INDIANAPOLIS — For once, Anthony Richardson’s mind wasn’t consumed by football.
The Indianapolis Colts’ starting quarterback was at the hospital, staring through the past and into the future.
Richardson’s improbable rise from Section 8 housing in Gainesville, Fla., to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis is well documented. He watched his mom, a single parent, work herself to the bone so she could provide for her two children. He watched his brother, his “mini-me,” copy everything he did and has often described him as being his son more than his sibling.
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But this moment was different. This really was his son, his firstborn and namesake.
Richardson’s high school sweetheart and fiancee, Jada, gave birth to Anthony Richardson Jr. on March 17 and changed Richardson Sr.’s life forever.
“I was always looking forward to being a dad. … I was actually the first person to hold him when he was born and everything,” Richardson recently told The Athletic. “I was just looking like, ‘Man, this is really my little creation right here.’ After he was born, I just sat in front of his (crib) for a good little minute. Just sitting there and looking at him.”
GO DEEPERColts stuck on hamster wheel of mediocrity under Chris Ballard. Is it win or else in 2024?As Richardson sat in that hospital room celebrating a new life, he also reflected on his own. Pressure has always been a close neighbor of his, ever since the world discovered he had been blessed with extraordinary athletic abilities. For years, Richardson has challenged himself to maximize those gifts on the football field so he could take care of his mom and brother off it. Now, starting a family of his own, the stakes are even higher.
Though that might seem like a lot of pressure for a 22-year-old to carry around with him, Richardson doesn’t really see it that way.
“Adding my little man, it’s been a blessing,” Richardson said with a wide smile. “I’ve always been a grinder, day by day. But just seeing him that first day, it was like, ‘OK, now I really gotta go harder.’ I thought I was going hard before, but now with him, I gotta feed another person.”
Richardson’s shift in mindset emerged even before his son was born. As the Colts quarterback was preparing to become a dad, he never put football on the back burner. To become the player he wants to become, football can never be anything but a priority — especially after last season, playing just four games before suffering a season-ending AC joint sprain that sent him into the unknown. He’d never been sidelined for that long in his career, and he wasn’t going to take another break — not even a little one — with a baby on the way.
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So, flights and video calls became two of his biggest connectors. Weekdays were spent in Jacksonville, training fervently to make sure he’d be ready by OTAs. Weekends were spent in Indianapolis, checking on his budding family.
The injury was an obstacle, but it wasn’t a barrier.
“He’s always shown up for training, always shown up for whatever he needed to get done,” said Dr. Tom Gormely, owner of CORTX Sports Performance and an orthopedic specialist who serves as one of Richardson’s private trainers/throwing coaches. “It was like, ‘All right, if I have to fly to Jacksonville and back to Indy, I’m gonna do whatever I have to do to get my training in, to get my rehab in, to get development in, and still take care of my family the way I’m supposed to.’ And honestly, he did a phenomenal job all offseason.”
No running allowed.
Richardson knew his AC joint sprain would limit his upper-body movements for months, but in somewhat of a surprising twist, he had to curtail his lower-body movements, too. The nature of his shoulder injury and his unique physique made it dangerous for him to run.
“Believe it or not, the stress travels all the way up and through the AC joint and the clavicle when you’re jogging,” said Will Hewlett, another one of Richardson’s private trainers who works alongside Gormely in Jacksonville. “So, just imagine taking a heavy step, especially if you’re 250 pounds, the shock that comes up from that. So, there were a lot of limitations on actual movements.”
Hewlett is certain Richardson still rehabbed “much faster than the average human.”
GO DEEPERBuilding the perfect NFL QB: Meet the mysterious private coaches on the cutting edgeAfter undergoing surgery in October, Richardson took roughly four months to throw his first pass, and every rep during his rehab was tracked using biometric data Hewlett and Gormely — who also works with Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen, Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams and San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy, among others — compared with previous data they collected when Richardson’s shoulder was healthy. Richardson joked that Gormely, who’s been working with Richardson since before the NFL Scouting Combine in 2023, often speaks another language when he goes down a rabbit hole about “scapular angles” and “kinematic sequences,” which in layman’s terms means tracking what the optimal movement of Richardson’s arm is as a high-level thrower.
However, Gormely commended Richardson for his willingness to ask questions instead of blindly following whatever blueprint he’s handed, whether that’s a rehab plan or a game plan.
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Gormely thinks Richardson doesn’t get enough credit for his curiosity and intellect, especially in light of how last season ended. It’s obvious, from Gormely’s perspective, that Richardson didn’t get hurt because he was “trying to lower his shoulder in the A-gap.” He got hurt because he was unlucky.
