Seahawks Draft: Huard makes sense of Anthony Richardson’s pro day
Apr 2, 2023, 10:26 AM | Updated: Apr 6, 2023, 2:20 pm
Anthony Richardson of the Florida Gators looks to pass on Nov. 5, 2022. (Tim Warner/Getty Images)
(Tim Warner/Getty Images)
If the Seahawks take a quarterback in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, many expect it to be Florida’s Anthony Richardson.
John Schneider on Seahawks drafting a QB: ‘We don’t know yet’
Richardson’s college numbers – especially his completion percentage – may not stand out in a positive light, but with a 6-foot-4, 244-pound frame, he’s an athletic marvel that ran the 40-yard dash in just 4.43 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine.
The Seahawks have sent top brass to the pro days of all four top quarterback prospects in this draft class, Richardson included, and the Florida star’s was this past Thursday.
Richardson showed off his cannon arm, including in a funny moment where he actually hit the ceiling of Florida’s indoor facility.
Anthony Richardson's gonna need a higher ceiling. 😂 @GVOaant
📱: NFL Pro Days Live on NFL+ https://t.co/btRyV5Q4Ok pic.twitter.com/7xh0WZOFFC
— NFL (@NFL) March 30, 2023
Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard discussed Richardson’s pro day and some Seahawks-Richardson rumors during Friday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports.
“I will say of the four (top quarterback prospects’ pro days) – and I watched most of them, but not every single throw – Anthony’s was different. It was really loose,” Huard said.
Huard thought Richardson’s workout happened around two-thirds of actual game speed, and noted that Richardson was smiling and joking around a lot of the time. He called that a big contrast to what CJ Stroud did at Ohio State’s pro day.
“CJ Stroud was locked in, he was dialed in. It felt like, ‘Hey man, sense of urgency.’ That’s the NFL – sense of urgency,” he said. “This was happy go lucky, let’s laugh a little bit, let’s giggle, let’s have some fun, let’s just put on a show, but let’s do it at like two-thirds speed.”
Huard said he assumes that some of the top Seahawks brass who have been attending these pro days didn’t like that.
“There’s no question it bothered some of them. It has to. This is the NFL. The NFL is not just, ‘Hey, we go half speed.’ The NFL is grown man, trying to take your livelihood and take your health away from you and blow you up. There’s got to be a sense of detail and sense of urgency,” he said.
Huard said maybe that level of urgency was what Richardson showed at the combine and that he wanted to use his pro day to show that he’s someone who likes to smile and have fun playing football, kind of like Cam Newton.
“‘I put a smile on my face and I’m electric and I’m magnetic and I have fun. I play the game that way, and I know that I’m not a finished product and I know that I’m not refined,'” Huard said. “So I kind of get both sides of it and I’m not going to crush him for it, but it certainly stood in stark contrast to a Bryce Young and CJ Stroud (pro day) that was much more urgent, much more buttoned up.”
Listen to Huard’s full thoughts in the podcast of the second hour of Friday’s Brock and Salk at this link or in the player below.
