(CNN) The road to the NFL Draft always comes with a prospect from college that everyone falls in love with, even though it’s not the finished article.
Sometimes it’s due to physical traits exhibited in the combine; sometimes it’s their personality; or sometimes it’s their performance on their particular pro day in front of scouts.
This year’s golden boy is Anthony Richardson and in his unique case, he’s impressed at every stage of the process.
Richardson ran the fastest 40-yard dash time of any quarterback and jumped the highest and furthest at the combine.
But it was on his pro day at the University of Florida that his big arm and versatile skills lit social media and had teams drooling over his potential.
He literally almost threw the ball out of the building when one of his booming throws hit the hall’s ceiling.
Richardson has become the most enticing prospect in the draft; Some are reportedly seeing him as the next Josh Allen — a diamond in the rough who’s taking years to perfect but has elite potential — with teams all the way to the No. 1 Carolina Panthers considering taking him on.
It’s those rough edges that could make him drop the draft command. But the prospect of the “what if” that comes with Richardson — and that’s at just 20 years old — is one that general managers and coaches across the league have been unable to turn a blind eye to for years.
NFL analyst Lance Zierlein described him in his official draft profile as having “elite size, strength and athletic ability for the quarterback position…potential to perform in a variety of offensive schemes…arm strength to move downfield and in tight to throw windows”. , but also points to its transient inaccuracy.
With a potential nine picks in the first 12 held by quarterback-needy teams, Richardson could find a new home anywhere in the league.
rough diamond
Richardson first burst onto the football scene not because of his ability to throw the ball, but because he catches it instead.
In his first game for Florida’s Eastside High School, Richardson was used as a wide receiver and was caught making an exceptional one-handed jump catch similar to Odell Beckham Jr.’s for the New York Giants.
That video, posted over four years ago, has become a portent of the athleticism Richardson is known for today.
Richardson says he has a new tattoo that reads “1 of 1” to describe his unique skills.
“A lot of people say I’m a different race. I always tell people I’m not from Earth,” Richardson told ESPN. “I’m gifted, I’m talented. I feel like God made me different and I just try to use that in my daily life.”
He quickly earned the first quarterback spot before deciding to attend the University of Florida. College was only 15 minutes from his high school.
Richardson’s start to life with the Gators was underwhelming; He wore a redshirt in his freshman year and attempted just 64 passes in his second.
It wasn’t until his third year of college that he set the standard, starting 12 games and throwing for 2,549 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions as the team with him at the top finished in a 6-6 record. He also rushed for 654 yards and nine more touchdowns.
Richardson throws a pass during the game against the Florida State Seminoles on November 25, 2022.
This means Richardson only has 13 career college starts to his name going into the draft. According to ESPN, it would be the lowest number of college starts since 2002 for a quarterback first-round draft pick if selected in the opening round on a par with Mitch Trubisky.
Despite the lack of experience, the evidence on tape shows Richardson has the skills.
Richardson’s energy with the ball in his hands isn’t limited to throwing; The young quarterback has had touchdown runs for 45, 60, 73, 80 and 81 yards over the past two seasons.
But despite those wow games, both in throwing and running the ball, Zierlein reckoned Richardson “will need a lot of work that needs to be done to reach a potentially high ceiling.”
“His accuracy on short and easy throws was lacking, in part due to poor footwork and inconsistent rhythm. The footwork issues can be corrected but the challenge will be to see if he can be a functionally accurate passer at least to the next level.”
But it’s this hope that Richardson can maximize his potential that has teams intrigued.
According to FiveThirtyEight, Richardson’s draft stock went from a mid-first-round pick at the end of a college season to a top-five pick in a matter of months.
The comparison Richardson drew from analysts is to Cam Newton — a physically dominant quarterback with some accuracy issues.
In 2011, Newton had an exciting final season with Auburn, winning the Heisman Trophy and the NCAA Championship, and eventually having a highly successful NFL career with the Carolina Panthers, including winning the 2015 NFL MVP award.
It’s a high bar to match producing an MVP, but Richardson’s ceiling is so high that Newton’s career path is exactly what a team that picks him in the top five in the draft will be hoping for.
Richardson searches for a receiver during the game against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Richardson would also continue the trend of teams in the draft prioritizing quarterbacks who excel at both throwing and running the ball – Trevor Lawrence, Trey Lance and Justin Fields in 2021 and Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts in 2020 everyone counts mobility in their arsenal of weapons.
And nobody wants to miss out on picking a franchise quarterback; Nobody wants to be the Chicago Bears who prefer Trubisky to Patrick Mahomes. While Mahomes has won two Super Bowl rings and two league MVPs, Trubisky is on his third team and has settled into a backup role.
Next Thursday, Richardson could be drafted first overall or he could leave the top 10.
His rare combination of athleticism and a big arm is an intriguing prospect and could have general managers tearing their hair out if they decide to look past him, or could change their prospects entirely if he reaches his potential.