I feel like I’m repeating myself with all of these draft picks. The Indianapolis Colts have made one of the riskiest choices in the draft as they took Florida QB Anthony Richardson to be the franchise QB with the 4th overall pick.
As I said in the intro, this is another high risk-high reward draft selection. Though, this might be the biggest one of all the 32 choices.
The Indianapolis Colts have essentially gambled the next decade of the franchise’s future on a roll of the dice as they took Florida QB Anthony Richardson with the 4th overall pick, guaranteeing all future draft, free agent, and trade moves will be centered around developing Richardson. And, let me just say that’s not going to be an easy task given how little football Richardson has played at the collegiate level.
Not only is Richardson the youngest (20 years old) of the “Big 4” quarterbacks (Bryce Young: 21; C.J. Stroud: 21; Will Levis: 23) taken in the draft this year, but he’s also the one who’s played the least amount of college football before getting drafted into the NFL.
Bryce Young started 27 games (played in 34) for Alabama and led the team to a National Championship game, won the 2021 Heisman Trophy, and won the 2023 Iron Bowl before being drafted 1st overall by the Panthers, C.J. Stroud started 25 games for Ohio State (played in 26), led the team to two back-to-back CFB playoff appearances, and won the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year twice (2021, 2022), Will Levis started 24 games for Kentucky (played in 38 total college games for Kentucky and Penn University), was in the Top-10 of SEC passing stats in his two years at Kentucky, and finished with a 17-9 record as the starter.
Reversely, Anthony Richardson has started just 12 games for Florida (played in 22), left college as a junior (the other three QBs were in their senior years), and had a completion percentage of 53.8% last season. Now, passing isn’t what Richardson was drafted as his sheer athleticism and dynamic rushing ability (he finished with 161 CAR, 1,055 rushing yards, and 12 TDs in three seasons) is what rocketed him up the draft charts.
Still, if I was a Colts fan, I wouldn’t want to see Richardson suiting up for the team as the starting QB for at least the next 2-3 years. He’s one of the rawest talents amongst all the 1st round picks, let alone the quarterbacks taken, and has very little experience with leading teams to victory and meaningful trophies.
In fact, in the three years Richardson played for the Gators, his teams have gone 20-18, finished below .500 twice (including this past season with him as the starter), there have been three head coaches, they’ve had a 13-13 SEC conference record, and have lost all three bowl games (2020 Cotton Bowl, 2021 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl, 2022 Las Vegas Bowl). That’s not exactly what I’d call NFL ready experience.
I’m not saying that Richardson will be a bust or has doomed his NFL career by leaving college so early, but it’s definitely a much harder road for Richardson now that he has all the expectations of one of the most famous franchises on his shoulders.
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