Category: 2023 NFL draft

Anthony Richardson becomes 2nd first-round quarterback from 2023 to be benched

Anthony Richardson becomes 2nd first-round quarterback from 2023 to be benched

It’s been a tough go for every quarterback from 2023 not named C.J. Stroud. With Bryce Young being benched after just two games into the 2024 season, the same fate has not befallen former 4th overall pick Anthony Richardson.

Richardson has struggled all season, both with staying healthy and playing at an acceptable level when he has been on the field. On the year Richardson has just 4 passing touchdowns to 7 interceptions, awarding him an abysmal quarterback rating of 57.2 on the season. The boiling point for Richardson came last week when he took himself out of the game on a 3rd and goal play because he was “tired”. While he clearly was exhausted given the previous few plays, many circles will not look kindly on any quarterback taking themselves out of the game at any level of football.

All this being said, it is not the end of Richardson’s story. The Indianapolis Colts knew they were taking a bit of a project when they drafted Richardson given he had not played very much at the collegiate level and missed most of last year. This will be a chance for Richardson to reset, learn, and come back likely later into this season and show the rewards of patience. Only time will tell if Richardson can put it all together, but it is certainly not a good start for the quarterbacks of the 2023 draft class.

The 2023 Quarterback draft class is a mess

The 2023 Quarterback draft class is a mess aside from Texans star C.J. Stroud

Thinking about the 2023 quarterback NFL Draft class, the first name that comes to your mind is C.J. Stroud, and rightly so, given his performance in his first two seasons in the league. Undersold in the class is just how bad the other draft picks around Stroud have been.

Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis are all teetering on disaster for their respective franchises, and it’s starting to look like a botched class if things continue to play out poorly.

 

Young is the most obviously culprit out of the group, but it is hard to evaluate whether he is truly a “bust” or a product of the joke of a product that the Carolina Panthers have become. Young showed flashes in his rookie season but ultimately looked out of place, and in his second year was promptly benched after just two games which were blowout losses. Whether Young makes a rebound or not remains to be seen, and if he does it will likely be on a different team.

As for Richardson and Levis, both have looked subpar when on the field, and while both show flashes of serious physical talent, the end product has left much to be desired. Richardson missed most of his rookie season with injury, and now in his second year has both missed games and looks underdeveloped when healthy. Levis has had a cornucopia of mistakes that have put games out of reach and really put to question his decision-making as a quarterback.

 

Only time will tell how these three quarterbacks play out, but if things remain the same as they are right now, it’s unlikely any of these quarterbacks will be the starting going into the 2025 NFL season.

Recently-cut Saints WR is now a free agent after clearing waivers

A.T. Perry cleared waivers, and the Saints have an open spot on their practice squad. But what happens next might be up to him:

Now this is interesting. The New Orleans Saints waived wide receiver A.T. Perry last Friday, and when the waiver wire updated on Monday no team chose to pick him up, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. Now Perry is a free agent, but what happens next may be up to him.

Saints coach Dennis Allen has already expressed an openness to keeping Perry around on the practice squad, and wouldn’t you know it but the team has a spot open after promoting rookie offensive lineman Kyle Hergel to the 53-man roster. But that’s not to say Perry doesn’t have options. He could choose to sign with another team’s practice squad and see if he has more success, depending on whether he’s received any offers.

You just have to wonder what’s out there. 32 teams saw his name on the waiver wire and decided they had better players on their rosters already; had someone claimed him, that team would’ve had to let another player go to make room. Swapping out rostered players with those on practice squads is a much lower-stakes affair.

Perry fell to the sixth round in last year’s draft for unquantifiable “character concerns,” and that may have played a part in the decision to not claim him. And his problems in New Orleans have been with picking up the playbook and executing his role on offense. Maybe that’s what scared off those teams in the first place. There’s a good chance Perry remains with the Saints on their practiice squad, but that’s no sure thing. Otherwise they wouldn’t have risked losing him on waivers at all.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5]

Bryce Young benched by Panthers after Carolina’s terrible start

Bryce Young benched by the Carolina Panthers for Andy Dalton after terrible start

After a brutal start from the entire Carolina Panthers team, head coach Dave Canales has made the decision to bench quarterback Bryce Young. The No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft will sit behind veteran Andy Dalton for at least Week 3.

Young has struggled badly at the helm in his second season. Through Week 2, Young has completed just 55 percent of his pass attempts with a paltry 4.4 yards per attempt. He’s thrown three interceptions and zero touchdowns. All are regressing numbers from an underwhelming rookie campaign where Young threw for just 11 touchdowns and was sacked 62 times.

It’s unfair to pin all of Carolina’s losses and woes on Young; the roster is bereft of talent all over both sides of hte ball. However, Young’s failure to show any appreciable progress, and the veteran players who appear to be losing confidence in Young, forced a change.

Former No. 1 pick Bryce Young looks much-improved in first preseason action

Former No. 1 pick Bryce Young looks much-improved in first preseason action with the Panthers

One of the biggest stories out of the 2023 rookie class was the disastrous malfunction of both then rookie Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers team surrounding him. Not only did Young himself play far below expectations, the offensive line and weapons at his disposal lent to one of the worst rookie seasons we have seen out of a number one pick.

In the third and final week of the preseason Young saw his first action on the field in this new Dave Canales offense, as fans eagerly awaited any signs of hope from the former Heisman winner. Young showed off his ability to attack the middle of the field, make plays inside a collapsing pocket, and delivering accurate throws on the move.

It was a breath of fresh air for Young who seemed far more comfortable in a better offensive structure and surrounded by clearly better talent along his offense line and receiving core. Canales looks to have implemented play designs to play to the strength of Young and the structure of the playbook heading into this season will likely match the glimpse that we saw of Young’s preseason touchdown drive.

