New Colts QB Anthony Richardson was never ready to fully shine at Florida

The tweet from Dan Mullen last Thursday night seemed harmless enough. Indianapolis had just selected Anthony Richardson with the fourth pick in the NFL Draft.

Mullen congratulated the quarterback he'd coached for two seasons at Florida, adding, “Anthony Richardson is not only a special talent but a great young man.”

The Twitter peanut gallery immediately chimed in, asking questions that have been percolating since Richardson evolved into a draft phenomenon.

The Colts are bequeathing their starting job to AR, but the Gators benched him behind Emory Jones? How could such a bright star not glitter in college?

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Did Mullen and Billy Napier squander a generational talent?

“We will never forgive you for not playing (Dameon Pierce) and AR together, you’re trash. Respectively, Gator Nation.”

So read a typical response to Mullen’s tweet, which has been viewed almost 85,000 times. I don’t think the troll speaks for the entire Gator Nation, but he is hardly alone.

If you’re a member of that group, my advice is first to lighten up. A coach should be allowed to raise a toast to an ex-player without the drink being thrown back in his face.

Then you need to forget the AR draft hype and take an objective look at his time at Florida. Separate what he was from what he is to what he might become.

Richardson far from developed quarterback on arrival

Richardson was incredibly athletic but totally raw when he arrived from Eastside High. It wasn’t a case of Bryce Young or Tua Tagovailoa showing up, getting a little college polish and being plugged into position.

There were going to be a lot of eye-popping moments, but even more growing pains. We saw that in the first two games of his redshirt freshman season, which featured TD runs of 73 and 80 yards and a 75-yard scoring pass.

There was also a slew of missed reads, bad throwing mechanics and frustrating inconsistency. And remember, Emory Jones was a fourth-year junior and the obvious heir to Kyle Trask.

In Week 3, he almost led Florida to an upset win over Alabama. It would’ve been crazy to replace him with a wildly inconsistent rookie.

It became less crazy as Jones began to struggle. With the season unraveling, Mullen gave Richardson his first start against Georgia. The top-ranked Bulldogs promptly devoured him.

He’d also dealt with a concussion and a knee injury that needed postseason surgery. So much for Season 1.

As for Season 2, Richardson had to deal with a new coaching staff, a mediocre receiving corps and having to cover for a historically bad defense. Napier had to deal with the same AR growth issues that Mullen faced.

The coaching and schemes could have been better at times, especially as the ship sank under Mullen. But he was also the guy who’d developed the college careers of Alex Smith, Chris Leak, Tim Tebow, Dak Prescott and Trask.

AR’s development was always going to take time, regardless of whether Mullen or Napier or Andy Reid were whispering in his ear. Richardson’s defensive reads and QB mechanics improved a lot as last season dragged on.

He had 17 TD passes and five interceptions in the final nine games. Not Heisman material, but certainly enough to further stoke NFL interest.

Remember the number 13

The most consequential statistic of all is 13. That’s the number of college games Richardson started. Most NFL prospects have at least twice that many.

Richardson’s still only 20 years old. Had he stayed in Gainesville long enough to legally order a drink, fans would have suffered through fewer and fewer growing pains.

Of course, had Richardson stayed at UF, he’d have been nuts.

You don’t pass up a top-5 NFL Draft lottery ticket Now half the league thinks Indianapolis is foolish for betting its future on such an unproven commodity.

The other half fears the Colts are going to develop the next Josh Allen. If that happens, it will probably heighten some of the grumbling over Richardson’s college career.

How could such a great pro QB have had so many struggles at Florida?

Because at Florida, he was never ready to be a great QB.

David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: New Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson wasn't mishandled at UF