Report: Vikings spent more time than most with Anthony Richardson

Round 1 of the NFL Draft begins at 7 p.m. CT Thursday, April 27.

There's an unending stream of Anthony Richardson speculation filtering into the social media feeds of Minnesota Vikings fans and everyone will find out if the speculation is reckless or truth by the time the first round of the NFL Draft is over Thursday night. 

The latest comes from KSTP-TV's Darren Wolfson, who sent a text message to SKOR North's Judd Zulgad Wednesday, saying "he has now been told [the Vikings] spent more time with [Richardson] than almost any other team" since meeting formally with him at the NFL combine. 

The second big boom comes from Brett Kollmann, who runs The Film Room on YouTube and does some work with the Los Angeles Chargers. He has the Vikings trading all the way up to No. 3 with the Cardinals to select Richardson in his mock draft, and was bold enough to say his prediction is based, in part, on "what I expect to happen."

"Somewhat shocking at pick three, and this is kind of a combination of what I expect to happen and also what I would do if I was this team," said Kollmann, of course talking about the Vikings. "I think they're in a very similar spot to where the Chiefs were roughly six years ago when they went up and got Pat Mahomes. They had a solid starter but they just couldn't get there all the way."

The price to move up from 23 to 3? At least three first-round picks. In 2021, the 49ers moved from 12th to third to draft Trey Lance and to do so they had to give up three first-round picks and a third-rounder. That means the price to move up from 23 is potentially significantly higher. 

"I think they're willing to pay that price because they need the upside and the potential of Anthony Richardson," said Kollmann. 

"Honestly, if they stuck with what they have now and they kept striking out in the divisional round over and over and over again, who cares? We're trying to win Super Bowls here and I just don't see them getting to that level, and this is nothing against Kirk Cousins," Kollmann continued. "You go to the Super Bowl, it's like, oh, who are we playing against? Probably Mahomes or Burrow or Herbert or Lawrence or f****** Aaron Rodgers. You're going up against serial killers in the AFC. You need one to compete. And I think that the Vikings should take a big swing here, give up the picks they need to give up, go get themselves, potentially, their own elite-level quarterback that can get there in a couple years."

This is all on top of... 

• The Star Tribune's Ben Goessling mocking Richardson to the Vikings... 
• Peter King mocking Richardson to the Vikings... 
• NFL.com's Chad Reuter mocking Richardson to the Vikings... 
• NFL insider Ben Allbright saying the Vikings are calling teams about trading up... 

If it happens, the Vikings will have taken a chance on a 20-year-old with 13 college starts to his name and the most athletic performance ever by a quarterback at the NFL combine.