Making the Grade: Colts Receive High Marks for Richardson Pick
The waiting is over for Indianapolis Colts fans.
The Colts got their quarterback of the future with the No. 4 pick in the NFL Draft on Thursday night when they selected Anthony Richardson from the University of Florida.
General manager Chris Ballard had remained patient during the process while teams moved up and down around the Colts pick at four, and it paid off in the form of Richardson.
NFL.com's Chad Reuter gives the Colts an 'A' for their selection of Richardson.
Richardson is a potential future star working under new Colts head coach Shane Steichen. He’s inexperienced but has a great skill set and makes more pro-caliber throws than you would expect given some of the chatter about his game. Richardson has some of the quickest feet of any quarterback prospect I’ve ever seen, even with his huge frame. His upside as a playmaker is at the top of the class. -- Chad Reuter, NFL.com
The gamble the Colts took at No. 4 was bigger than most could have imagined, because it turned out that there were only three highly-rated quarterbacks in the draft... not four.
One of the big surprises of the night was the fall of Kentucky's Will Levis. The Colts were linked heavily with Levis from national-draft analysts including Todd McShay who said "the buzz is very real" in regards to Levis.
Daniel Jeremiah nailed the first three picks in his final mock draft including the Houston Texans trading up to No. 3, but he also had the Colts selecting Levis.
Levis fell out of the first round.
Would the Colts have taken Levis if a different team had moved up to No. 3 to take Richardson?
We may never know, but the Colts are thankful they didn't have to make that choice.
Levis is arguably the best athlete at the position to enter the league... ever.
New head coach Shane Steichen was hired in large part because of his success with a wide variety of quarterbacks from a veteran like Phillip Rivers to a young-dynamic athlete like Jalen Hurts.
Seeing Richardson who stands 6'4 and pushes 250 pounds with 4.4 speed playing the role of Hurts in a Colts offense is an exciting proposition for Colts fans.
Reuter agrees and gave the Colts a high mark for their selection.
