INDIANAPOLIS – Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson said he has referred to himself as “Cam Jackson” because he liked Cam Newton and Lamar Jackson so much.
During the quarterback workout at the NFL scouting combine on Saturday, Richardson looked as physically imposing as Newton and almost ran like Jackson.
At 6-foot-4, 244 pounds, Richardson set combine records for a quarterback with a vertical jump of 40.5 inches and a broad jump of 10 feet, 9 inches. Richardson, in his only attempt after that, was officially clocked at 4.43 seconds in the 40-yard dash at Lucas Oil Field.
To put that into perspective, Newton, at the 2011 combine, was 6-foot-5, 248 pounds and ran a 4.60 40-yard dash. Newton, a future league MVP, also had a 35-inch vertical to go with a broad jump of 10 feet, 6 inches at the combine. Jackson, who is considered one of the fastest players in the league, did not run a 40-yard dash for scouts at any point before the 2018 draft, and Kyler Murray did not run a 40 until the 2019 draft.
According to ESPN’s Stats & Information, Richardson’s time is tied for fourth-fastest among quarterbacks since 2006. But Richardson is by far the heaviest player in the group.
Texas A&M’s Reggie McNeal ran 4.35 in 2006 at 198 pounds, Robert Griffin III ran 4.41 in 2012 at 223 pounds and Marcus Vick ran 4.42 at 200 pounds. Denard Robinson had the other 4.43 among quarterbacks, at 199 pounds.
Richardson is one of the top quarterback prospects on the draft board and has met with several teams with a top-10 pick in his time in Indianapolis this week. Richardson is the No. 12-ranked player on ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest big board.
A starter in just one full season at Florida, Richardson passed for 2,549 yards and 17 touchdowns this past season to go with 654 yards and nine rushing scores. He started eight games in 2021 as a redshirt freshman. He’s not considered as polished a passer — he had nine interceptions this past season — as some of the other quarterbacks in the draft, but his potential has personnel evaluators trying to figure out how far he could go in his development on position.
Richardson, Ohio State’s CJ Stroud and Kentucky’s Will Levis — all top-12 players on Kiper’s big board — were among the quarterbacks throwing in drills at the combine Saturday. Stroud and Richardson were in the second session, while Levis was in the first.
Alabama’s Bryce Young, Kiper’s No. 4 prospect, did not practice Saturday and will instead throw for the team at its March 23 pro day.
On Friday, Richardson said he was eager to show scouts and personnel executives around the league that he was ready to be an NFL starter. Privately, several evaluators said Richardson had done well in recent days in his individual team interviews when asked to break down game video or dissect plays on a whiteboard.