played in all 17 games last season.
By those metrics, Richardson would have a ways to go. But there's something about how the young quarterback plays and carries himself, on and off the field, that instills a certain level confidence in those around him.
"The rookie world is over for Anthony," offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said.
Because even though Richardson wasn't physically on the field for most of his rookie season, mentally, he was engaged in every snap.
"The mental part of it, just sitting back and seeing it from a 30-foot view, is huge," Steichen said. "The work ethic he put into the whole offseason, going through his rehab, his treatment, being around his teammates, putting the work in the summer. He had a hell of a summer."
"We're on to being NFL vets and, with that, at the quarterback position comes a lot of ability to sort of control the action at the line of scrimmage better and better and better," Cooter said. "And he is just running the show, communicating with his guys, bringing motions, breaking the huddle on time, you know, all that stuff that we do at the quarterback position. It's been really, really cool."
Of course, Richardson is still young and relatively inexperienced in the NFL, and with that comes plenty of room to grow. He will struggle at times – miscommunication with his receivers in the Colts' preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals that resulted in incompletions and an interception showed that – but it's all part of the process.
"To play winning football, there's going to be some rollercoaster moments," general manager Chris Ballard said. "I don't want to say all, but most quarterbacks, when they're young, go through those moments. There's gonna be. But learn from them, grow and just keep moving forward."
The key for Richardson is to stay confident even when he does struggle. Luckily, Richardson doesn't struggle in that area.
"There's a naive confidence for a guy who hasn't played a lot of snaps, just believes that he's pretty freaking good and that's a good thing," general manager Chris Ballard said before training camp.
Explosive is one of the words or phrases most commonly used to describe Richardson. "Pretty freaking good" also works.
The quarterback was a force to be reckoned with throughout the preseason, launching passes downfield and making plays in training camp that impressed and challenged his coaches and teammates. If there were any doubts about Richardson's capabilities following his shoulder surgery, they were quickly quashed.
"It's tough," linebacker Zaire Franklin said. "I mean, we do our best. Anthony, just his combination of being able to run and all the plays he's able to make with his arm – he puts you in tough, tough positions."
"His ceiling is through the roof," defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said. "The Lord blessed him with so many talents, I mean, he's gifted."
While Richardson's physical attributes are easy to make note of – it's hard to miss a 6-foot-4, 250-pound quarterback – his pure feel for playing quarterback just as crucial to his success.
"The best players I've been around, they've got natural feel," Steichen said. "There's guys sometimes that are just straight robots, and it's like 'Well, Coach, you told me to look here,' and I'm like 'Yeah, I know I told you to look here but the guy's open over there too.' And those guys that see that stuff, I think that's what makes those guys special."
While Richardson has naturally always had a feel for playing quarterback, what's taken some time to develop is his leadership. But now that it has, it only gives his teammates more reason to put their trust in him.
"Everybody, when they come in as a rookie, they're trying to learn how to lead guys who have been there, who are already established," Taylor said. "So I just think him being a little bit more comfortable now, he's kind of more at the forefront and I'm sure he's gonna take off."
"He's just more comfortable," Pittman said. "Obviously he's been around more, he knows everybody. And he's kind of naturally like a – I don't want to say reserved – but he's not a guy that wants to get up in front and yell around, so that's just his personality. He leads by example. But now he knows everybody so he feels he can speak more confidently."
It's clear from the way Richardson interacts with his teammates on and off the field that he really does know them, both as football players and as people. They know him just as well, and they believe in him.
They aren't the only ones.
There's a reason Richardson's jersey was the most popular one on the team last season. There's a reason fans braved the Midwest summer heat to see the quarterback during training camp and maybe get a chance to get an autograph. There's a reason people stop to take pictures of the graphic on the J.W. Marriott and pose in front of the mural with Richardson's face on it.
So, when the crowd catches their first glimpse of that No. 5 jersey running out of the tunnel at Lucas Oil Stadium Sept. 8, they'll get their chance to finally voice all of their excitement and support for Richardson. It will be anything but peaceful, but that's exactly how it should be.
