10 biggest first round mistakes the Cleveland Browns have made since ’99
By Chad Porto
4. RB Trent Richardson (2012 NFL Draft: Round 1, Pick 3)
I hated the pick when it was made. Then I loved the pick after he put up a near 1,000 season and scored 11 touchdowns. I then hated the pick again when he got traded to the Colts to start the next season. I then loved it again after he flamed out. Then I hated it again when the pick turned into Johnny Manziel.
This pick was the Cedar Point of draft picks. So many ups and downs.
Trent Richardson wasn’t a bad player to the untrained eye but if you paid attention, especially in his brief AAF tenure, you would see Richardson had terrible vision. Not in the context of “he needs to find the holes”, although, yes, that too. No, I mean he needed glasses. He needed glasses so badly because he was constantly hitting the linemen in the back instead of going through the holes they were providing. He either needed glasses or needed to learn the playbook better. Not sure which, but it’s either-or.
Richardson was able to get yards simply by being a bulking, heavy, runner who broke through arm tackles. Imagine if he could actually read the line and go through the holes they provided?
Richardson could find the endzone, racking up 22 touchdowns in just two seasons across Cleveland and Birmingham but was never much of a natural runner. One has to wonder if maybe fullback wasn’t the better option for him, though at this point we’ll probably never know. Especially with the AAF and XFL dying halfway through their inaugural seasons.