Thanks to a headline-grabbing combine performance by Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, we will allow ourselves to be swept up in a predictable, annual game of prospect thimblerig in which we reimagine a hierarchy that was put in place months ago by scouts and evaluators who had just finished grading the only thing that truly matters: live game reps and game film from the previous season.
This is not to take away from the strides Richardson has taken over the past few months, his natural abilities or how NFL-ready he may have been in the first place (he may very well have been the second-, third- or fourth-best prospect in this class before the combine and remains the second-, third- or fourth-best prospect after it’s concluded). But, it’s a recognition of our basic instincts: to want to make something of the combine and envision this as more of a fluid process than it really is. But other than a meddlesome owner getting involved, our search for a true quarterback “riser” may be somewhat fruitless.
Still, that doesn’t mean the combine came and went without a more weighted value on certain quarterbacks. Just, maybe, not the ones we were thinking of.
