I’ll ignore the “what’s going to happen with Lamar” debate for this limited purpose. In this blog, the simple issue raised is this. If the Ravens find themselves with a high draft pick and the choice between Anthony Richardson or Will Levis, who should they select?
You can read volumes of material on each of these players and argue it any way you want. Let me touch on my key points.
Will Levis
Levis has elite arm talent. His touch on passes, and his ball placement, are top notch. He brings a tight throwing motion and generally doesn’t need a clean pocket in order to deliver the ball. Levis can be a little too mechanical at times. He has a strong arm, but he’s not Josh Allen. And he’s not Josh Allen on the run; if he throws his body around in the NFL like Allen, he won’t be throwing it around for very long.
There are personality issues with Levis, as he’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But the real – and big – problem with Levis is his on-field decision making. I keep having visions of Sam Darnold in my head. He’s a 24 year old player who still makes the head scratching, how could you possibly have decided to make that, throw? Some observers defend Levis by pointing to the below grade receivers he tossed to last year. And it’s true, this was a mediocre group at best. But what I saw on tape had nothing to do with who Levis was throwing to. It’s not like defending Bryce Young’s failure to statistically improve in 2022 over 2021; Alabama receivers were dropping the ball all over the place.
With Levis, he made one ridiculous read after the other. Most of the turnovers were completely unforced errors. And that really bothers me, particularly with a 24 year old player. You just have to wonder, how much improvement can he make in his processing capability going forward? Well, not as much as a 22 year old. Which brings me to . . .
Anthony Richardson
Everyone knows about Richardson’s scintillating athletic ability. No reason to review it here. But let’s make the initial central observation regarding Richardson from a team’s perspective. If you decide to draft him and want to maximize his unique abilities, you have to surround him with the right players (from the offensive line on out) and the right schemes. You have to uniquely mold your offense in the same way the Ravens have done with Jackson. That’s a major organizational commitment and, some might say, gamble.
The Ravens already have all of that in place, without knowing what Todd Monken’s concepts might be with Jackson/Richardson. From that perspective, it’s much easier to plug-and-play Richardson into the Ravens than arguably any other team.
What about Richardson the player? For one, he’s extremely hard working and apparently takes to coaching (take a note, Lamar). In my view, he’s much better at reading and diagnosing defenses than he’s given credit for. He throws the ball very well on the run – to the right side; I saw virtually no instance where he was able to run to the left and deliver, and Florida almost never ran those plays. Richardson can deliver into any tight window he wants. And he can deliver with velocity when he’s on the move. Richardson has a much better arm than Lamar.
Everyone knows accuracy is the issue with Richardson. Right now, to me he’s a one-speed thrower – fastballs only, and almost always line drives. With work, that can be corrected. Most of his accuracy issues are in the short to intermediate range, and largely because he just hasn’t shown necessary touch and needs to improve his footwork. The baseball analogy: he needs a change-up in his repertoire.
Now Richardson is only 22 years old, and has had only one full season as a starter. But I believe he has natural ability in the pocket. I saw Richardson, when pressured, keep his eyes down field while naturally avoiding rushers. He’s better at that already than Jackson, in my view. He has the type of instincts in the pocket that you look for, and he reads defenses much better than the conventional view believes.
And the Winner Is . . . Anthony Richardson
For the Ravens, it should be an easy call. If choosing between these two, Richardson’s the choice. Early on I was thinking boom or bust with him. But after looking hard at the tape, I think the odds are much higher on boom. At age 22, Richardson has more upside than Jackson at this point.