When Indy drafted Luck I was scared that they might dominate the division again by rebuilding well. But now I feel their own management isn't good enough to scare me. Cleveland was stupid to take Richardson so early, but at least he was kind of hyped enough to be potentially LT/AD caliber. But the current Richardson would NOT be taken in the 1st round of any draft. He's shown his inability to read defenses. He's injury prone(so far). And he'll cost #3 pick money, which although less than it used to be, is still much more than a mid-1st pick.
If it seems like I'm being harsh, it's just to try and snap people out of the "OMG HE'S A STUD!!!" herd mentality. Feels like a 2006 Reggie Bush discussion all over again. In reality, I agree -- the bad offensive line and scheme in Cleveland has been a factor. Richardson can play and will probably be a solid starting RB for a few years. He'll help the Colts. I just don't see him as transcendent, which is what a RB needs to be to justify a first-round investment. To me, he'll be along the lines of the other Alabama RBs (Ingram, Lacy) and probably similar to Ben Tate in terms of overall impact. That'll help the Colts, especially this year given their injuries. I just think a pick around #15 in a deep 2014 draft is more valuable. I generally agree with moes... Irsay is treating this like he's one player away, when in reality, there's still a lot of building that needs to happen in Indianapolis. Two or three years from now, when they still have holes on the OL and defense, they may regret giving up a mid-first rounder in a good draft for what amounts to Ben Tate.
Gotcha. I agree. I've said this before, the Colts moves lately are very Carrol Dawson-esque - they're making improvements, but not the right improvements, and definitely not at the right price. As far as transcendent RB's go, I'm not sure I've seen any lately other than Peterson, a young Steven Jackson and McFadden - and I was dead wrong on McFadden.
Could be but I don't think Richardson is dynamic enough to take advantage. He's certainly an upgrade to what they have now, but I don't think Texans fans should be that worried about the balance of power in the division because of this trade. I don't think it changes anything that much. If anything, it's one less 1st round pick for the colts - which is actually good for the Texans.
Seems like the Colts would benefit most from a guy that is good in blitz pickup and catch passes out of the backfield. That doesn't sound like Trent Richardson to me.
I agree he isn't worth the #3 pick in the draft (Only AP probably is), but his value is probably a late 1st round pick, which is where the Colts expect to be. The downside is, the Colts aren't necessarily a good fit for him either. I think he'd be best off on a team that is going to give him 25+ touches and plays good defense. I think the Browns made the move as a combination of tanking/pick and avoiding the 2nd guessing of the HC that has happened so far this season.
Yeah, there's only 1 RB in the entire league that can actually make the kind of impact you worry about.
The point you are missing is Richardson's original draft position is irrelevant now. The Browns owned up to making a huge mistake and dumped him for the best possible value. Stop thinking of him as a #3 pick; look at his NFL performance instead. The only reason the they got a 1st round pick is the Colts were desperate to replace their RB who is out for the season.
You can argue the severity of this injury concerns for sure. I basically maintain that running backs by nature are injury prone with few exception. And Richardson isn't one of those exceptional cases, so he's injury prone.
The rationale is after having Trent Richardson for a year + 2 games, they know he isn't all that. They realized by now he wouldn't develop into anything special and the opportunity to snag a 1st round pick for him was just too much to pass up. Keeping him for 2 more years and getting peanuts in a trade makes no sense.
The fact the Colts made this trade implies otherwise. If they were set at RB, Colts wouldn't give up a 1st rounder to put Bradshaw back on the bench.
I am glad that Trent is getting a fresh start from Indi. I am also glad I picked up Rainey last week for his return yardage and now he is starting for Cleveland. Win win. ahhh shoot, I forgot I had Bradshaw on one of my teams
That doesn't really make sense. If they are pretty much all injury prone, then wouldn't you want one that is almost always healthy enough to play?
The only thing I take away from this trade is that: 1) The Browns new regime does not like Richardson and are in full tank mode 2) Irsay is a sperg
Ok, so lets go with this past year's draft class. Barkevious Mingo.... has not played a down this season, if that doesn't scream injury risk, as he had multiple health questions leading into the draft I don't know what would. Meanwhile they decided to pass on guys that could actually assist their starting QB and RB this year by drafting a guy like Jonathan Cooper, Chance Warmack, or DJ Fluker. Hell even Tavon Austin would have made sense to help get that offense get off their heels and be able to move the ball. Second round pick, I know they had no control over the old regime wasting that pick on Josh Gordon in the supplemental draft. How stupid was that though??? You waste a high second rounder on a headcase instead of finding some non-diluted talent in this past year's draft... that should have thrown up a red-flag to SOMEONE the year before. Stupid, just stupid. Now the third round pick, they could have gambled and taken Tyrann Mathieu who has amazing talent just couldn't keep himself out of trouble. I know what I just said about Gordon but this guy you can make a case for in the 3RD not 2ND round to take a gamble on and see what he can bring to your already up and coming defense. Instead? They go with Leon McFadden whom hasn't made as near of an impact as Mathieu has with the Cardinals. The last few trades they made were pretty good, they're obviously going all in with the class of 2014 as they own the Steelers 3rd rounder and the Colts 4th rounder in next years draft. Hopefully they do a lot better than this last draft so they get some immediate production instead of projects or raw players like Mingo and McFadden.
why keep quoting 3.5 YPC. As a rookie, Ladainian Tomlinson averaged 3.6 YPC. I guess he sucks too and will never amount to anything in the NFL right?
the past certainly doesn't equal the future. All I'm saying is since '99 they've stunk it up in the draft and how many different GMs have they had? Cleveland fans will be pessimistic their new GM has no idea what he's doing until he proves otherwise.
