Strengths: Strength, anchor, balance, hand placement, punch, gains movement run blocking
Weaknesses: Lacks ideal quickness, athleticism, slow off the ball, understanding angles, space blocks
Summation: Richardson is a classic road grater offensive guard with ideal size at 6-4, 329. He played in the 340s but slimmed down for the combine. He moves slowly but expected for his size with smaller legs and has quicker hands than you’d expect. He’s better at power blocking than in space, and shows terrific power on down blocks. When he gets his hands inside, he runs his feet and drives defenders back with a powerful lower body. He’s slow off the ball and slow-footed in general, but he’s good in a phone booth and can anchor when his hands are placed inside. At times he stands straight up and shows limited knee bend. He frequently misses his assignments at the second level and whiffs on blocks in space and overruns defenders. When he transfers his lower body power to his upper body and strikes defenders with explosive hips, he can be a road grater. In pass protection, he has good instincts and hands, but needs to come out of his stance quicker because he can be beat by quickness. Overall, Richardson is an intriguing mid-round prospect because he has ideal size and power, but the key to his development will be whether or not he can consistently be quick enough off the ball. When he gets his hands inside on a defender, he can be dominant.
Grade: 6.4
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