Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson is one of the top QB prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft. He could go in the top five or experience an all-too-familiar QB draft day slide. No matter where he ends up on draft night, the team that gets him is getting a signal-caller with the highest ceiling and the lowest floor in this year’s draft. So, let’s look at the Anthony Richardson scouting report to determine the three current and former NFL stars who are the closest Will Levis player comparisons.
Richardson is not just the most athletic quarterback in the 2023 NFL Draft. He might be the most athletic QB of all time. The numbers he put up at the NFL combine — 4.43-second 40-yard dash, 40.5-inch vertical, 10-foot, 9-inch broad jump — have never been seen from a signal-caller that’s 6-foot-4, 244 pounds.
The problem with the Anthony Richardson scouting report is that as athletic as he is, he doesn’t really know how to play quarterback. He put up two 400-plus-yard games passing this season at Florida (his only as a starter). However, he also has seven games with less than 200 passing yards.
The once-in-a-lifetime athleticism and the total lack of proven QB production mean that the difference between Richardson’s floor and ceiling is immense. With that in mind, here are the best Anthony Richardson player comparisons.
3. Michael Vick
With the right coaching and the right type of team around him, Anthony Richardson can be an early-career Michael Vick. He doesn’t have the top-end speed that Vick did, but he is not far off.
If the team that takes Richardson in the 2023 NFL Draft decides to use him like an option QB who throws some easy-read play-action when the defense creeps up, that can be a recipe for success.
Vick did become a better quarterback later in his career, but his accuracy and decision-making were never top-notch. One of the better outcomes for the Gators QB is that he goes to a wildly creative coach who loves to run the ball. Also, he’ll need an organization that is willing to build an unconventional outcome around him if this Anthony Richardson player comparison comes to fruition.
Richardson may never be Payton Manning, carrying his team on his back, or more specifically, his arm, to a championship. But with the right coach and team, he can be electric and win some games for his teams with his legs first.
2. Cam Newton
The best outcome in these Anthony Richardson player comparisons is Cam Newton. The former Carolina Panthers QB was wildly inconsistent but incredibly talented, and at his best, could win the NFL MVP and take his team to the Super Bowl, as he did in 2015-16.
Newton wasn’t the most accurate QB, but when he was on, his size, athletism, strength, and arm power made him one of the toughest matchups in the league.
Looking at the Anthony Richardson scouting report, a team will have the same concerns as they had with Newton. Will too many hits eventually suck his athleticism? And can he ever add consistency to his game to become truly great?
For Newton, the answers were, unfortunately, yes and no. If Richardson can check no and yes in those boxes, then his top-end Anthony Richardson player comparison could be Cam Newton 2.0.
1. JaMarcus Russell
If we talk about the best-case Anthony Richardson player comparison, we have to also talk about the worst outcome. Richardson won’t go No. 1 and probably not No. 2, so he won’t be in the running for the biggest NFL draft bust in history like JaMarcus Russell.
Also, Russell had personal demons off the field and in training that no one has ever suggested Richardson has.
All that said, their trajectories from college QBs to top NFL prospects are similar. Russell burst onto the scene with a great final year of college performance at LSU, and at the combine, he wowed everyone with his sheer size (6-foot-5, 265 pounds), athleticism, and arm strength.
Richardson will work harder and show up better than Russell did, but there is the same question as to whether a QB who looks like the Terminator in gym shorts but hasn’t actually played the position at an elite level yet can become a franchise QB.
Chances are, even if Richardson ends up somewhere near his floor, it won’t be the spectacular flameout that Russell was. Still, whether the word is fair or not, there is a lot of “bust” potential with drafting Richardson high in the first round, so buyer beware with this JaMarcus Russell-Anthony Richardson player comparison.
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