In any given draft, there are several polarizing players. This year, one of those is Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson. The young signal-caller oozes with top-tier talent and arguably has the highest ceiling of any other player at the position in this 2023 class. That said, Richardson is a raw prospect who still needs a bit of refining before he can reach his immense potential, which makes him a bit of a gamble to take as QB1 late this month in the NFL Draft.
On Thursday, Richardson penned an open letter titled “Dear NFL GMs” in The Players’ Tribune and stated his case for why he is worth that roll of the dice. He highlighted his upbringing, coming from hard-working roots inspired by his mother. He also showcased his introduction to football led by his late uncle, Tanka, who passed away roughly a year after his family moved to Gainesville when Richardson was in the sixth grade and the quarterback noted that he “made a promise to myself that I was going to do everything in my power to get to the NFL” in his honor.
As for the on-field questions surrounding Richardson (like his 53.8 completion percentage last season), he addressed those head-on.
“I may not pay attention to all the noise, but I do hear the critics,” Richardson wrote. “I know the things people are picking apart. People talk about whether I can be accurate. They say I don’t have touch. They say I can’t throw short. They say a lot of things. All I gotta say is: Watch how hard I work. In my mind, I can do anything with the football in my hand — but I know that no one will ever work harder than me to improve.”
Richardson also noted that he’s ready to take the leap up a level from college to the pros in terms of the mental aspect of his position. He saw firsthand what type of advantage a deep knowledge of the game can be working behind fellow Gator and current Buccaneers quarterback Kyle Trask.
“Watching Kyle Trask helped my game a lot,” he said. “One of the best things I learned from watching him is, if you know your offense like the back of your hand, it’s easy to expose another defense. All you have to do is learn their tendencies and exploit them. Kyle knows almost every protection check, every route. And it clicked for me like, OK, that’s why it’s so easy for him to pick apart a defense. Seeing how easy it was for him to communicate with Coach Mullen, and Kyle knowing almost as much as Coach, it was like, This is probably why that guy is so good. So I just tried to implement that in my game, and add a little flavor to it whenever I’m on the field.”
Richardson is coming off a junior season where he threw for 2,549 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions while adding 654 yards on the ground and nine more scores. He is CBS Sports’ No. 9 overall prospect and the fourth quarterback prospect in this class behind Bryce Young. C.J. Stroud and Will Levis.
Whichever team does decide to pull the trigger and bring aboard Richardson, here’s his message to that franchise: “I promise that you won’t regret it.”
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Author: Tyler Sullivan
April 13, 2023 | 1:19 pm
