The Indianapolis Colts are betting a lot on quarterback Anthony Richardson, who had his rookie season cut short due to a shoulder injury, and some have voiced concerns regarding his run-heavy play style leading to injuries, but he made it clear that he does not believe he needs to make a change.

“I don't think there's any way I could have avoided what happened to me,” Anthony Richardson said, according to Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com. “Just a regular, routine tackle. I tried to brace myself for the fall and just my shoulder did what it did. There's nothing I could do about that. … Changing my game and my play style? I don't feel like there's anything wrong with my play style. People see me, I'm a big quarterback, so they always thing, ‘Oh, he wants to run the ball all the time, he wants to be physical and that's what's gonna get him hurt.' But that's not the case. The time I did get hurt… The one time, the one concussion, that was me completely because I slowed down by the end zone — you're never supposed to do that. Everything else, it just happened because we play a dangerous game, and there's nothing I can do about that.”

While Richardson emphasized that he will not change his play style after the injuries he suffered in his first season, he did say he will still try to play it smart to be able to stay on the field for the Colts in 2024.

“But necessarily changing my play? I don't think I'm gonna change it, but being smart, knowing when to get extra yards and knowing when to get down, I feel like I know how to do that,” Richardson said, according to Bergman. “It's just I have to do it and do it at the right time, I guess. I don't know if I'm gonna change my game, but being smarter for the team, of course.”

Colts' goal for Anthony Richardson in 2024

The Colts selected Richardson with the No. 4 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, so they are hoping to see him stay healthy and make a similar impact as CJ Stroud did in his rookie year. Indianapolis will need that to compete for the AFC South division.

The Texans have loaded up, adding pieces around CJ Stroud to try to compete in the AFC this season. The Colts have a solid roster around Richardson, with weapons like Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman Jr. at his disposal.

It will be interesting to see if Richardson is smarter about the hits he takes. He is the most athletic quarterback to ever test at the NFL Combine, so a team would want to use that, but he has to make sure he stays on the field to establish himself as a franchise quarterback.