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To Colts’ Grigson: Ditch Trent, Draft Tevin

By Jeremy Haeseley

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Lacking a “Big Play”  Tailback, Could the Colts Turn to Local Hero?

Last season, the Indianapolis Colts made a bold move, making what was arguably the most newsworthy trade of the year by sending their first round pick to Cleveland in return for running back Trent Richardson. Ryan Grigson, Chuck Pagano, and Pep Hamilton, have all steadfastly declared about a million times each that the Colts were going to be a “power run team,” and that the stout back would play a central role in that team identity. Despite Richardson’s less-than-impressive stats with the Browns, it was a common sentiment that Grigson made a wise choice to bring in the second-year back.

Most Colts fans, myself included, were thrilled that the Colts were able to pull off such a fitting trade in mid-season. The mere thought of having the 2012 #1 pick Andrew Luck, alongside the 2012 #3 pick Trent Richardson, was enough to make Colts Nation pinch themselves. Visions of Super Bowls a plenty danced in our heads. I mean, adding Trent was a no brainer, right?

Well… not so much.

Richardson struggled in his first season as a Colt, struggling to just over three yards a carry. The other backs on the roster overshadowed the Colts featured back, yet the Colts coaching staff preached patience. “He needs time to learn our system,” they said. Colts Fans reluctantly played along, while the other Colts backs made Trent look mediocre by comparison.

The Colts opted not to re-sign Donald Brown in the off-season, despite the fact that he was the team’s most productive member of the backfield. Brown didn’t fit the “power runner” mold of Richardson, Bradshaw, and Ballard. I have to say that Brown as one of my favorite players. The guy brought energy, and “big play” ability that the other backs on the roster just didn’t provide. When he was allowed to leave and sign with the Chargers, I wanted to smack Ryan Grigson on the back of the head. Granted, Ryan is much bigger than me, and that probably wouldn’t have been the brightest idea in the world, but seriously, what was the guy thinking? You fail to re-sign the only big play back on the team? You weren’t alone if you were left scratching your head.

So, while Bradshaw and Ballard both showed promise this season, both suffered season ending injuries, which left the running back cupboard pretty bare. Richardson, who showed some improvement early in the season, appears to be back to his old underachieving self. Through 44 career NFL games, Richardson has averaged 3.3 yards per carry, ranking him among the league’s least efficient running backs over that time period.  The guy has been driving die-hard fantasy team owners to the brink of alcoholism for 44 games!   I feel for you guys.  I really do.

No, not really. Why would you draft Richardson unless you lost a bet or just haven’t watched a football game in the last two years? Anyway…

The Colts front office, as well as the coaching staff, have stood by Richardson through thick and thin. Just last week, Coach Pagano once again spoke out in support of his oft criticized starter, albeit vaguely. When pressed on the subject of why the Colts were sticking with Richardson as the starter, Pagano bluntly responded, “because he’s our starting running back .”

Can we infer from that abrupt response that Chuck is just giving the token support to keep the peace in the locker room?  Is the Colts front office trying it’s level best to save face on a blockbuster trade that ultimately went bust? I don’ know. Maybe Coach Pagano is just sick of hearing the same question over and over, but I find it hard to believe that the Colts brass doesn’t see what the rest of us do. Trent Richardson started this season as the Colts’ worst running back, and at the end of the season, he’s still the Colts’ worst option at running back. How can presumably intelligent guys that get paid millions to figure stuff like this out, not see this?

Based on his body of work with the Colts (minus the Richardson trade, obviously), it would appear that Ryan Grigson is a smart man.  His manipulation of salary cap space alone might qualify him for a MENSA membership.  Who on earth would have thought that the Colts would have a better defense after cutting Pro-bowler Dwight Freeney?

I believe in Pagano. By now, who doesn’t?  I seems that his game plans are usually pretty sound, and he’s been able to make the kind of adjustments that have given the Colts an opportunity to come back and win games that maybe they shouldn’t have. To give credit where credit is do, hearing the post-game speeches this man gives is enough to make a wheelchair-bound 90-year-old grandmother run through a brick wall.

