Any Georgia football fan who saw the Bulldogs play the Florida Gators in the annual WLOCP could have told you this one was coming. Former Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson is an athletic freak and a specimen of what a quarterback should look like, but he has found tough sledding in his early NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts for a couple of reasons.
Georgia fans saw an inaccurate passer against the UGA defense
The late, great Meat Loaf had a hit song in the 70s called "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad." And that is true when it comes to many things, but not when you're trying to be a successful NFL QB.
Richardson has two plus-level attributes in his speed and arm strength, but what he has never shown is probably the most important - accuracy and good decision-making as a passer.
Richardson's statistics from the UGA-UF games prove he has never been a good passer
In 15 games with the Indianapolis Colts in 2023 and 2024, Richardson has completed just 50.7 percent of his passes and has thrown more interceptions (13) than touchdowns (11).
In two games against Georgia, he completed just 30-57 passes with one touchdown and two picks. The Dawgs were nasty on defense while Richardson was at Florida, but even a casual fan could see that the speedy QB had trouble reading SEC defenses and delivering a catchable ball.
Richardson was drafted on his enormous potential and upside, not on his collegiate production
Make no mistake, Richardson is a supremely gifted athlete with crazy measurables. He wowed at the combine which led the Colts to draft the inconsistent QB with the 4th overall pick in the first round in the 2023 NFL Draft.
NFL scouts knew that he struggled to throw with NFL-level accuracy, but still some teams drooled over him, believing that they could scheme around his shortcomings or coach him up into being just a serviceable passer to go along with his skills as a runner.
It hasn't happened, and now the former Gator is injured and his NFL future is uncertain. UGA fans could've told the Colts that a few years ago which would have saved the Irsay family a lot of cash and heartbreak.