Just over a day remains as the hours tick down ahead of the 88th annual edition of the 2023 NFL draft starting on Thursday, April 27, and running until Saturday, April 29, in Kansas City, Missouri. With the big day almost nigh, sportswriters have been busy submitting their final mock drafts ahead of the 8 pm EDT hour.
Among the top prospects in this year’s spring spectacle is former Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson, a hometown native who played for the Eastside Rams in high school. The über-athletic play-caller is one of the most coveted players in the draft with many projecting him to be selected in the top 10 — if not higher.
Take a look below at an aggregation of 10 different mock drafts from around the sports publishing world, which includes the pick number, the NFL franchise and the author’s blurb on the pick.
USA TODAY Sports: Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
PICK: No. 4
TEAM: Indianapolis Colts
Talk about odd pairings. Richardson, a 6-4, 244-pound passer with 4.43-second speed in the 40-yard dash and a spotty college resume, hardly seems like the kind of quarterback that Chris Ballard would want to stake his career on after being the Colts GM. unmoved by so many other young passers in recent years. At this point, though, Ballard needs to make a big swing, and his options at No. 4 might be somewhat limited. Regardless, the Colts should take comfort in knowing that new coach Shane Steichen looks like a strong candidate to accelerate Richardson’s development given his work tapping into Jalen Hurts’ rushing ability while fine-tuning the quarterback’s play as a pocket passer.
Sports Illustrated: Albert Breer
Tim Warner/Getty Images
PICK: No. 19
TEAM: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I didn’t want to give them a quarterback, because I think the Bucs are excited to see what they have in Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask. And if it were Levis sitting there for Tampa, I might go with, say, Oklahoma OT Anton Harrison. But the value of Richardson being here, in tandem with the top tackles being gone, makes this a swing that Tampa has to take in its first year post–Tom Brady. And those other quarterbacks on the roster? They would give the Bucs leeway to sit Richardson for a year if they wanted to.
CBS Sports: Josh Edwards
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
PICK: No. 5
TEAM: Seattle Seahawks
Seattle restarts the financial clock at quarterback with the selection of Anthony Richardson. He is afforded the time to grow and develop as a professional under the guidance of Geno Smith before being inserted into the starting role.
The Athletic: James Boyd
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
PICK: No. 4
TEAM: Indianapolis Colts
After the smoke cleared with Houston at No. 2 and Arizona at No. 3, the Colts’ decision came down to Kentucky’s Will Levis or Florida’s Anthony Richardson. They chose the latter, with Richardson having the most upside of any player in this year’s class. New coach Shane Steichen’s track record with QBs — most recently Eagles dual-threat superstar Jalen Hurts — gives the team confidence that he can help develop Richardson the same way. Gardner Minshew will likely start the season, but Indy believes his patience will pay off after potentially landing his first franchise quarterback since Andrew Luck retired in 2019.
ESPN: NFL Nation
AP Photo/John Raoux
PICK: No. 4
TEAM: Indianapolis Colts
The Colts can’t come away from this draft without addressing their long-running quarterback need. Picking fourth overall gives them the best opportunity they’ve had to do that since picking Andrew Luck No. 1 overall in 2012. This choice was difficult. The Colts love Will Levis as well, but the thinking here is that they bet on Richardson’s rare traits and immense upside — an approach GM Chris Ballard has emphasized in the past.
Pro Football Focus: Staff
AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack
PICK: No. 2
TEAM: Houston Texans
Go big or go home. Richardson provides elite traits and tools at quarterback and is a much more polished prospect in the pocket than many would make you believe. He needs to clean up his mechanics, which will improve his accuracy. We’ve seen that happen with Patrick Mahomes, who had sloppy footwork in college, and also with Josh Allen, who needed better synchronization between his upper and lower body to place the ball more accurately. Richardson has more of an uphill climb from an accuracy standpoint than those two, but his uncoachable traits are worth the risk.
NFL.com: Charles Davis
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
PICK: No. 11
TEAM: Tennessee Titans
The Titans grab the QB with the highest ceiling, understanding that he will probably prep behind incumbent starter Ryan Tannehill in 2023. New GM Ran Carthon may have to move into the top 10 to secure this choice.
College Sports Wire: Patrick Conn
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
PICK: No. 3
TEAM: Las Vegas Raiders
The Cardinals seem like the most likely team to drop out of the top five this year. With the Raiders’ need to get in front of Indianapolis at No. 4, they move up four spots and surrender their No. 38 pick this year as well as their first-round pick next year. Las Vegas addresses their quarterback need with Richardson and allows him to sit and develop in 2023.
Touchdown Wire: Doug Farrar
Syndication: The Knoxville News-Sentinel
PICK: No. 4
TEAM: Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens recovered from losing the NFL’s most explosively athletic quarterback by starting the clock on the NFL’s new most explosively athletic quarterback. Nice work if you can get it, while grabbing two first-round picks in the process. We all know that Richardson has some work to do as a passer, but his athletic potential is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in a quarterback prospect, and if there’s one organization with a recent history of successfully working with a young quarterback to make the most of those gifts while developing the nuances of the position, it would be the Ravens.
The Ringer: Danny Kelly
James Gilbert/Getty Images
PICK: No. 4
TEAM: Indianapolis Colts
The Colts have one hell of a tough decision to make with both CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson on the board, but Indy opts for the upside Richardson brings here. The former Florida star is raw, with just 13 starts to his name, but if Indianapolis can develop him, he’ll bring the game-breaking skill set to help the Colts hang in a conference that figures to be dominated by the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Trevor Lawrence, among others, over the next decade.
Consensus
Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Half of the mock drafts presented have Richardson taken at No. 4 overall with eight of the 10 mocks having the former Gator taken at No. 5 or higher. The two outliers on this list have him selected at Nos. 11 and 19, representing the two least-likely outcomes based on these projections. A plurality of writers have the Gainesville native heading to Indianapolis.
It appears that Richardson will become a top-5 pick in the draft on Thursday and the highest-picked Florida alumnus since Kyle Pitts was taken at No. 4 in 2021 by the Atlanta Falcons.
Story originally appeared on Gators Wire