With the 2023 NFL draft just over one week away, ESPN is continuing its coverage of the top prospects in the draft. In a recent article, Matt Bowen lists the best prospect in 53 different skill categories. Among those 53, former Florida Gators quarterback [autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] takes the honor in two categories: Best Arm Talent and Best Scrambler.
At times last season, Richardson showed why he is in conversation to be the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft. He used his arm strength to his advantage, even if he lacked touch and finesse at times. His scrambling got the Florida offense out of multiple sticky situations and his pocket presence looked NFL-ready as early as the Tennessee game.
Here is what Bowen had to say about Richardson’s arm talent:
With a rare physical tools at 6-foot-4 and 244 pounds, Richardson can attack all levels of the field with his big-time arm strength. The ball simply explodes out of his hand, which puts him in a position to throw over the top of the defense or attack tight windows on both middle-of-the-field and boundary concepts. Yes, he needs to work on the accuracy part of it, but he can drive the ball and throws rockets. His 9.9 air yards per attempt ranked 16th in the FBS last season, and 46 of his 176 completions were on passes thrown at least 15 yards downfield.
And here is what Bowen had to say about Richardson’s scrambling ability:
Richardson can produce on designed carries or second-reaction scramble attempts, finding escape doors to get loose. He rushed for 654 yards this past season, including four carries of at least 45 yards, and his 6.4 yards per carry led all quarterbacks by a significant margin. Richardson is a game-breaker in the open field, with 4.43 speed, ball-carrier vision and the power to run through contact. And those traits as a runner will impact how opposing defenses game plan against Richardson in the pros.
At first glance, Richardson seems like a no-brainer to be the No. 1 overall pick. He has all the tools that a general manager would want in a franchise. quarterback. But while some may think that generational talents like Richardson are made in a lab, ready to take the field on day one, that’s just not the reality. As much talent and potential as Richardson has, the reality is that he does not have enough experience to justify being the first player off the board. And the experience that he has, shows the growing pains that he went through last season.
As most Gators fans would tell you, Richardson would benefit greatly from an additional season of experience as a starting quarterback. Despite that, first-round money (and potentially top-five-pick money) is too good to pass up. We’ll have to wait and see where Richardson ends up being selected, and just how good of a fit that team will be for him.
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