Bryce Young breaks down Anthony Richardson's game

The 2023 NFL Draft is right around the corner and it’s a loaded quarterback class near the top of the draft. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is in the running to go No. 1 overall, but he provided his opinion on another likely first-rounder in Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson.

The SEC is likely to produce at least those two as first-round draft picks, while Kentucky‘s Will Levis and Tennessee‘s Hendon Hooker also have a chance to go in the first round.

In the pre-draft circuit, Young has gotten a chance to know Richardson.

“Ant’s someone that I’ve met, too, and he’s super cool,” Young said on The Pivot Podcast. “I haven’t been around him as much, so I don’t have that sort of experience, but being in the SEC I’ve watched a lot of his games. Obviously everyone sees what he can do, the huge arm, all the throws he can make, all the athleticism. But I’ve been able to see how he can put that together throughout a game.”

The questions on Anthony Richardson are fairly obvious.

He has started only 13 games, which would be the fewest of any quarterback drafted in the first round in the last 20 years. His completion percentage of 53.8% leaves a lot to be desired.

But Young was impressed by one quality he noticed from Richardson. He’s a gamer.

“When you’re putting stuff on social media you show clips and you show highlights,” Young explained. “But I’ve been able to watch how he’s been able to sustain that for games, how he’s, through the ebbs and flows of games that you can see on film, it’s like all right, this is it now.

“I’ve seen some of those big throws, and you just see him like, ‘Wow it’s a great throw.’ But you don’t see the context like it was actually their back’s against the wall. It was one of those if we don’t get a play here the game might get out of hand. It was those moments that he stepped up.”

Florida went just 6-6 during the 2022 season with Richardson captaining the offense.

Richardson had some individual moments of brilliance, but not enough to lift the Gators to a better record. Granted, there were personnel issues at several spots.

What Bryce Young sees when he watches Anthony Richardson’s games is a leader.

“I’ve been able to kind of just from watching film and watching how he operates, see how not just the highlights but the timeliness of the stuff that he’s done, how he’s been able to step up,” Young said. “Also just being around him he definitely has an energy about him that it draws people towards him. He’s a super cool guy. I feel like in a locker room it’s going to be easy for guys to gravitate toward him.”