Trent Richardson: Is RB The Biggest Bust Since JaMarcus Russell?
Trent Richardson has become one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history
Vegemite. 50 Cent’s first pitch. “The Magic Hour.” Folding fitted sheets. “Friday.” Olive loaf. Genocide.
The above list are the only things I can think of worse than the sight of Trent Richardson running a football. The Indianapolis Colts running back isn’t good at this whole NFL thing. We can all agree on that, right? Good. After watching him plod his way to an almost impressively inefficient season so far in 2014, I’m ready to declare Richardson the biggest bust since the Oakland Raiders selected JaMarcus Russell with the top pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.
Gregg Doyel at the Indianapolis Star believes it’s time for the Colts and everyone else to admit Richardson is a bust. Gregg, buddy, we all reached that conclusion last year. The question now is just how historically awful the Alabama product is.
By all accounts he’s a great guy who just happens to be really bad at running back. He’s only 24 years old, but so far this season Trent Richardson is running like a 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Somehow, the decision-makers in Indianapolis continue to give him the ball, and he continues to fail. This week, he may have lost his job to Dan “Boom” Herron. Yeah, it’s gotten that bad.
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The Cleveland Browns made Richardson the No. 3 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft and his rookie season wasn’t as bad as many remember. He rushed for 950 yards and 11 touchdowns on 267 carries (3.6 yards per carry), and he caught 51 passes for 367 yards and another score. Those numbers look decent on paper for a rookie getting used to the league, but those who watched Richardson knew something wasn’t right. The burst and explosion he showed at Alabama were gone and he appeared to have lost the vision and incredible balance that many raved about during his college years.
In the first two games of the 2013 season, Richardson had 105 yards on 31 carries with no touchdowns. That 3.4 yards per carry average convinced the Browns to give up on him, and he was traded to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. He continued to disappoint in the Circle City. In 14 games with the Colts in 2013, Richardson rushed for 458 yards and three touchdowns on 157 carries. That’s an average of just 2.9 yards per carry. Woof.
This season, things haven’t gotten any better. Richardson has just 445 yards and three touchdowns on 135 carries so far in 2014, which is an average of 3.3 yards per carry. He also has 22 receptions for 203 yards. In his 42 career games, Richardson has 590 carries and is averaging just 3.3 yards on those rushes, while also fumbling seven times. Over the past two seasons he has been the least efficient running back in the NFL by far. There is zero argument about that.
So where does he compare to other draft busts? JaMarcus Russell is almost universally recognized as the biggest bust since Ryan Leaf. So we’ll start there.
Looking back at the drafts since Russell was taken in 2007, a few major busts pop out. First among them is Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston who was selected by the New York Jets with the sixth pick in the 2008 draft. A combine darling, Gholston played just three seasons for the Jets. In 45 career games he made 42 tackles and never recorded a sack. He never showed the killer instinct the NFL’s best edge rushers possess and was virtually invisible on the field. He hasn’t played in a game since the 2010 season.
The only other guy who can really enter this conversation is Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry, who was taken by the Seattle Seahawks with the fourth pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. Curry was heralded as a can’t-miss prospect, but never came close to living up to his enormous hype. The Seahawks traded him to the Oakland Raiders midway through his third season, and he only played in two games during his fourth year in 2012. In his 48 career games, Curry recorded just 203 tackles and 5.5 sacks. He retired in August of 2013.
Those guys were certainly gigantic busts, but what separates Trent Richardson is that he was selected higher than both of his challengers, and two different teams wasted first-round picks on him. What makes it worse is that pretty much every scout agreed that Richardson would wind up being a stud in the NFL. Many even claimed he was the best running back to enter the league since Adrian Peterson. He had the power of a prototypical workhorse, but with added speed, shake and hands. I mean, watch these highlights. It’s not hard to see why so many people (including myself) were duped.
It’s sad, because I really like Trent Richardson. As stated above, he’s a great kid, but right now his career is going the way of Curtis Enis.
At this point there is no other conclusion to reach, unless he completely turns around his career, Trent Richardson will be considered the NFL’s biggest draft bust since JaMarcus Russell.