Anthony Richardson’s Draft Stock Is Soaring After Historic Combine Performance
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Indianapolis, Indiana (PSF) - The NFL Combine is essentially a job interview for all 32 franchises and an opportunity to improve your draft stock before your pro day and ultimately the draft. Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson is one of, if not the most polarizing prospect in this year’s draft class.
The destination of where Richardson is going to land come late April is in question, much like every other quarterback prospect he is competing against in this year’s class.
However, one thing is for certain: Richardson has the highest ceiling out of all the other quarterback prospects such as Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s CJ Stroud, and Kentucky’s Will Levis. As this ceiling might just be enough for one of the 32 General Manager’s in the league to pull the trigger on him in round one come draft day sooner than most people think. Richardson has drawn most pro comparisons to Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen with their similar frame, play style, traits, and overall raw talent coming out of college. All Richardson needs is the right coaching staff in place to coach the flaws out of his game in order for him to reach his sky-high potential and limitless ceiling much like how Allen received this coaching from now current New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll during their time in Buffalo together.
It is without question that Richardson is a unicorn and generational prospect talent coming out of Florida and in this year’s quarterback draft class. In fact, at the combine, Richardson scored a perfect 10.00 relative athletic score (RAS) which measures how athletic a prospect is based on six of any of the following metrics: Height, Weight, Forty-yard dash, Twenty-yard split, Ten-yard split, Bench Press, Vertical Jump, Broad Jump, Short Shuttle, and 3-Cone. The only other quarterbacks to ever score a 10.00 RAS are Cam Newton (who Richardson is nearly identical to physically) and Daunte Culpepper.
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Not only this, but Richardson leaped 10’09” in the broad jump, which is a QB record at the combine, jumped 40.5” in the vertical jump, which is also a QB record, threw a ball at a velocity of 60 MPH which is tied for second all-time at the combine, and posted a 4.43 in the 40-yard dash which is the 4th fastest ever by a QB. Safe to say that Richardson significantly boosted his draft stock and made himself a few extra dollars. According to ESPN NFL Draft Analyst and Insider Matt Miller, Richardson also crushed the interview process saying, “I talked to a handful of scouts last night …Every single one of them said Anthony Richardson is the best QB interview they’ve had this year.”
After his historic combine performance, Richardson’s odds of being the number one overall pick currently stand at +400 per Action Network, only behind fellow quarterback prospects CJ Stroud (-225) and Bryce Young (+175).
After his historic combine performance, Richardson will keep looking to add value to his draft stock as he has his pro day scheduled for Thursday, March 30th at Florida before the draft in late April.
