How Bernhard Raimann learned to stand up for Anthony Richardson: 'You never let that happen'

PHILADELPHIA -- Bernhard Raimann was straining through a pass block deep in the backfield when he spotted something he never wanted to see.
Anthony Richardson was standing nonchalant in the pocket, assuming a play in the joint practice between the Colts and Eagles was dead. But Derek Barnett thought otherwise, and the Eagles edge rusher swiped the football loose from Richardson's arms, scooped it up and began running it back for a hypothetical touchdown.
That's when Raimann jumped into Barnett's face and shoved him backward. A scrum ensued with a handful of players on both sides.
"You don't always see what happens, exactly," Raimann said. "All you know is they're not supposed to touch the quarterback."
This was just a few snaps before the fight that ended practice, when Zaire Franklin cracked Kenneth Gainwell and Jason Kelce ran him over from behind and nearly every player converged at midfield.
This one was smaller and was extinguished far more quickly. It likely would have been nothing had Raimann not decided to act.
"Sometimes instincts come in the way," Richardson said of the swipe. "Guys are trying to attack the quarterback and get the ball. It just shows me that I need to be careful in the pocket and know what I'm doing."
Perhaps something bigger is happening here. Maybe this is a second-year left tackle growing into one of the most difficult jobs in sports.
"You never let that happen as an offensive lineman," Raimann said. "You stand up for your teammate and especially your quarterback."
It's a lesson he and the Colts offensive line had to learn the hard way in January. The same starting group that will protect Richardson this year was on the field for a pass play against the Giants when Kayvon Thibodeaux stormed in unblocked and smacked Nick Foles to the ground. Foles landed on the football and writhed in pain, and Thibodeaux began performing snow angels, the tips of his hand and foot rubbing up against the quarterback.
None of the Colts linemen reacted to the taunting. The moment became a hot-button topic in the coming days, as the line received a lashing from interim coach Jeff Saturday.
"I'm disappointed from the O-line's perspective and teammates in general," the former Pro Bowl center said. "We protect our own, man."
Raimann was a rookie back then, making his 10th career start. By then, the year had sucked so much life out of a 24-year-old who grew up in Austria and was so far from home.
This was not the redshirt season it was supposed to be for a third-round pick out of Central Michigan who had only played offensive line for two years. Raimann was thrown into his first start on a short week in Denver on Week 5 and saw early struggles, including a Week 9 loss to the Patriots in which he and the Colts offensive line allowed nine sacks.
That night, general manager Chris Ballard caught him trudging to the bus with tears streaming down his cheeks.
“I remember telling him, I said, ‘Look, you’re going to have days like this in this league,’” Ballard said. “And I said, ‘But your mental toughness and your ability to reset is important.’
"And I said, ‘And for you to make it, you have to do that.’”
The nurturing has been a give-and-take so far, as Ballard also seethed over the line's inaction to Foles' injury.
"I do believe, and I’ll never lose this, your offensive line demeaner, attitude, aggressiveness is contagious to the rest of the team," Ballard said. "At the end of the day, even though I thought they played better, they are not playing to the standard they have set. As far as that play, I expect our players, and I think they do, I expect our players to protect their teammates. You protect your own.”
But Ballard allowed the moment to become a lesson rather than a pink slip. Despite cap space and 12 draft picks this spring, he decided to roll back those five starting linemen from the Giants game.
He liked how they improved in the run game late in the season. And he chalked up some of the struggles at left tackle and right guard to youth.
Because of Matt Pryor's struggles to make a position switch to left tackle, Raimann received his lessons earlier and harsher than planned, but his 711 snaps as a rookie can set him up for future growth.
"We were never as down on him as everyone else," assistant general manager Ed Dodds said. "We knew he was going to have some struggles as a rookie, and it was just go out there – trial by fire.”
Dodds has been impressed by Raimann's growing technique, namely in the 25-year-old's hands and his punch to throw edge rushers off their initial move. He sees a tackle who has gone from sitting back and catching more developed players to being the one to initiate contact.
"Last year, the play calls get a lot longer, the guys come faster, bigger and stronger," Raimann said. "Getting used to everything has helped me a ton. ... Just trying to improve on the craft has made a difference."
Fueling that confidence is also more body mass. Raimann estimates that he added 15 pounds of muscle in his first full offseason program, taking him to 318 pounds at 6-foot-6.
"He looks huge, which is awesome," left guard Quenton Nelson said. "That's going to help him a lot in handling a bull rush."
That is really where the problems manifested and why Raimann needed a redshirt season. The math and science weren't on his side yet. He entered the league at 303 pounds, or in the 35th percentile among tackle prospects since 1987. It was the one problem area in his Relative Athletic Score that otherwise ranked in the top 2% all-time.
As a result, Raimann had plenty of sound snaps as a rookie, but the low moments grew lower on obvious passing downs, when stronger veterans such as Bradley Chubb, Danielle Hunter, Maxx Crosby and Brandon Graham could launch their full frame into him with no regard for the run. Raimann found himself trying to do too much to compensate, leading to five holding and two false start penalties.
He learned in those moments why the best left tackles earn more than $20 million per season. Protecting the blindside of a quarterback is essential in a passing league, but doing so consistently while moving backward against elite athletes is one of the toughest asks. The struggles can compound, with the physical bleeding into the mental and emotional. There's so much more to lose with a bad rep than a touchdown allowed or a pass dropped.
One misstep can leave a teammate hurt on the ground.
He and the Colts ran into much of that last season, with Foles and Matt Ryan suffering serious injuries. The moments grew draining on the normally smiling rookie, but over time they built an edge in him that was always going to be essential to hitting his potential.
This spring, the Colts made their biggest decision since drafting Andrew Luck when they spent the No. 4 overall pick on Richardson. They bought into a quarterback with historic athleticism but plenty of his own youth and rawness as a 20-year-old with 13 starts above the high school level.
So far, Richardson has not looked overwhelmed, earning the trust of his teammates and coaches in order to become their Week 1 starter. With 4.44-second 40-yard dash speed, 6-4 and 255-pound size and the vertical jump abilities to pivot all over the pocket, he plays the position on a different scale than the quarterbacks Raimann had as a rookie.
"Sometimes it's a little tricky because you have to learn to let go of a D-Lineman who moves suddenly in the opposite direction because you don't have eyes in the back of your head," Raimann said.
"You have to finish every play to the whistle. You never know what he does back there."
Raimann, who has had a rather clean preseason in pass protection, has been struck by how confident and accountable Richardson has been as a leader in the huddle. He also knows that as a rookie at a premium position, it's not all going to be perfect this season. If he makes 17 starts, Richardson is likely to face some version of his own "Welcome to the NFL" moment like Raimann did in New England and New York.
That's why his left tackle felt the need to send a message in Philadelphia. Nobody knows exactly what this rookie quarterback will do or where he'll take them, but Raimann is making sure he can play without fear.
The time for standing around is over.