Luke Braun's Film Room: Fine, I'll Explain Why Anthony Richardson Got Benched

After the Indianapolis Colts announced that second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson would be benched, the Minnesota Vikings face the prospect of playing against Joe Flacco. Why did that happen

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Back in September, when the Minnesota Vikings were surging and the world was marveling at Sam Darnold, everyone wanted to know how Kevin O’Connell did it. Darnold emerged from underneath a strong “bust” label to scream out to 5-0. Before things free-fell in Minnesota, O’Connell spoke on The Rich Eisen Show about how he got such a good performance out of such a maligned QB. 

“I believe that organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations.”

What a bar. 

It explains how players we see as franchise saviors, even just two years later, are discarded in disgrace. We wrote think pieces about how Houston blew its chance to draft Bryce Young, who is currently trading floggings with Andy Dalton. We lamented the Vikings for failing to trade up for Justin Fields, currently serving as a backup to Russell Wilson.

Things change so fast. The latest example is Anthony Richardson, who will back up Joe Flacco in his upcoming Sunday Night Football matchup at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Colts plan hit the public on Tuesday, much to the chagrin of analysts that just wanted to see Richardson grow into his potential.

I am among those analysts. In 2023, I saw the athletic potential mixed with better quarterbacking than I thought he got credit for. I thought he could be the next big thing. I wanted the Vikings to trade three first-round picks and then some for the privilege to draft him. How could I get it so wrong?

I’m not alone. I saw what everyone else saw. Eye-popping highlights combined with record-setting athletic tests convinced us that this could happen in the NFL, too. Surely, this was the next Lamar Jackson. Plenty of analysts that I like and respect have gone to bat for him even after his benching. 

Richardson has started just ten games, and now the Colts appear to be pulling the plug. A 4th overall pick thrown into the garbage disposal less than halfway through his second year. But after looking into it, I don’t think the Colts had much choice.

Shane Steichen won’t explain it, not even to Richardson himself. So, I guess we’ll have to figure it out on our own.

Anthony Richardson’s Mechanics (This Is Gonna Be About Feet)

A quarterback’s execution starts from the bottom and works its way up. His throwing motion draws torque from a solid, stable base, an important note that doesn’t even delve into the significance of consistent steps on his dropback. Richardson has always been great at that first one, but for him, the second one is in ruin.

That may explain why Richardson has an elite deep ball, but struggles on anything that isn’t a moonshot downfield.

From Scott Barrett DFB

Those rocket launches are pretty enticing, though, and they’re born of a unique flexibility in Richardson’s hips.

Like a golf or baseball swing, you want to see the hips rotate before the shoulders do to maximize power. This one drops right in the bucket for Adonai Mitchell, who can’t quite get that second foot down.

The long rainbow down the sideline is Richardson’s fastball. Unfortunately, you can’t make the whole plane out of those. NFL quarterbacks need to execute a diverse menu of concepts, and that means a diverse menu of footwork routines. 

For Steichen’s offense, that means linking up these deep shots with quicker passes to get ahead of the chains. Those quick passes often include play action to influence linebackers, followed by a strike thrown too quickly for them to recover.