Florida Football: Mel Kiper is officially out of his mind with QB grades

Florida football QB Anthony Richardson has been consistently graded out by NFL scouts and NFL draft analysts as a top five QB for the upcoming draft. We here at Hail Florida Hail don’t think Richardson is ready, but given his size, arm strength, and running ability there are reasons why the NFL would be excited.

What continues to make next to no sense is who continues to be rated higher than Richardson, not just by scouts but also by draft “experts.”

Florida Football: Banana Phone

During the Monday Night Football game last night, a graphic flashed showing ESPN’s Mel Kiper’s highest rated QBs for the 2023 draft. Anthony Richardson is his fourth rated QB, behind CJ Stroud and Bryce Young.

That’s fair.

But his top rated QB is going to get someone fired.

Will Levis?

The dude who has the big arm, yet there are 24 guys that had a better yards per passing attempt than him?

The dude that was 80th in total passing attempts, yet was bottom 25 in the country in interceptions?

Outside of being able to throw the football super far and eat bananas with their peel on, everything about Will Levi’s screams mid.

Against Florida football this season, against the defense that couldn’t stop anyone, Levis was mostly a non-factor. He had a 54% completion percentage, and while Kentucky won the game it wasn’t because of Levis. It was because Richardson imploded.

It’s one thing when NFL scouts fall in love with the QB with the big arm because they convince themselves that with coaching they can fix the flaws  of that player.

Guys like Mel Kiper have been around far too long to fall into that trap.

There is far greater upside with Richardson than Levis, and the Houston Texans have any sense to them they will steer clear of both when they are on the clock in April.