Colts' Shane Steichen Dishes on Anthony Richardson Injury

The Indianapolis Colts head coach sounded off on his second-year quarterback.
Dec 29, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen prior to a game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
Dec 29, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen prior to a game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images / Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
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Heading into their final week of a hectic 2024 campaign, the Indianapolis Colts will be without second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson for another contest as he deals with a lingering back injury that effectively took him out of action the week prior against the New York Giants.

Richardson's injury situation has been a bit concerning across the board since last week. Colts head coach Shane Steichen first mentioned his status as being hindered due to simple back soreness ahead of the Giants tilt, before it was later revealed that Richardson instead was dealing with severe, potentially chronic back spasms-- now ending his season short after 11 games.

The situation inevitably led to concerns for the Colts brass about how this injury came to light, even resulting in questions on whether the back injury was a component in the picture when selecting him in the first round of the 2022 draft.

However, Steichen assured during Friday's media availability that the concern only came to form last week, not during his draft selection two years ago.

"Our trainers and our doctors do extensive research on that stuff and there was no issues that were shown there [during the draft]," Steichen said on Richardson's injury. "That's not to say he didn't have anything when he was really young, and it was just something that flared up on him last week.”

When asked if Richardson could need surgery for the back issue, Steichen said he "doesn't think it's that severe."

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Both are good developments for the future of Richardson with the Colts, but his absence for Sunday now makes it his 17th game missed across his first two years with the team and makes you question if durability could be a heightened concern moving forward in his career.

Across 11 games, Richardson has posted 1,814 passing yards, 8 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions with a franchise-worst 47.7% completion rate. Statistically, this year hasn't gone his way, but when adding his availability issues into the mix, it's truly been a nightmarish season for the former 4th-overall pick.

Thankfully, he'll have some extensive time during the offseason to heal up, and hopefully move the needle forward in his progression to be the the Colts' guy under center for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, the Colts will be expected to roll out Joe Flacco as the starting quarterback for the second straight contest in Week 18 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Kickoff for that tilt lands at 1 PM ET on Sunday, January 5th.


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