Then there’s Pep Hamilton…  Pep.    Freaking.   Hamilton.   I’m sorry folks, but this man makes me want to throw things at my TV. I find his play calling downright vanilla at times, well, most of the time actually. I figure Pep owes me at least $100 for damaged remotes over the past few years, although technically I suppose those receipts should go to Irsay. I’m sure the guy could use a few good tax write-offs anyway.

Hamilton aside, you’d think the collective minds that are steering the Good Ship Horseshoe, at least behind closed doors, would agree that the Trent Richardson experiment has been and will continue to be a failure. Why is Trent failing to produce? May I produce prosecution exhibit A:

I don’t always see eye to eye with Gregg Doyle, but the stats don’t lie.  Nail, meet head. Richardson runs like a bull towards a red cape, always seemingly seeking out contact with defenders, and trying to bowl them over with brute force.  Logic would dictate, one would try to avoid contact with would-be tacklers, and only when contact is inevitable, then you knock them flat on their backs. Boom Herron, and the other two injured Colts tail backs get that, and that’s why they outperform their fellow back fielder, time and time again. Maybe his style worked in college, but this is the NFL. Defenders are bigger, stronger, faster, and certainly not as easily cast aside.

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T-Rich needs to throw in a little more slalom skier, and a little less bowling ball. Maybe Trent is incapable of that. Who knows? However, one would think that if he was capable of such a thing, it would have happened by now. Before the season, Ryan Grigson stated that Richardson needed to “answer the bell and do his job to the best of his ability.”  Maybe this really is the best he can do?

The solution? The Colts need to finally come to grips with the fact that things with Richardson simply aren’t working out. Cutting him at the end of the year probably isn’t an option, because first round rookie contracts are guaranteed, and the Colts would have to take the cap hit. While it would be tough,  it’s possible Grigson could find a team desperate for a running back with an expiring contract, and a front office with a history of making bad decisions? (Oakland comes to mind). Worst case, and probably most like scenerio, you keep him until the end of his contract and then send him packing at the end of next season.

So where do you find his replacement? I know a certain running back down south that is big, strong, and runs like the wind blows. No, I’m not talking about Forrest Gump. I’m talking about Indiana’s Tevin Coleman, and while he doesn’t hail from Greenbow, Alabama, he does indeed have magic legs. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume Coleman enters the draft this year (a stretch, I know.) With the apparent downturn in the premium that the league once put on running backs, it’s entirely possible Coleman could slip to the bottom of the first round, or maybe further, and at that level, he’d be a steal, not only based on draft number, but on what he would cost. If you don’t have a lot of cap room to spend, you don’t go looking for high-priced free agent backs, you draft one. Grigson is smart enough to figure this out, or at least I hope he is.

While Coleman is a big, physical back, at 6’1 and 210 lbs, he has the kind of break away speed that the Colts backfield lacks. Former Colts tailback, Donald Brown, had the speed, but he didn’t fit the “power back” mold that the Colts were looking for. Coleman does. He led the country this season with nine rushes of 40 yards or more (tied with Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon), six of 60 yards or more, and three of 70 yards or more (per ESPN.com). Coleman has size and physicality that the Colts’ staff prefers, and the big play ability that they need.

Coleman is one of only 18 college running backs to rush for over 2,000 yards in the regular season (24 if you count those that participated in bowl games), and he did so with a less formidable supporting cast than the rest of them. After Hoosier starting quarterback, Nate Sudfeld, went down with a season ending shoulder injury, Indiana’s passing attack became nonexistent, allowing opposing defenses to key in on Coleman. Despite that, Tevin continued to rack of the yards. In fact, this season, Coleman rushed for 2,036 yards in 12 games. For comparison, in his final season at Alabama, Richardson rushed for 1,679 yards in 13 games, and ran behind a championship level offensive line. While stats like these don’t always tell the whole story, it’s clear that Coleman can run with the big dogs, and his big play potential is mind-boggling.

The stats on both sides speak for themselves. Richardson isn’t who we thought he was. If Coleman is indeed still on the market when the Colts make their first round pick this year, it would be a no-brainer.  If Grigson is as smart as I believe he is, he’ll keep Tevin Coleman in the state of Indiana. Make the move, Ryan. Richardson is that bad.

Tevin Coleman is that good.

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