It's only preseason, but Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson's hype train is about to leave the station. And it looks like former Colt Pat McAfee is serving as the conductor.

McAfee, who punted for Indianapolis for eight seasons, joined the NFL on Prime Video broadcast booth during Thursday's game between the Colts and Eagles. After praising the announcing duo of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit, McAfee let a bold prediction rip.

“Anthony Richardson's gonna lead us to a Super Bowl.” McAfee stated calmly but confidently. Later on X (formerly known as Twitter) McAfee doubled down, replying to a clip of his prediction with the message “I said what I said.”

For many rookie quarterbacks, such a prognostication would only add unnecessary pressure. But Richardson appears supremely confident, so it's doubtful he minds the strong words from McAfee.

Even so, predicting a Super Bowl appearance for the 2023 fourth overall pick seems a bit premature. After all, Richardson started just 13 games in his college career at Florida, with a middling 6-7 record.

In the build up to the draft, pundits marveled at Richardson's athletic tools. But the word “raw” was thrown around liberally, and many expected Richardson to sit at least one season before earning a starting job. That won't be the case with the Colts.

Besides Richardson's mixed record in college, the Colts are coming off a season in which they fired their head coach and replaced him with a former player that had not coached above the high school level.

McAfee's prediction can be characterized as “bold” at this point, to put it mildly.

Then again, why expect anything else from the former punter turned media personality? After all, ESPN didn't just spend tens of millions on McAfee for lukewarm punditry.