Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter spoke to reporters on Thursday and gave his opinions on his new rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson, diversity in the wide receiver room, and much more. (Video by Jake Arthur)
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00:00 >> What are we doing?
00:01 What do we got?
00:04 >> We have a rookie quarterback who just had his first training camp practice.
00:06 How would you evaluate him through the first day and the off season, I guess?
00:10 >> Yeah, not gonna put some blanket evaluation out there, but
00:14 glad to get started, excited to get going.
00:16 Training camp's always fun.
00:17 Like day one, rookie quarterback, he came in here with great energy,
00:22 great excitement.
00:23 He's really wide eyed and really into meetings and into the practice and
00:29 just been fun to get started this year.
00:31 >> What have you learned about how coachable he is over the time you spent
00:33 together?
00:34 >> I mean, gosh, he's been doing a great job of soaking up information.
00:40 He's been doing a great job of asking questions, going back and forth.
00:44 I think one key trait, really for any quarterback, especially for
00:49 a young quarterback, is being open minded about, gosh,
00:52 I don't know the answer to that question and asking the question.
00:55 Or how does that work?
00:57 Or man, what's the defense doing?
00:58 Or how are they gonna adjust to that play we just hit on?
01:02 How's that gonna get tougher next time?
01:04 And Anthony's open minded, he's listening, he's writing notes.
01:06 He likes to soak it up knowledge.
01:08 So it's been really exciting.
01:10 >> Jim, how does it impact or
01:12 does it impact when a key part of your offense, JT, isn't practicing yet?
01:17 Is it slow development or not?
01:20 >> I think right, I think this time of year, this time of training camp,
01:23 we're working through the installs.
01:24 We got these big, heavy, thick installs.
01:26 We throw a million plays at our guys and sort of make them learn a ton.
01:31 And we go out and practice them.
01:32 So I think we're putting those in.
01:34 We're going out to practice those things.
01:35 I think we put together a pretty good practice yesterday.
01:39 We're gonna keep doing that just sort of one day at a time.
01:41 So that's kinda how I've been going about it.
01:43 >> And when he's back, he's back.
01:44 I mean, he also missed all the OTAs.
01:46 >> Well, I kinda stay out of the medical recommendations and
01:51 number of reps and things like that.
01:52 There's always sort of, sometimes his guys are coming back.
01:55 Sometimes there's different rep things that come up, and I sort of stay out of it.
01:59 >> I wonder, I mean, have you had a chance to just spend any time around him lately?
02:02 Just because, I'm not asking you to get into the other issues like the medical or
02:06 he wants a new contract.
02:07 But there's stuff swirling around him.
02:10 How's he just kind of dealing with the football and just his business?
02:13 >> He's been a pro.
02:14 He's been normal JT.
02:16 I've been, like I said, excited to get going with training camp.
02:19 And all the guys are fired up to get going, and he's been right there with them.
02:24 >> When you saw, I'm sure you knew about it, but when the receivers and
02:27 quarterbacks get together in the offseason, that's gotta have value for
02:32 everybody.
02:32 >> Yep. >> Did you have a part of that or
02:35 was that just sort of on them?
02:36 >> No, no, that's player driven, man.
02:38 That is player driven.
02:39 >> Which means something, right?
02:41 >> Yeah, it's a big deal.
02:42 Going back to, I was around Peyton Manning all those years ago.
02:46 He used to bring guys to Duke, I think, with Coach Cutcliffe was there.
02:50 And that's always been sort of a player driven thing.
02:53 I think it's really good for the quarterbacks to sort of get with
02:57 the receivers, get with some of those tight ends, go out on their own and
03:01 get together, right?
03:01 Cuz guys are working out during the summer, but
03:04 if we got three quarterbacks working out in three different cities and
03:08 however many 10, 15 receivers working out in 10 different cities.
03:12 They're getting better, but
03:13 they're missing a little something about getting the Indianapolis Colts better.
03:16 But when those guys all get together with each other in a certain place,
03:21 I think that really has value for the organization, for the offense.
03:25 So we're glad they did it and hopefully got good work in.
03:28 >> I'm not saying that guys are usually at odds when there's a position battle, but
03:31 with Gardner and Anthony, however this shakes out,
03:36 it seems like a really unique situation.
03:37 I mean, their personalities lend themselves to really having a good
03:42 situation there.
03:43 Just what have you observed about how they interact?
03:45 It seems to be very lighthearted between them.
03:48 >> Yeah, get along really well.
03:50 Get along really well.
03:51 Gardner's obviously seen a little bit more in this league than Anthony has.
03:55 But those guys, the lines of communication are open.
03:58 They talk to each other a ton.
04:00 They've got a little bit of a history from kind of working out together,
04:03 even before the draft.
04:04 So those guys have known each other before they were teammates here.
04:07 So relationship seems great to me.
04:09 Those guys are competing out there.
04:11 I mean, what I see is two guys trying to play really, really good football, but
04:15 they're not afraid to help each other out and ask questions and
04:17 communicate with each other, which is a really good trait for our offense.
04:21 >> When you don't have one dominant superstar receiver,
04:25 how important is it to have kind of a diversity of skill sets in the room?
04:29 >> Yeah, I think that's really important.
04:31 I think that's important in every single group,
04:34 because you don't necessarily want, you get five eligibles on each play, right?
04:39 Gosh, you don't want five smaller, quicker guys.
04:42 You don't want five big, strong guys.
