Across all players who participated in the NFL Draft Combine, one turned heads more than anyone else: Florida QB Anthony Richardson.
Richardson dazzled, putting his rare combination of size, speed, and athleticism on full display. Mike Kadlick and Alex Barth of Patriots beat broke down his combine, and discussed if there’s a world where the Patriots trade up to select him.
“I think Anthony Richardson was the winner of the entire combine,” said Kadlick. “He had the best combine I’ve ever seen from a quarterback.”
That’s been the takeaway from scouts and executives around the league. Richardson is undeniably raw, and would need to sit in order to develop into an NFL-caliber QB, but he has vaulted himself into the top 10 of this year’s draft. Some even believe he’s in the mix for the first overall pick.
With rumors of Josh McDaniels wanting Mac Jones in Las Vegas, an interesting, albeit highly unlikely, scenario would be trading Jones for the 7th overall pick. Richardson would have to slide down the board though, which isn’t expected after his performance this weekend.
“He’s not going to be there,” said Kadlick. “He’s going to be a top five pick.”
The Patriots would also have to reset their timeline and look well into the future to be competitive, something Bill Belichick doesn’t seem inclined to do.
“I don’t know that there are any realistic scenarios where they trade Mac Jones and become a better team in 2023,” said Barth. “Unless they want to make the team worse, it’s not going to happen.”
