With Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll departing the sidelines, Andy Reid is one of the oldest coaches in the league, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to call it a career any time soon. In other news, Anthony Richardson spoke out about his physical play style, while Panthers tight end Hayden Hurst discussed Bryce Young’s rookie struggles.
NFL Rumors: Andy Reid, Anthony Richardson, Bryce Young
Andy Reid Not Planning On Retiring Any Time Soon
2024 is only 12 days old, and the year has already proven that nothing good lasts forever. In the last week alone, the football world saw coaching greats Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, and Bill Belichick leave their respective positions. This makes Andy Reid one of the longest-tenured coaches in the NFL, but the soon-to-be 66-year-old isn’t going anywhere.
When asked about retirement, Andy Reid simply said “I haven’t even thought about that…I figured that would come up when you guys were asking these questions because I’m old – but, not that old.”
It’s hard to blame Andy Reid for wanting to stick around. For one, he’s still quite a bit younger than Belichick and Carroll, both of whom are in their 70’s and still expressed a desire to keep coaching. Second off, he has Patrick Mahomes. As long as Reid has Mahomes and is enjoying the job, it’s hard to see him stepping away from the game. The reigning Super Bowl champions face off against the Miami Dolphins on Wild Card Weekend, and Reid will be there to try and guide his team to yet another deep postseason run.
Anthony Richardson Isn’t Going To Change His Style of Play
The Indianapolis Colts selected Anthony Richardson with the fourth pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and the Florida product looked like one of the most explosive players in the league when on the field. Unfortunately, he was only on the field for four games, as a series of injuries effectively ended his rookie season before it ever began.
Anthony Richardson’s season ultimately ended due to a shoulder injury, and he recently told reporters that he plans to start throwing again in about a month. While this injury was caused by his penchant for running, the former first-round pick said that he isn’t going to let this injury impact his game.
“I feel like I’m going to stay the same, keep being me,” Richardson said, via the Indianapolis Star. “I can’t try to run through everybody. If it’s a first-and-10, I need to get what I can get, get down, get out of bounds, get to the sideline, do what I can do…I’m a big, physical guy, I love to play physical, and people don’t really expect that from QB’s.”
While it sounds like Richardson will try to protect himself more, the fact of the matter is that he’s not going to stop running. Hopefully, his rookie season was just an outlier and he will be able to handle the beating that comes with playing in the NFL. After all, injuries can be fluky – last year at this point, Lamar Jackson and Tua Tagovailoa had serious injury concerns, and they’re two of the only quarterbacks to start all 17 games in 2023.
Hayden Hurst: Bryce Young Overwhelmed During Rookie Season
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young had a rookie season to forget. Starting on a team with no real supporting cast, the Alabama product finished the season ranked at or near the bottom of just about every quarterback metric out there. While Young deserves some blame for his shortcomings, tight end Hayden Hurst believes his situation did him no favors.
“I think there’s just too many opinions and you’re kind of looking for the right answer from everybody. Too much input, which sucks for Bryce,” Hurst said, via the team’s website. “I think he kind of had a lot of people in his ear telling him one thing…I think maybe he was listening to too many people.”
Hopefully, Hurst is right about this one. For better or worse, the Panthers are stuck with Young for the foreseeable future, as they do not have a first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. If Carolina wants Young to turn into a true franchise quarterback, the Panthers will need to hire the right head coach for the job.
Main Photo: Orlando Ramirez – USA Today Sports
