HOUSTON – Anthony Richardson isn’t your typical rookie quarterback. He has special athletic qualities, rare traits for an NFL player regardless of position.
The Indianapolis Colts rookie presents a matchup nightmare.
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At the NFL scouting combine, Richardson aced the combine testing. The 6-foot-4, 232-pound first-round draft pick from Florida ranked first in every category, including height and weight and with a scorching 4.43 40-yard dash, 40 1/2 inch vertical leap and a 10-9 broad jump. Yes, that’s faster than former Gators quarterbacks Cam Newton and Tim Tebow when they were at the combine. And the vertical leap and 40-yard dash are combine records for a quarterback.
“That’s a freak, bro,” said Texans running back Dameon Pierce, his former Gators teammate. “Baby Cam Newton.”
“Built in a lab,” said Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, Richardson’s friend since their high school days.
Richardson completed 64.9 percent of his throws against the Jacksonville Jaguars in his NFL regular-season debut last week, throwing one touchdown pass and running for another with one interception. He rushed for 40 yards on 10 carries with three first downs.
And now he’ll compete against Stroud, whom he’s known ever since his Elite 11 days.
“Ant is my guy, man,” Stroud said. “Competed against each other and became real good friends there and kind of kept a relationship when he was at Florida and I was at Ohio State. Really, really happy for him. He’s always been a hell of a player to me, and just really excited to see what he does in his career, and I’m always going to be supportive of him and be a brother and a friend to him.
“But yeah man, I’m excited to go play against him and compete again. I’m rooting for him and I hope that everything in his career goes well, except for when he plays the Texans. That’s my guy. I love him to death. We’re trying to get him this week.”
“I love C.J.,” Richardson told Indianapolis reporters
Stroud and the Texans are coming off a 25-9 loss to the Baltimore Ravens as he completed 28 of 44 passes for 242 yards and no interceptions.
Richardson completed 24 of 37 passes in a loss to the Jaguars.
Richardson is a dual-threat quarterback. Stroud will scramble, but prefers the pocket as a more traditional style quarterback.
“I think it’s just his tenacity, and of course, all of the physical traits pop out, but, to me, he can sling the ball around,” Stroud said. “He really has a great deep ball, he’s very accurate in the RPO game. I think that’s very hard to do, is be accurate on top of having the run-pass option, which he does very well.
“He drives the ball really well, and of course he’s very athletic and he’s hard to bring down. He’s built like a linebacker, but he’s running a 4.3, 4.4. He’s built in a lab, so you’ve really got to be on your A-game, because he’s going to bring it every time, and he’s a really good player.”
The Texans met with Richardson formally at the combine. They did not bring him in for a visit or have a private workout.
Playing against him, they have to be prepared for anything. It’s a major challenge one week after successfully defending former NFL MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson in a loss to Baltimore, intercepting him once.
“Las week with Lamar and then moving to Richardson, just obviously the size, different type of runner, different type of mobile athlete, like Cam Newton in terms of size, a bigger, mobile quarterback,” Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke said. “He reminds me more of a powerful runner. He’s fast, he can get the edge, but he’s a hard guy to bring down just from a physical standpoint.
“He’s not a smaller guy, so I just see that part of it. From a runner, he’s a different type of mobile runner than we’ve seen. He’s a big body, like Josh Allen kind of has some of those characteristics too. And then obviously all of the arm talent. He can make all those throws. He’s got a cannon, so it’s definitely a challenge for us this week.”
Richardson, 21, passed for 2,549 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season for the Gators. He completed just 53.8 percent of his passes. His talent, though, is incredible. With NFL coaching, perhaps Richardson can become a great quarterback like his idol and frequent comparison, Cam Newton.
Richardson is an intriguing player with a rare combination of size, arm strength and playmaking skills. He rushed for 1,116 yards and a dozen touchdowns.
At his size, Richardson most closely resembles Newton, a former NFL MVP.
“You know, growing up, it was always Cam Newton for me,” Richardson said. “So a lot of people say Cam and I believe it is Cam.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.