AFC Notes: Anthony Richardson, Michael Pittman Jr, Colts, Jaguars, Titans

Colts

Colts OC Jim Bob Cooter recalled a play Anthony Richardson made against the Rams to start a four-play, 74-yard touchdown drive, where Richarson improvised to find RB Zack Moss on a pass. 

“We draw up a pass play, and we spend all week trying to give these schematic advantages to the players,” Cooter said, via Albert Breer. “So we draw up his pass play, it just doesn’t work. It’s totally covered. The ball gets snapped and we, on the sideline, are just kind of like, ‘S—, we got nothing here for him.’ And he made it all happen. He freaking dipped, dived, ducked, dodged all over the place and somehow found Zack Moss over there to the side.”

Cooter added they look for examples from the college game to install into their offense. 

“I mean, gosh, we were in and out of so many tapes,” Cooter said. “You do all the college scouting that we do now, and we had coaches doing examples from all sorts of teams. We definitely watched some Air Force last year, that was something we were diving into. They were playing a whole different brand of football—you can find an idea or two in there. You find a way, like, ‘I think we could do something like this,  if we just tweaked it.’ And, ‘Hey, this would fit; we’ll get Jonathan Taylor here, we’re going to put Anthony in the gun, what if we did this?’ Those were some of the conversations that we had. And honestly, Shane’s so creative in the way that he thinks about that stuff, that he really pushes us to stay with him, creatively.”

Cooter said Richardson came to the organization “extremely professional” after being their first-round pick in 2023 and showed superior knowledge than a typical rookie quarterback. 

“To hear him talk through some of the footwork things, all the fundamentals and details of the quarterback position, to hear what he had been working on with the guys that he works out with, and how he was doing that in conjunction with getting back healthy, it didn’t sound like a rookie quarterback who just showed up from the draft,” Cooter said. “Anthony was extremely professional with how he was discussing those things with Cam Turner and some of the other guys around the building. It was evident we didn’t have a rookie on our hands anymore. That was for sure.”

• Colts HC Shane Steichen said WR Michael Pittman Jr. collided knees in practice this week but “should be fine,” per Mike Chappell. 

Jaguars

Jaguars Senior Writer John Oehser expects the team to consider adding some potential depth at cornerback, assuming the team doesn’t feel great about the position coming out of rookie workouts.

“I expect the Jaguars will consider this option,” Oehser said, via Jags Wire. “Rookie minicamp begins Friday. Organized team activities begin May 20. If the Jaguars believe in late May that there are positions that should be addressed, I expect signing free agents at those positions will be strongly considered.”

Titans

The Titans overhauled the coaching staff this offseason by bringing in HC Brian Callahan from Cincinnati. Tennesse WR Colton Dowell touched on the difference in coaching and feels he’s learning new facets of the game that prior coaching staffs brushed over.

“I’m learning things about offense that I didn’t really think I would want to learn,” Dowell said, via the Titans Colosseum Podcast. “Things are intriguing me now that I had no part of. It used to be just give me the routes and I’ll run the route and you throw the ball to me maybe.”

“They’re just explaining quarterback reads and how they’re reading it. Different things that could happen in a defense that would change our route or change our play. They’re great teachers and they can motivate us without having to necessarily yell and there’s not a lot of rah-rah going on. We’re just all — I don’t know how they do it — we’re just all motivated for one goal right now.”