Louis Riddick shares his thoughts on why NFL teams are so excited about Florida QB Anthony Richardson

Former Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson is unquestionably the most polarizing prospect the NFL Draft has seen in quite some time and Louis Riddick only added to that. While he’s dripping with jaw-dropping physical tools and tantalizing potential, it’s abundantly clear that the former Florida Gator still is far from a finished product. In just his sophomore season, he only threw 17 touchdowns against nine interceptions. As a runner, he showcased his breathtaking running ability in the open field, rushing for over 100 yards in two games and piling up 654 total yards and nine touchdowns this year.

While many people believed he should have stayed in school for another year or two of development, Richardson decided to surprise everyone and enter the 2023 NFL Draft. Earlier on Wednesday afternoon on The Paul Finebaum Show, one of ESPN’s top NFL experts, Riddick, shared his thoughts on why he’s skyrocketed up draft boards this spring.

Louis Riddick on Florida QB Anthony Richardson

“Yeah, look. I think, in the NFL it’s all about future performance, projection. Right?” Riddick began. “And I think scouts and coaches alike always feel as though when you give them someone who has untapped potential from a performance perspective. And that’s really what Anthony Richardson has, he has untapped potential. We don’t know just how good this young man can be.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into why a guy performs at a high level or underperforms relative to his skill level. I think when you have that kind of question, NFL scouts and NFL coaches like that challenge. They get, I don’t want to say intoxicated but they become very, very interested in working with a young man like this.”

Riddick also believes Richardson should be able to handle everything thrown at him from a mental perspective.

“And from what I have heard, there are no limitations from a mental perspective. He can learn. He can do all the things from a cerebral standpoint that are required in the NFL to play at a high level. He’s someone who has proven to obviously have the physical durability and the capacity to throw the football in ways that we don’t see very often,” Riddick continued.

“And maybe a lot of it has to do with his surroundings down there in Florida in terms of him not being able to reach his potential. I don’t know. I haven’t really dug into that situation off the field as far as what was around him. How he was being taught. How he was being brought along to really come up with a definitive opinion about it. But I can tell you this, there are people in the NFL behind me who are doing that work right now and when you find the unknown in terms of how high could his ceiling really be. Not knowing if he has the best of all worlds down there in Florida.

“With the god-given ability he has. That’s very, very enticing, man. Especially in a league where quarterback play, dynamic quarterback play is something that every team is after. It’d be hard for you to kind of turn your back and go, ‘Well I’m not really gonna be really interested here in the first round’ in the guy who presents the kind of physical skills that this young man presents.”

With as much risk as Richardson poses, it’d be easy to think that Richardson would drop lower into the late first round or maybe even into the second or third rounds. From everything he’s hearing, Riddick would be shocked if he dropped outside the top ten.

“Now it’s just a matter of where exactly do you take him? Look, he’s gonna go in the first round. It’s just a matter of where relative to what kind of risk he poses. That’s all it’s gonna come down to. I would be shocked if he gets outside of the top ten. I know how NFL teams think. I would be shocked if he gets outside the top ten, absolutely floored, to be honest with you,” Riddick said.

It’s certainly going to be intriguing where Richardson ends up in the NFL and how his career ends up playing out in the future. There’s no question that he comes with a remarkably high level of risk and excitement at the same time.