Cardinals don’t trade back in redo of first round of 2023 draft

In a redraft of the 2023 first round, the Cardinals do not trade back and simply select 2023 Defensive Rookie of the Year Will Anderson.

Last year, the Arizona Cardinals made waves with many trades during the NFL draft. They moved back from the third overall pick to No. 12 and then moved up to No. 6, selecting tackle Paris Johnson and acquiring multiple draft picks.

Should they have done what they did?

Looking back at the first round of the 2023 draft, Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy does a redraft.

Rather than trading back and trading up, he has the Cardinals staying at No. 3 and selecting pass rusher Will Anderson, who was drafted by the Houston Texans and ended up being the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

The Cardinals originally got offensive tackle Paris Johnson but instead opted for edge defender Will Anderson Jr. who took the league by storm.

Johnson was solid last year as a rookie at right tackle, playing every single snap. He now takes over at left tackle.

Should the Cardinals have just drafted Anderson rather than getting Johnson and using picks they acquired to land cornerback Garrett Williams, defensive lineman Darius Robinson and cornerback Elijah Jones?

If Johnson is a great left tackle and the other players are decent, it might be a wash.

If Anderson is a top pass rusher, it will be a great “what if”.

But the selection of Johnson established the need to protect Kyler Murray and it was somewhat symbolic because Johnson was the player Murray wanted the Cardinals to draft, strengthening his relationship with the new leadership.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Houston Texans’ best sleeper pick: Solomon Byrd, EDGE, USC

USC edge-rusher Solomon Byrd could be a surprise rookie in Houston’s edge-rush rotation.

This offseason, the Texans got that much closer to a Super Bowl defense by adding Danielle Hunter to their edge-rush profile with a two-year, $49 million contract with $48 million guaranteed. Hunter is a perfect complement to Will Anderson, the reigning Defensive Rookie of the year, as Hunter’s game is about speed and bend, while Anderson is all about power to the pocket.

To double down on that speed/bend thing, Houston also selected USC end Solomon Byrd with the 238th pick in the seventh round. That pick could pay off far past its value. Last season for the Trojans, the Wyoming transfer totaled seven sacks and 41 total pressures on 320 pass-rushing reps. There’s not much to say about Byrd as a run defender, but then again, the Texans probably won’t line him up inside 20% of the time in 3-man fronts as the Trojans did for whatever reason.

With Byrd, you put him on the outside in a rotation and let him hunt… or you let him use his formidable gap quickness on stunts and games. No reason to overthink it.

1 personnel director had it right about Chiefs WR Rashee Rice

Rashee Rice could be facing a suspension for his off-field issues.

In 2023, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rahsee Rice came on strong in the second half of his rookie season to finish with 79 receptions for 938 yards and seven receptions. He looked like the kind of player many of these pre-draft scouting reports said he was and seemed to justify his selection in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft.

But this offseason has been troubling for Rice with a serious off-field issue surrounding a car accident and Rice fleeing the scene. This also lined up with at least one scouting report on Rice and perhaps the only one that was willing to note how problematic Rice’s personality is.

Here is a line from NFL writer Bob McGinn’s predraft report on Rice”

At least one team, however, has removed him from its draft board because of behavioral issues. “He’s talented, but not a good dude,” one personnel director said.

The league has yet to impose any sort of punishment on Rice for the incident but it could be significant if the league looks back into Rice’s past and takes into account another incident he had while playing at SMU. The Chiefs didn’t take a thing for granted in the 2024 NFL draft when they selected Texas speedster Xavier Worthy in the first round.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

 

Giants had one of NFL’s least productive rookie classes in 2023

Pro Football Focus ranks the New York Giants’ 2023 NFL draft class among the least productive in football.

The New York Giants made seven selections in the 2023 NFL draft but nearly the entire class missed time last season due to injury.

As a result of those injury issues, their overall production was way down. In fact, Pro Football Focus outlines, the Giants’ 2023 rookie class was among the least productive in all of football.

A small saving grace actually came courtesy of an undrafted rookie — quarterback Tommy DeVito.

26. New York Giants

Total rookie snaps: 3,109

Notable rookies:

• QB Tommy DeVito (64.4 passing grade)

• CB Deonte Banks (48.6 coverage grade, 1.30 yards per coverage snap)

• C John Michael Schmitz Jr. (26.9 pass-block grade, 51.3 run-block grade)

• WR Jalin Hyatt (58.5 receiving grade, 1.16 yards per route run)

Only the Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Washington Commanders fared worse than the Giants.

Despite their underwhelming first season, many of the Giants’ second-year players are expected to play important roles. Cornerback Deonte Banks and center John Michael Schmitz are locked-in starters, while wide receiver Jalin Hyatt and running back Eric Gray will see significant offensive snaps.

The jury remains out on cornerback Tre Hawkins, defensive lineman Jordon Riley, and safety Gervarrius Owens.

[lawrence-related id=725776,725770,725764]

Marvin Harrison Jr. doesn’t work out at Ohio State pro day

Harrison even asked teams at the combine if they needed to see him do anything. They said no.

Wednesday was the Ohio State Buckeyes’ pro day to show off their draft-eligible players. The highest-profile player is receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., expected to be selected in the top five of the NFL draft next month.

But after not working out at the NFL combine last month, Harrison also did not work out at his pro day.

He did not do any athletic testing and has not been training for those athletic drills like the 40, three-cone and more.

This is not a surprise. According to SI.com’s Albert Breer, Harrison asked the nine teams he met with at the combine if they needed him to show anything. They all said no.

He is a player who doesn’t need to show anything else. Not all prospects can do that.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.