The Colts must decide: Is Anthony Richardson's historic upside worth the gamble?
INDIANAPOLIS -- Anthony Richardson stood with his heels on the 35-yard line at Lucas Oil Stadium and started to wind his arm. All 32 3/4 inches rotated like a windmill from his tree-trunk thigh to somewhere above his 6-foot-4 frame. His knees barely made a dent by the time the ball released.
It landed 40 yards later.
The Florida quarterback put on a show on the one day he was expected to hold center stage, at on-field workouts at the NFL Scouting Combine. But for all the dazzling moments that came through, from the quarterback-record 40.5-inch vertical jump and 129-inch broad jump to the 4.43-second 40-yard dash at 244 pounds, what perhaps became most evident was how effortless these acts were.
"I want to be a legend," Richardson said. "I want to be like Patrick Mahomes. I want to be like Tom Brady. I want to be one of the greats. I will be one of the greats."
Richardson is a 21-year-old quarterback riding the confidence he sees when he peeks in a gym mirror or uncorks a football and waits for it to land. He's a Florida quarterback drawing comparisons to another former one in Cam Newton, based on a mammoth frame that has become the fascination of this year's combine.
He needs that confidence to push past the details at a quarterback position that so often lives in the weeds. For as many heads as Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson have turned with their otherworldly traits in recent years, the traits that have defined the position that operates an offense in the NFL have long been hard to find in a broad jump or a sprint on turf. And when Richardson says he looks up to Tom Brady, the owner of one of the worst combine performances of all-time, it becomes an acknowledgement that there's more that will have to unpack than what spilled out on a turf on Saturday.
By the numbers, Richardson has a long way to go to reach that total package. He's started just one season in college, where his team went 6-6 and he threw 17 touchdowns to nine interceptions with a 53.8% completion rate. He did add 654 yards and nine touchdowns rushing.
But as a one-year starter with accuracy concerns, he's trying to become an anomaly now. No quarterback in the past 20 years has had remote NFL success with similar marks in career passing yardage and completion rate.
"I can definitely get better at delivering the ball and helping my guys out," Richardson said. "But I also can't catch every pass. If I could, I would, definitely."
He's still riding on that confidence, so if you ask if he's a project quarterback, you have to be prepared for the smoke.
"I don't even know what that means, 'project label,'" Richardson said, before coming back to the point later. "You know, my guy right there said I'm a project. So I guess teams already know that I have room to grow."
Trail-blazers exist sometimes in this league, too, especially as the NFL has continued to expand its parameters for what it takes to be a quarterback. Russell Wilson once went in the third round due to his lack of height, only to succeed so much he paved the way for Kyler Murray to go No. 1 overall. Allen had a career 56.2% completion rate at Wyoming and, through a few years of development, has emerged as one of the top three quarterbacks in the sport.
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Can Allen pave the way for Richardson to follow a similar path? That's the question on the mind of evaluators, many of whom were present as the Florida quarterback ran and measured his way to Cam Newton levels Saturday. (By Relative Athletic Score, Richardson surpassed Newton as the most athletic quarterback in the history of the event.)
One of those teams was the Colts, who had Shane Steichen in the stands and Reggie Wayne on the field as Richardson put on his show. They hold the No. 4 pick and have made it clear they are targeting a quarterback after five different Week 1 starters in the past five years. They are taking hard looks at four players in the conversation, from Richardson to Alabama's Bryce Young to Ohio State's C.J. Stroud to Kentucky's Will Levis.
On one hand, Richardson could be a good fit for Steichen, who helped develop Jalen Hurts' accuracy and unleashed his athleticism to the tune of 22 passing touchdowns, 13 rushing touchdowns and an MVP runner-up finish last season with the Eagles. Drafting him could be a bet on Steichen the way the Bills once bet on a young Brian Daboll.
On the other, the Colts don't have a suitable bridge quarterback to allow Richardson to sit and learn if that's what they determine he needs. Allen came into the league with two years of starting experience compared to one for Richardson. He played the position as a pass-first player, where Richardson described himself as something different right now.
"I'm able to do everything on the field -- run over people, jump over people, run past people, throw the ball pretty well," he said.
After Richardson set records in the athletic testing, he took to throwing side-by-side with Stroud, and the debate took on a twist. Stroud threw out and slant routes with consistent mechanics and ball placement, whereas Richardson started fairly strong and tapered off, as he missed both high and low. Stroud was expected to be far ahead in this area after two Heisman finalist seasons at Ohio State.
And with Young sitting out all of the drills and resting on his two years of Heisman finalist tape at Alabama, it all sets up the ultimate debate of traits versus production.
Deciding where exactly to take a player like Richardson in the draft is the new conundrum. Much like his passes, he could land just about anywhere.
Contact Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Is Anthony Richardson's historic upside worth the gamble?