04:44 You want that mix, right?
04:45 Some people compare it to a basketball team, a group you put out there on the floor.
04:49 You want guys that do different things well, so
04:51 that you're able to attack a defense in different ways, right?
04:53 If you have sort of all the same type of guy, you end up attacking the defense
04:58 the same way over and over, just to different guys.
05:00 But when you have different strengths, different types of guys,
05:05 then you're able to get a little more versatile with your pass game,
05:07 which we certainly like.
05:09 >> Do you look at tight end kind of the same way?
05:11 Or, you know, coming to you.
05:14 You look at tight end similarly, you've just got, it's a crowded room, but
05:17 it's different body types and skill sets.
05:20 Does that play out the same way as having versatility at wider cedar?
05:24 >> Yeah, 100% it can, 100% it can, because it's,
05:27 I'll just speak sort of from the pass game perspective.
05:30 From the pass game perspective, gosh, it's the same thing.
05:34 The tight end can be the size, sometimes the tight ends are the bigger,
05:41 longer guys, the size threats.
05:43 But some tight ends are a little more change of direction,
05:45 intermediate route runner type guys.
05:46 So it all melts together as we're looking at, like I said earlier,
05:51 we're installing plays, we put all these plays in, that's part of training camp,
05:54 that's what we do.
05:55 But when we start really looking at how the offense is gonna look when we get to
05:59 the regular season, when we start competing against other opponents,
06:02 we're gonna be taking into account different strengths and
06:04 weaknesses of different positions.
06:06 And from a pass game perspective, we are absolutely gonna be looking at, hey,
06:10 here's our receivers, here's our tight ends, here's our running backs.
06:13 What does each guy do well?
06:16 How can we put them in a position to do that well?
06:18 And how does that thing sort of mesh together where they're working well with
06:22 each other out there?
06:23 >> You mentioned that, thank you.
06:25 >> [LAUGH] >> You mentioned that he asked a lot of
06:26 questions, and he said he was always asking you guys, am I doing enough?
06:29 So how do you find that balance between challenging him, but
06:32 not burying him when it comes to the mincers out here?
06:34 >> Yeah, it's a classic thing with a young player.
06:37 Those guys are, if you go from college to the NFL,
06:41 you have a decent amount to learn just about how things work,
06:43 how's training camp working, what's happening with the defense, what's going on?
06:47 So you're always excited as a coach to coach those guys, right?
06:50 That's what we do.
06:51 So we wanna give those guys a lot.
06:53 We wanna give those guys ways to get better.
06:55 And we have really tried to make an emphasis of, we're gonna set him up for
07:00 success, give him every chance to learn and study and improve.
07:05 But you have to be a little bit cognizant of what is his workload,
07:11 what is his physical workload, what's he doing in the weight room?
07:13 What's the rest of his situation look like?
07:16 So you don't overwhelm a young guy with every single note you've ever learned in
07:20 your coaching career.
07:22 Sometimes these are young guys, and you gotta teach the core of something and
07:27 then build off of that.
07:27 And that's sort of been what we've been trying to do.
07:29 >> Is it for a quarterback?
07:31 >> Well, for a quarterback, there's a little more information.
07:35 I mean, for a quarterback, there's a lot of information that these NFL
07:39 quarterbacks end up learning and knowing and
07:44 understanding to help them do their job at a really high level.
07:47 So as a young guy, there's almost unlimited things he can learn.
07:50 But we gotta be careful as a coach, I gotta be careful.
07:53 You don't throw the whole book at the guy.
07:55 You teach him in a really organized, really sequential manner,
07:59 hopefully to set him up for success as soon as possible.
08:02 >> What does it take for you to be in- >> What adjustments have you made on
08:05 the offensive line to really have your fingerprints show there?
08:11 >> All right, so got a new thing going, got a new offense going here.
08:16 Right now, same five guys are playing out there, they played out there last year.
08:21 But we're operating in a different manner,
08:23 we're coaching them in a different manner.
08:24 We got a new offensive line coach, new offensive coordinator, new head coach.
08:28 We hope the offense is gonna have a lot of success around here.
08:33 Those guys I think are gonna be a big part of that thing.
08:36 Sometimes you have up years, you have down years.
08:40 I don't think you always judge people on the past,
08:42 judge people on what happened recently.
08:45 We're excited about working with our guys and
08:46 excited about some of the young guys we brought in.
08:48 And look forward to going to training camp,
08:50 look forward to getting some pads on here soon.
08:52 Cuz that's when we find a lot out about those guys inside, and
08:55 that'll be great to see.
08:57 >> What does it take for you to be in some guy's corner when you're cutting down
08:59 to 53?
09:00 I know special teams has a lot to do with it, but those guys are fifth,
09:03 sixth wide receiver, third, fourth tight end.
09:05 That you go to bat for them in those situations.
09:07 >> Yeah, gosh, every one of those situations kinda in my career
09:13 has been a little bit unique and a little bit nuanced.
09:16 And sometimes you need that certain receiver that fills that role that you
09:21 just don't have maybe with your starters.
09:25 And sometimes you just need that quality, hey,
09:27 this is a quality depth player that plays all over the field.
09:30 He does such a great job for us in a lot of different areas.
09:33 So it's a case by case basis and it's always hard.
09:38 It's always hard that time of year, but this is the exciting time of year where
09:42 guys just get to go play and get to go put their best foot out there and
09:45 we'll see what we got.