The Minnesota Vikings have the ability to go a lot of different directions in the 2023 NFL draft. Cornerback and wide receiver are the top two needs on the board but that could change as we enter free agency.
The least likely move that the Vikings could make this offseason is moving on from quarterback Kirk Cousins. He is due a cap hit of $36.25 million this season and the Vikings are a shade over $23 million over the salary cap. With him about to turn 35 years old, looking towards the future at the position is something that should be a priority.
This year’s quarterback class is going to have four, maybe five players selected in the first round. None of those options are more intriguing than Florida’s Anthony Richardson. He has all the tools to be successful and I have identified five reasons the Vikings should draft him this April.
Background
A four-star quarterback out of Gainesville, FL, Richarson grew up a hop, skip and a jump away from The Swamp where he would play his college ball. Known as a player with a big arm coming out of high school, he wowed the Gators players and coaching staff immediately when he joined the team for practice leading up to the 2020 Orange Bowl as an early enrollee.
Kyle Trask, the starting quarterback for the Gators in 2020 and a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, came away very impressed.
“He is a stud. He is going to be great for this university as well,” Trask said at the podium on Monday. “He has only been here a couple of days but I can’t say too much, but my first impression is that he is really athletic and he has a very strong arm. He is a very talented kid.”
Defensive end Jonathan Greenard, a third-round pick of the Houston Texans, came away with a similar opinion.
“He’s got some zip. The way he throws the ball. I’ve seen him just throwing it around, tossing it around – he’s got an arm. He’s got good size. He’s very mature coming in so far, kind of jelling with the older guys and young guys really well. Still trying to find himself a little bit on the team. But he’s going to be really good.”
Having grown up in the same town as his college choice, you could tell that Richardson was feeling the pressure, as he started out the season with zero passing touchdowns to four interceptions. The rest of the season, Richardson threw 17 touchdowns to only five interceptions in the remaining nine games and had nine total touchdowns on the ground as well.
Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire did a great breakdown of Richardson that focused on his growth from the first half of the season to the second half. You can read that here and I highly recommend you do for even more context.
We have seen a lot of comparisons to Josh Allen over the last two seasons, but Richardson fits the bill for a myriad of reasons, with most of them being good. Here is why both that and the Vikings taking him makes sense.
Elite arm talent
When it comes to Richardson, the traits are out of this world. There have been some quarterbacks who can throw with high velocity like Brett Favre and others who can throw it a country mile like John Elway. Richardson can do both.
This is something that will immediately translate to the NFL. When you get to the pro game, spacing is nowhere near what it is in the college game, so you want to look at throws that you can make in the NFL. This seam route to Ricky Pearsall he zips in there with accuracy and velocity. That is something you know that he will be able to do in the NFL.
This rep is one that Richardson thrives with. He is able to flick his wrist and send the ball 60 yards with ease.
On the first play of the game against LSU, Richardson drops back in play-action and fires the ball with ease to Justin Shorter for a quick touchdown. He drops it perfectly in the bucket and does it without effort. You don’t get to see something like this very often and it’s special when you do.
Ability to run the football
Make no mistake about it. Richardson is not a running quarterback. He’s great at it, but he wants to kill you through the air.
This is a prime example of just that. The Gators run a max protect deep shot concept with a corner and crossing route both flowing to the right. Richardson stays in the pocket wanting to throw the football. He realizes that he can’t get the ball to either Pearsall or Justin Shorter down the field and with the route concepts flowing heavy to the right, the entire left side is wide open.
Richardson sees that after about 3-4 seconds and takes it 45 yards for an easy and explosive touchdown. He looks like he will run in the low 4.4’s and it shows on the field.
Richardson shows a lot of patience in both the passing and running games. This play emphasizes that.
On a read-option play, Richardson sees the edge crashing and takes the ball in the open field. What is really impressive is how Richardson uses savvy instead of his size to take out defenders. He doesn’t try to initiate contact when he doesn’t have to, which is great for long-term health. His avoidance of contact is similar to Lamar Jackson and that’s something you want from a quarterback that runs with great effecitiveness.
Playmaking outside of structure
As a quarterback, you need to be great making plays within the structure of the play. What separates the great quarterbacks is thriving outside of it and creating plays.
When pressure comes at Richardson, he does a great job not panicking and evading the pressure, but what jumps off the screen is how Richardson is continuing to look down the field. He finds his receiver on the sidelines and fires a perfect football.
This play shows how good Richardson can throw on the move. The pocket collapses on him quickly and he bails to the weak side. In rolling out, he flows forward and fires a missile for a first down.
Home run hitter
When I spoke on rushing the football earlier, Richardson ran 45 yards for a touchdown and did so with an open field. He can outrun a lot of players, but he doesn’t just have that ability. He can evade and run through tacklers.
Against LSU, the Gators had gotten down 42-21 entering the fourth quarter. Richardson took it upon himself to change the game.
In his dropback, Richardson sees that the right side of the field has some green grass and he takes it. Not only does he evade tacklers, but ran through them as well. The ability to score from literally anywhere on the field isn’t something that a lot of players have in the NFL.
This play is what set the football world on fire in week one of the college football season.
The Gators were going for two to increase their lead to three points and Richardson performed some sort of voodoo magic to get the two-point conversion. When he gets pressured, he uses a stiff arm and spin move to evade it, keeps his eyes downfield and finds the receiver in the corner of the end zone. This is beyond special.
His issues can be fixed
The issues that Richardson has are mainly due to lack of reps. He only has 13 starts at the college level and only 393 passing attempts. With time, these issues can be worked through.
One of the things that Richardson struggles with is his footwork. He rushes his mechanics way too often, but most often does so on quick routes.
When he needs to flip his hips and set his feet quickly, Richardson doesn’t have the fluidness and technical savvy to get them set correctly with any form of consistency. When you pair it with his lack of wanting to throw passes with touch, this becomes a major issue.
This is another rep with both rushed mechanics and an unnecessary piss missile. He feels the pressure and doesn’t get his feet set while delivering a rocket ball with his upper and lower halves not anywhere close to being in-sync. With how he already loves to be super patient in the pocket and hits receivers down the field, this is something that is easier to work with than teaching pocket presence.
This is something that Richardson struggled with is reading coverages. He just wasn’t consistent here and that can be fixed with more time. Until then, it’s something that you have to live with. The linebacker drifts back in the zone and he gets an easy interception. Not something you love to see at all, but this was his fourth career start. He grew from his early season struggles which gives you more hope moving forward.
How does he fit with Kevin O'Connell's offense?
It is an interesting fit bringing in Richardson to this offense. What O’Connell loves to do is drive the ball down the field with a quarterback who works well in the pocket and can be accurate. Richardson does those things well, although his mechanical issues right now will be a hindrance.
What will be interesting is how Richardson and O’Connell adjust to each other. At Florida, the option and choice routes weren’t really there and it’s something that this offense thrives with. How quickly can Richardson grasp this and when will he be able to read the field quickly enough to maximize this offense? My guess is in year two but you don’t know and that’s where quarterback evaluation becomes so critical and difficult.
The other element is how will O’Connell adjust to the dual-threat nature of Richardson. His mentor Kyle Shanahan has shown the ability to successfully adjust when he was the Washington Commanders offensive coordinator for Robert Griffin III in 2012. Will he add a lot of RPOs, read-option and quarterback power and counter plays? That will be the key for maximizing him early and adding that dual threat would be massive for keeping the defense guessing.
