“He’s a good friend of mine and someone I cheer for when we’re not playing him,” Stroud said this week. “(He’s) someone I’ve gotten to know over the years and have a friendship with that I think will last a long time.”

Stroud admires and respects Richardson, who started just 17 times during his college season and as a rookie last season. Stroud knows Richardson has the size (6-foot-4, 250 pounds), speed (4.4 seconds), athleticism and arm strength to become a dangerous NFL weapon.

“I think he’s an all-around quarterback, someone who can make all the throws and also run the ball dynamically, someone who’s committed to the offense,” Stroud said. “When I watched him in the preseason, it looked like he was running at full speed. Like he was processing the game a lot better and taking his assessments and taking what the defense was giving him.”

Richardson wants to be healthy and show significant improvement in his second season. Stroud, who was 9-6 as a starter in the regular season, including 9-4 after starting 0-2, has something special planned this season.

“I would say I want to start fast,” he said. “It’s not about a specific game, but about the season in general. Last year we started slowly and had to fight our way back. That’s not easy.”

“This year we want to start fast and gain confidence early. I think we put in a lot of work in training camp and now it’s up to us to do our best on Sunday.”

After the Colts, the Texans play the Bears at home, the Vikings on the road and the Jaguars at home. None of them made the playoffs last season. They will play their first playoff team on October 6 when they host the Bills.

Backed by an offense that includes wide receivers Nico Collins, Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs, tight end Dalton Schultz and running back Joe Mixon, Stroud is ready to take on any challenger. The experience of his rookie season – winning a division title and a playoff game – gives Stroud more confidence knowing what to expect.

“Yeah, you kind of know what to expect, (but) then you don’t know what to expect because it’s week one,” he said. “I’m very excited because it’s a big challenge, a division game, and we know what happened there last year (but) that’s over.”