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Trent Richardson is the hot name currently on everyone’s lips at the running back position. At 5 feet 11 inches and 220 pounds, Richardson did a great job in his platoon role last year at Alabama, rushing for 700 yards as a change-of-pace back for Mark Ingram. Most pundits have him as their unquestioned top eligible prospect at the position for the 2012 NFL Draft, and many even have him among their top five prospects overall.
I think Richardson is a very good running back, and I think that he has a good deal of potential at the NFL level. However, there are some issues with his game that I would like to point out, and I have a sinking feeling that he may be underutilized at the next level.
There are many positives to Trent’s game, all of which will contribute to a high-level potential NFL career. Richardson has phenomenal speed, and his size makes him a real load to bring down for any tackler. He is almost impossible to hit low, and even to go high at him is a risk considering his great upper-body strength. He also has versatility in both the run and pass games, which will hopefully be extrapolated on to a fuller level in this next year, where he will shoulder a bit more of the Crimson Tide’s load.
However, you can hit any scouting report and see a copious account of all of Richardson’s strengths. There are more that I did not list. Where I want to focus are the weaknesses: a few problems that, in my eyes, may hurt his future stock.
First of all, Richardson runs a bit too upright compared to other top NFL backs. At 5 foot 11 and 220 pounds, he does not have the ideal build for a running back. Even though he has phenomenal feet, he looks a little top heavy and awkward when running. In the NFL, this sort of build can prove to be detrimental due to the size and strength of defensive linemen. A running back’s number two priority, after ball security, is to create as small a frame as possible so defenders cannot grasp him as he bursts through the hole. Richardson’s build, unfortunately, puts him at a natural disadvantage as an NFL running back. NFL defensive linemen will be able to alter Richardson as he runs by virtue of his width and top-heavy body, similar to another former star college running back, Ohio State’s Chris Wells. Although Richardson is more athletic and explosive than Wells ever was, they do share a similar build and some similar problems in terms of NFL transition.
Richardson also seems to have a case of dancing feet. He is not nearly as bad as, say, Laurence Maroney was, but he does not hit the hole quite as quickly as he could. The best runners in the NFL all share one trait in common: they burst through the hole the second they receive the ball. It is almost a pre-requisite for a running back to have this quality, and to be honest I am not sure that Richardson does. He often cuts in the backfield, something that may fly in the college level, but not in the pros. Maroney learned that the hard way. In terms of hole-hits I’ve timed, Richardson grades out around the slowest of top-tier running backs, behind guys like LaMichael James, Knile Davis, and even my biggest sleeper thus far, Tennessee’s Tauren Poole, by differentiations of even a tenth of a second. This could DEFINITELY be a problem at the next level, where the athletes are much more athletic and quick-twitch.
My last major gripe about Richardson is, like many top running backs in college, I think that his speed is overrated. I have heard 4.35, and I’m not sure he will time there. I think he can hit somewhere in the mid 4.4s, which is very good, but not at the elite level that many paint it to be. He can be caught from behind, and in the NFL, that slight lack of speed may be exacerbated due to his other flaws. He will eventually be able to break big gains, but if one is expecting him to do so on a consistent basis, that probably will not be the case.
Despite all of these issues that I brought up, I still think that Richardson is a good value in the late first or early second round at running back. I am just not sure that he is a top 5 pick as some are painting him to be. A top five pick means that a player is utterly elite athletically, and I do not think that Richardson is the best running back in this class (if he comes out, LaMichael James has the inside track.) I also do not think that Richardson will ever be utilized fully in the NFL, because a team will paint him as a feature back rather than the role he was born to play: as a sub-package, running-catching hybrid back, some mix between Reggie Bush and Kevin Faulk.
The one positive trait that continually jumped out at me when I watched tape on Richardson is that, once he bursts through the line and his offensive line gets him three yards, he is deadly in open green spaces. With his balance and running style, he is almost impossible to bring down from a low angle. I believe that the team that drafts Richardson should create 20-25 plays a game for him where he lines up in the backfield and in the slot. His open-field running ability, to me, is what makes him special, and I think it would be a shame if it fell by the wayside because a team wanted to shoehorn him into the “typical workhorse running back” mold. In that role, he could still be a good player and, as I said, I would still draft him relatively highly. As a hybrid, though, he may eventually become one of the top five most dangerous weapons in football. In THAT role, I can see the rationale behind taking him in the top five picks of the draft.
Overall, Richardson is a good runner with good pro prospects. However, they are not as good as some paint them to be. He has some deficiencies that he needs to work out. His best role would be, to start, as a third-down back with a package made specifically for his unique skillsets. He probably will not be any lower than third or fourth on my draft board of running backs when April 2012 rolls around.
