Anthony Richardson could have played himself into the No. 1 pick at the combine

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Plus more winners and losers from the NFL Combine.

Anthony Richardson is going to be one of the most polarizing NFL prospects in over a decade, and the combine solidified that while making the top of the draft entirely more confusing.

Perhaps nobody did more for his stock in Indianapolis than Richardson, who entered the process being viewed as the third or fourth quarterback to come off the board and leaving with legitimate conversation about whether he’s worth the No. 1 overall pick. The Florida quarterback wrecked the grading scale when it comes to athleticism, and while there are very real concerns about how he can develop in the NFL, none of the quarterbacks have the “it factor” like Richardson does.

Don’t sleep on that superstar factor. There’s an element to his game that sparks the imagination of him taking over a game by himself, whipping 50-yard bombs to wide open receivers, left to free release downfield by scared DBs trying to account for Richardson running off the edge.

If this feels familiar it’s because it is: Cam Newton did precisely this in Carolina.

Look, I’m not saying Richardson and Newton are the same quarterback — because outside of size and arm strength they’re not really alike. Richardson is quicker, he’s a more agile runner, and he’s not going to be bowling over linebackers in short-yardage situations. More importantly, Richardson didn’t define himself at Florida as a player who can put the team on his back and drag them to a winning record, let alone a National Championship, the way Newton did during his legendary college career.

But what if he can become that player? What if you believe you’ve assembled a staff that can develop and harness his potential? What if you want to install an offense that relies on a quarterback’s running ability to set the tone and make defenses uncomfortable? If you believe those things then it’s absolutely not outside the realm of possibility that Richardson is your guy.

Because nobody else in this draft class at quarterback is doing this.

It’s easy to forget that Newton was a massive gamble for the Panthers in 2011 too. In fact, he was seen as the “risky” pick in that QB class as well. Plenty of people said Carolina would regret risking it all on Newton over Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert or Christian Ponder — all of whom were seen as “safer” picks. The idea that the defensive-minded Ron Rivera would start his head coaching career with such a polarizing player seemed destined for disaster, and then Newton threw for 422 yards in his first NFL game and made everyone forget from that moment on.

It’s not just the raw athleticism Richardson showed in the 40 or his vert, but how effortless he made his deep balls look in passing drills. On back-to-back throws he made two of the prettiest passes of the weekend, with the ball sailing 60 yards on target like it was nothing.

The stats at Florida don’t back this up, though. That’s what makes it all so infuriating. With this arm, and this accuracy — why did he only complete 53 percent of his passes? Why could he play decent football against Georgia’s defense, but melt down against UCF? These are the factors teams will have to reconcile, but there’s no doubt that Richardson did a ton to help himself in Indy.

Winner: Calijah Kancey

It’s got to be brutal being a smaller, gap-shooting rushing defensive tackle coming out of Pittsburgh. Every single discussion is going to compare you to Aaron Donald. While Kancey is not Donald, he showed eye-popping flashes of athleticism that will blow some teams away.

Kancey could have shown enough to crack the Top 20 in the draft, after largely hovering anywhere from the back-end of the first round, to the second. Someone is going to see his ludicrous speed and map that to his 14.5 tackles for a loss (including 7.5 sacks) and see enough shades of Donald that they’ll roll the dice.

This was a big weekend for the DT.

Loser: Bryce Young

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Bryce Young other than genetics — but the decision making in Indianapolis from Young’s camp was baffling. He was the only quarterback who decided to skip all the drills, including throwing, which is easily his best trait.

Instead Young elected to come to Indy, get measured, and meet with teams. It’s fine if there wasn’t a size concern, but Young didn’t magically grow three inches and assuage fears about whether he’s big enough for the NFL. Young measured in at 5’10, weighing 204 pounds. As it stands he would be be the lightest QB in the league, smaller than Kyler Murray — and didn’t show his athletic potential.

We know Young isn’t a running threat, but by not throwing he just emphasized his lack of size without counteracting it by showing his incredible passing ability. This led to a bad weekend top to bottom.

Winner: Bijan Robinson

Indianapolis was all about not botching anything for Robinson. There was no area that he absolutely blew you away, but also nothing that took away from him being a top 15 pick and the best running back in the class.

Robinson cemented his place, and that was enough.

Loser: Will Levis

I went into this week not getting it, and I still don’t get it. Nothing Levis did in Indianapolis solidified that he should be a top 10 quarterback.

Throwing drills were where Levis was going to make his mark, and his accuracy was extremely shaky. He looked decent on intermediate routes, but nowhere near as crisp as either Anthony Robinson or C.J. Stroud. Levis’ deep passes were far worse, as he surprisingly underthrew a pass, had another with iffy accuracy, and only nailed one.

That’s not great for a guy whose primary trait is his “cannon” of an arm.