QB Room, Week 4: Let’s start with the Indianapolis Colts’ Anthony Richardson/Cam Newton conundrum

The Indianapolis Colts have themselves a Cam Newton conundrum.

For years, the Carolina Panthers struggled to figure out how to get the most out of Cam Newton while exposing him to the least amount of punishment. It’s a unique problem to have, largely because it’s rare to find a wildly athletic quarterback who is also built with the frame of a linebacker. In the last 20 to 30 years, you’ve basically had a small fraternity of Newton, Josh Allen, Ben Roethlisberger and Daunte Culpepper. I’m not putting Lamar Jackson in this group, because his physique is simply different than the rest. And there is some variance within that group when it comes to athleticism, pocket-passing acumen, speed, etc. But what’s important is a trio of common threads: massive size, significant athletic tools — and a need to absorb punishment to unlock their strengths.

This is where the Colts check into the chat with Anthony Richardson.

They have a quarterback with an otherworldly skill set who is already showing signs of breaking down. On Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Richardson was knocked out of the game after suffering a hip injury while running the football. It’s the fourth time in eight career starts that Richardson has been forced out of a game with injuries, including a severe sprain in his throwing shoulder that ultimately required surgery and ended his rookie season after just four games. That’s some troubling symmetry — four starts per season, four injuries to four different areas of his body: left knee, concussion, right AC joint, and now his right hip.

Now concern is centering around whether Richardson is simply injury prone. Which is a fair question to raise when you haven’t been able to finish half of your career starts. Not that Richardson wants to hear about it.

Welcome to QB Room, Charles Robinson’s weekly quarterback-centric NFL column at Yahoo Sports. (Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports)

“People are going to talk about injuries, people are going to say…

Source link : https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/qb-room-week-4-lets-start-with-the-indianapolis-colts-anthony-richardsoncam-newton-conundrum-211952047.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-01 21:19:52

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.