Hail Florida Hail
Fansided

Florida Football: We love Anthony Richardson, but understand the risk

By Benjamin Henderson

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 27: Anthony Richardson #15 of the Florida Gators takes the field before the start of a game against the Florida State Seminoles at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on November 27, 2021 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 27: Anthony Richardson #15 of the Florida Gators takes the field before the start of a game against the Florida State Seminoles at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on November 27, 2021 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

It was a roller-coaster season for Florida football fans in 2022 and one that deserved better if Patrick Toney had anything besides one static defensive scheme. So when people ask “How did Florida have the potential number one draft pick at QB and still go 6-7?” that’s how.

But if we are honest with ourselves, for as much as we love Anthony Richardson, we here at Hail Florida Hail are not convinced he’s the number one prospect coming out of college football and think whoever is drafting him is taking a major gamble.

Florida Football: You’ve been warned

By now you have probably seen all the highlights of Richardson’s 2022 season floating around Twitter and they are special. His pump fake 360 vs Utah, his 81-yard TD run vs LSU, and his 52-yard deep shot against FSU are just some of the plays that showcase the sky-high ceiling that Richardson has.

Truthfully, what NFL teams are drafting is that off chance that he reaches that ceiling and becomes the next Joe Burrow or Patrick Mahomes.

If he turns out to be the next Zach Wilson, teams can recover given how the NFL salary cap works.

There are a lot of red flags though that pull him closer to Wilson than Burrow.

The biggest of which is his overall accuracy. While he can hit the 50-yard deep bomb, he can’t hit the 5-yard out with any consistency. While he can run for 50+ yards if he needs to, he can’t hit a 10-yard curl with consistency.

In that FSU game, Richardson was 9-27 passing. Against Kentucky, he was 14-35. USF was 10-18 and even in the rout of South Carolina, he was only 11-23.

His overall completion percentage with Florida football in 2022 was 53.8%. To put in perspective how bad that is, Quinn Ewers from Texas was 100th in the nation in completion percentage at 58%.

The before mentioned Wilson was dead last in the NFL this past season with 54%. Baker Mayfield was next to last with at 60%.

And while his legs are his strong suit and the modern NFL encourages running QBs, there are also injury concerns for Richardson when he does run. We all remember his 2021 run vs USF that resulted in a bad hamstring.

https://twitter.com/ESPNNFL/status/1631429986275016704?s=20

So while all reports seem to be that Richardson is crushing the interview process, and he will probably put on a show today at the NFL Combine, please understand if you are a fan of the team that winds up drafting Richardson that while the ceiling is as high as anyone, his floor is also as low as it goes.

We watched it all year with the Florida Gators.

Home/Florida Gators Football