Signing Trent Richardson Could Be Sneaky Good Move By the Raiders
By Kevin Saito
Judging by the way Twitter melted down, and the tsunami of teeth-gnashing angst that threatened to overwhelm the Internet on Tuesday, you would have thought the Oakland Raiders had announced that they were bringing JaMarcus Russell back for a second tour of duty with the club.
Instead of bringing back Russell – arguably, the biggest bust in NFL history – Reggie McKenzie and the Raiders announced that they were bringing in a player largely considered to be a pretty big bust in his own right, running back Trent Richardson.
As bad as he’s been in his first three seasons in the league – and he’s been bad – bringing Richardson into Oakland could potentially be a sneaky good signing.
The Cleveland Browns’ third overall pick in the 2012 draft, Richardson has failed to come close to living up to the expectations inherent of such a high selection. Cleveland realized pretty early on that Richardson wasn’t working out, having rushed 298 times for 1,055 yards and 11 scores, and traded him to Indianapolis after just 17 games in a Browns uniform.
The fact that Richardson couldn’t hack it in Cleveland, where expectations of the team aren’t exactly sky high, didn’t seem to bode well for the long term health of his career.
Even with a change of scenery, Richardson didn’t fare much better. His 29 game tenure with the Indianapolis Colts pretty well mirrored his time in Cleveland in terms of disappointment. He ended his run with the Colts having rushed 316 times for 977 yards and just six scores.
So based on that resume of failure and disappointment, why in the world would anybody in their right mind believe that Richardson might turn out to be anything but an unproductive headache in Oakland?
Well, for one thing, he certainly can’t be any worse than he’s been over the first 46 games of his career, and he certainly couldn’t be any worse than Maurice Jones-Drew was for the Raiders last season. He’ll look great in comparison.
In all seriousness though, despite the fact that many of the Raider faithful are in the process of beating their heads against the wall and screaming “Why, Reggie, Why?” at the top of their lungs, Richardson’s signing is a very low risk, potentially high reward scenario.
While the exact details aren’t yet known, we know that Richardson signed a 2 year deal worth $3.9 million but has incentives that can raise that figure to $4 million per season, making it a deal potentially worth $8 million for the two years.
IF he can reach those incentives.
After getting played/missing out on DeMarco Murray, the Raiders were still looking hard for a running back to back up/compete with Latavius Murray. Roy Helu is a decent addition, but he’s a change of pace guy, and not a workhorse back who can shoulder the load for a team.
At just 24 years old, Richardson provides the Raiders with a young running back who still has plenty of tread left on the tires, and one who, despite an inauspicious start to his career, does have plenty of upside and potential. And best of all, he came cheap.
Why wouldn’t you take a flier on a guy who did have a few good games with Cleveland, but who seems to have lost his way? Richardson says that he was just a bad fit in Indianapolis’ offense, and that it was a bad marriage from the start. He says that he’s already familiar and very comfortable with the offense Oakland is running, and should be able to transition in seamlessly and provide steady production from the jump.
Obviously, given his history, it’s very much a wait and see proposition. But if he can ever regain the form that led him to be the third overall pick in 2012, and begin putting up some numbers – as well as putting his career back together – McKenzie signing Richardson may be one of the shrewdest and most savvy moves he’s made in his tenure as Oakland’s GM.
Oakland has a long, storied, and colorful history of being a landing spot for the league’s castoffs. It is known as a place where those players can get a second chance, and revitalize their careers. We’ve seen it happen in Oakland more times than we can count. Is it outside the realm of possibility that given what will likely be his last shot in the league, that Richardson steps up and begins to be the player everybody thought he’d be when he was drafted?
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And if it doesn’t work out, if Richardson winds up being as big of a bust in Oakland as he was in Cleveland and then Indianapolis, the team can part ways with him, and it won’t cost them much. No harm, no foul.
But more importantly, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
It’s definitely outside the box, but Oakland’s running game most desperately needs some depth and an infusion of life. At this point, nothing should be off the table. Richardson’s signing caught most all of us off guard when it went down. But given a little thought, and then a little more thought, it could turn out to be a sneaky great signing.
The operative word being “could.”