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“He’s 6-foot-4, 255 (pounds), jumps 42 inches and runs a 4.42 (40-yard dash), and some people just think he’s haphazardly going through the game of football with just physical talent, and that is definitely one thousand percent incorrect,” Gormely said. “Anthony is a detail-oriented student of the game. He wants to know exactly what he should be doing and why he should be doing it, from his rehab to what his (on-field) progressions and reads should be.”
GO DEEPERAnthony Richardson, Shane Steichen and company can make Colts offense among bestHewlett recalled an instance when he was working with Richardson on a specific dropback this offseason, when Richardson actually corrected his trainer. The young QB stopped the drill and told Hewlett, “I know we’ve done it this way, but Shane (Steichen) wants it done that way,” referring to the Colts’ head coach.
So, they recalibrated the drill to ensure the training was best suited for how Richardson operates in Indianapolis’ offense. That tweak wouldn’t have happened if Richardson wasn’t paying attention to every little detail, Hewlett said.
GO DEEPERNFL QB stock report, Week 1: It's Patrick Mahomes, then everyone elseRichardson acknowledged he’s always dealt with the stereotypes of being a dual-threat quarterback throughout his career, and his relative inexperience — he’s started just 17 games since high school — only adds fuel to the fire. Back when he was struggling at Florida, the criticism nearly broke Richardson, who eventually sought the help of a mental coach. But now, he says, the only voices he hears are those of his teammates, coaches and family.
One of whom, too young to articulate words, is the loudest.
“The scariest part of my life is just thinking about him all of the time. Making sure he’s good. Making sure I’m doing a good job,” Richardson said, referring to his son. “So, it’s like why would I sit here and worry about what anybody else is saying? I just focus on bettering myself day by day. Of course, I know I’m not the best quarterback yet. But who cares? I’m still working to try to be the best.”
When Richardson first told his mom he had a child on the way, LaShawnda Cleare didn’t waste any time.
“She (started) ordering clothes and saying how she was gonna be the best grandma and everything,” Richardson said, laughing. “She was super excited.”
Cleare, who affectionately calls Richardson Jr. “G-Baby,” feels like she’s going back in time.
“The way he fuss, the way he be looking at people … the way he’s growing,” Cleare said during an episode of the “Behind The Colts” video series. “It’s like holding Anthony all over again.”
GO DEEPERNFL Week 1 Power Rankings: Who can challenge the Chiefs for the throne?In some ways, Richardson views the relationship between his mother and his son as a healing agent for everything she endured while raising two boys on her own. Cleare did whatever was necessary to provide — even if it seemed impossible — and never complained. These days, she still isn’t complaining but under very different circ*mstances.
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“She’s not necessarily stressing anymore,” Richardson said. “She’s actually enjoying it.”
Richardson’s mom is always willing to watch her grandson, for which Richardson and his fiancee are extremely thankful. The quarterback said Cleare’s enthusiasm to babysit can’t be overstated with the season opener only four days away.
Ryan Kelly, whose wife gave birth to twin boys last year, knows firsthand how much a player’s life can change when they help create a new one. But the Colts’ starting center made it clear Richardson will always have more on his plate than most fathers on the team because he’s QB1.
Steichen echoed the same sentiment. The Colts coach is well aware Richardson will be the youngest Week 1 starting quarterback in the NFL for the second straight year, but he also knows Richardson’s age won’t absolve him if he doesn’t perform well. Neither will his four-game rookie season or surgically repaired throwing shoulder or 5-month-old son.
“There’s a lot of responsibility — like we talked about — that comes with it. But then also becoming a father at 22 years old adds another piece of responsibility,” Steichen said. “You’ve got to grow up fast. You’ve got a kid to take care of, you’ve got a whole team that’s relying on you and counting on you, and we need that responsibility from him week in and week out.”
Richardson won’t shy away from the pressure. That’s never been his style, and that’s not the example he wants to set for his son. Next year, he’ll officially update his jersey with “Richardson Sr.” written on the back (this year’s jerseys were already printed). But for now, he plans to play without fear of injury or failure, with his eyes set on the Colts’ first AFC South title since 2014.
“I’ve always had people say I can’t do certain things or I won’t be able to accomplish certain things, but that’s all part of the lifestyle I live,” Richardson said. “It was a little difficult for me at one point in time, just trying to live up to everybody else’s expectations. But then I realized, their expectations will never be higher than my own, so I don’t have to prove anybody else right but myself.”
(Photo illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
James Boyd is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering the Indianapolis Colts. Before joining The Athletic, James was the Indiana Pacers beat writer for The Indianapolis Star. James is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and grew up in Romeoville, Illinois. Follow James on Twitter @romeovillekid
