Anthony Richardson Should Be Seahawks' Choice At No. 5

Anthony Richardson predictably dazzled at his pro day this week at Florida, and Pete Carroll saw it first-hand (AP Images)

By 750 THE GAME STAFF

Rarely does a playoff team get a chance to pick in the top-five of the following NFL Draft.

But thanks in part to Russell Wilson’s tailspin in Denver last season, the Seattle Seahawks have that chance. The Broncos fifth-overall pick belongs to the Seahawks via the Wilson trade.

The question for Seattle: What should we do with that fifth pick? Draft a quarterback of the future, weeks after securing Geno Smith on a 3-year $105 Million deal? Or continue to build around Geno and the current roster that reached the playoffs in 2022, and draft a premiere defensive player such as Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr. or Texas Tech edge Tyree Wilson?

Judah Newby and Steven Vaughan narrowed the focus on Florida star quarterback Anthony Richardson, and whether he should be Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider’s top pick at number five.

“I am all the way in on Anthony Richardson to the Seahawks if he’s five,” Newby said on Thursday on 750 The Game. “I’ll put it this way. I don’t have much hair. But that I do have will be pulled out of my skull if he’s available at five and Seattle doesn’t take him. I will lose it.”

Richardson dazzled at his pro day on Thursday at University of Florida, and the Seahawks had a large contingent present to witness it, including Carroll. The Carolina Panthers, owners of the top-overall pick, also had a sizeable group to watch Richardson.

Carolina and Houston are thought to take quarterbacks with the top two picks in the draft. Arizona picks third, but with their quarterback position tied to Kyler Murray’s big contract, they are largely thought to either trade down with another QB-needy team, or take the draft’s best defensive player.

Indianapolis picks at number-four, and they also are in the market for a QB and could be a Richardson destination, keeping the Seahawks from having the chance to take him.

“The Colts are in a really good spot right now (at four),” Vaughan noted. “The way Richardson is trending, he keeps moving up that board, he seems he’s going to be a top-five or top-four pick.”

“I don’t think he’s going to be there at five,” Newby agreed. “If everything holds as-is in the top-five, I don’t think he’s going to make it to five.”

Would the Seahawks – who also have the 20th overall pick in the first-round – be able to trade up to get Richardson? Would they be interested in making that risk?

Only time will tell. But with the draft less than a month away (Thurs., April 27th), it will not be long before we get the answer.

Listen to the segment on Anthony Richardson at the 1:36:00 mark of Thursday’s show, below. John Canzano’s Bald Faced Truth airs afternoons 3-6 p.m. exclusively in Portland on 750 The Game.