One of the true “boom or bust” prospects that’s drawn much hype this year is Florida’s Anthony Richardson. Thanks to a remarkable display this offseason, we’ve seen a monumentally historic rise in draft stock for Richardson. Could the Las Vegas Raiders and general manager Dave Ziegler be buying into all of this? Perhaps. If nothing else, the Raiders’ brass is certainly doing their due diligence.
During a recent appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, NFL insider Tom Pelissero shared an interesting morsel of information. When asked by Eisen which NFL team “loves Richardson the most,” Pelissero didn’t mince words and named the Raiders.
“I was at that Pro Day [Florida’s], and the Raiders spent a lot of time with him. They took him to dinner the night before, they brought him in for a visit as well. They’re done a lot of diligence on the quarterbacks which is interesting because you look at Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract, he’s going to be the quarterback for two years. He’s going to be there [Garoppolo]. But with Richardson, you’re also getting a guy you probably don’t want to play Day 1.”
Are the Raiders and Dave Ziegler looking to Anthony Richardson in a few weeks?
The final bit of what Pelissero said is what makes “Richardson to the Raiders” such a dubious proposition. Las Vegas needs help defensively across the board; they need immediate starters coming out of this year’s draft. Using a first-round pick on a “quarterback project” seems backwards at the moment, especially, as Pelissero notes, when you have “Jimmy G” in-house for two years. Of course, Raiders fans are running away with their own theories regarding this conundrum.
Many point to head coach Josh McDaniels’ time with the Denver Broncos when he drafted Tim Tebow, another Florida Gators quarterback, and “ran off” Jay Cutler. What many of these naysayers seem to keep overlooking is that Ziegler has the final say over roster decisions, not McDaniels.
Now, back to Richardson: the dinner and extensive talks could’ve just been Ziegler doing his homework. Let’s face it, this year’s draft could potentially decide his fate. Banking on a quarterback prospect to pan out two to three years from now doesn’t make sense.
On the other hand…
Still, there’s a flip side to drafting Richardson. He’s one of the most physically gifted prospects that we’ve seen, arguably since Cam Newton. Richardson’s a stud, plain and simple. However, he’s far from polished, and the universal consensus does appear to be that he’s not ready to be a Day 1 starter, as Pelissero added. Then again, maybe McDaniels believes he can turn Richardson into something special as the Raiders’ quarterback.
What say you—yay or nay—on the Raiders drafting Richardson?
*Top Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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