Star Tribune insider predicts Vikings trade up for QB Anthony Richardson
Is Anthony Richardson to the Minnesota Vikings a real possibility? With the NFL Draft now just two days away, there are now at least three reputable reporters who are mock drafting the Florida quarterback to the Vikings.
Chad Reuter of NFL.com was the first to do it last week, with Peter King following suit on Monday, predicting Richardson falls to the Vikings with the 23rd pick. Now a local insider is going the Richardson route, as Ben Goessling's mock for the Star Tribune envisions the Vikings trading with the Titans for the 11th pick to snag the heir to Kirk Cousins.
"This would be a bold move. Richardson comes in as a bit of a project, and the Vikings wouldn't hand him the starting job without at least a year for the 20-year-old to develop as a passer, the conductor of the offense and a leader of the franchise. But if he makes it past the top several picks, the prospect of letting coach Kevin O'Connell, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips and QB coach Chris O'Hara develop Richardson before pairing his spellbinding athletic ability with that of Justin Jefferson could be too tempting to pass up, for a team that doesn't plan to be picking this high very often."
What nobody knows is if King, Goessling and Reuter are making their picks based on logic or intel. Do they know something others don't?
Another insider linking the Vikings to Richardson or Kentucky QB Will Levis is Benjamin Allbright: "The Minnesota Vikings are another team lurking on quarterbacks. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them make a move up from 23 if either Levis or Anthony Richardson is within striking distance," he reported April 21.
The Vikings have been silent publicly about their plans, with the only specific comment about Richardson coming from head coach Kevin O'Connell during the NFL scouting combine.
"We had a few of those guys in. I always try to meet them as they come in the room because it gives everybody good bearing on hey, I'm a little over 6'5'', so as players come in... I'll tell you what, I wanted to get back to my seat in a hurry when [Richardson] came in," O'Connell said.
"But what a presence. I thought he did a great job, not only seeing him throw today but seeing him go through this whole process all the way through the pro day and the rest of it. He seems like a great kid."
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.