Anthony Richardson shows off powerful arm, athleticism with backflip on final throw of Florida Pro Day

Anthony Richardson showed out during the Florida Gators Pro Day, and he capped it off in phenomenal fashion.

The electrifying quarterback is projected to be one of the top picks at April’s 2023 NFL Draft, and his performance lended credibility to all of those enamored with his talents. Check out Richardson’s final throw, where he connected on an awesome deep ball and followed it with an exhilarating backflip.

The deep ball 🚀
The back flip 😮

Anthony Richardson put on a show at @GatorsFB Pro Day! pic.twitter.com/eLgiTMeXyq

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) March 30, 2023

That’s how you make a statement at your pro day. While NFL franchises won’t draft Richardson for his gymnastics, it’s pretty amazing to see a quarterback be able to pull off something like that.

Alas, Richardson showed off for a myriad of NFL franchises in attendance on Thursday, including the Las Vegas Raiders and the team that holds the first overall pick in the NFL Draft, the Carolina Panthers.

While some may question Richardson’s inexperience compared to the rest of the crop of talented signal callers, Chris Doering of SEC Network spoke with Panthers quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, who believes it could be a benefit moving forward.

“Not only have I talked to some members of Anthony Richardson’s team, I’ve talked to some members of the coaching staff of the team that has the No. 1 overall pick, that being quarterback coach Josh McCown of the Carolina Panthers, a guy that played in the league for a long time, obviously knows the position,” started Doering. “He’s been at all four of these top quarterback’s pro days over the last week, and obviously has had an up close and personal opportunity to evaluate each of these players. I asked him about what he likes as it relates to Anthony Richardson. He said you know, this is a guy that’s incredibly raw, hasn’t had a ton of coaching, hasn’t had a bunch of snap as a starting quarterback, and I asked him, I said, is that a good thing or a bad thing? He said, it’s a bad thing for the front office folks. For the people that are drafting a guy like that, being able to qualify how ready he is to be a starter at the NFL level. 

“But from a guy that’s coaching the position, it’s really intriguing, because he hasn’t had a ton of coaching. He hasn’t had a ton of the intricacies of playing the position taught to him, so from that perspective, he looks at that as a guy with a ton of upside, that has a lot of improvement, and it’s kind of fascinating to have the chance to kind of run him through that process of getting better from where he is right now to becoming a starter.”

Much has been made of Anthony Richardson’s physical gifts, and rightfully so, but getting to the right situation is just as important for him. Still, the risk could be worth the reward for either the Panthers, or whichever NFL team takes their shot on the Gators quarterback.