Indianapolis Colts: Trent Richardson Is All But Gone

I can vividly recall the evening of Sept. 18, 2013. The evening that Ryan Grigson shocked the football world, trading a first-round pick to the Cleveland Browns for running back Trent Richardson, a former third-overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft.

The Colts had just come off of a week two loss against the Miami Dolphins and were heading to San Francisco to play the 49ers.

When I saw the news via Twitter, I was elated to say the least. I called up all my friends, telling them of the news. “The Colts have the first and third overall picks on their team now,” I recall boasting about. As a Colts fan, I was excited at the possibility that the team could have a running game to go along with their passing game, for once.

I envisioned Trent gashing through opposing defenses, absolutely dominating like he did at Alabama.

Now when I recall that day, I couldn’t be more wrong about my then-confident statements.

Here we are roughly 17 months and too many disappointing performances to remember later, and Richardson’s future with the Colts organization is in serious question.

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To sum up his career with the Colts, Richardson never eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark in a single game in his two seasons with Indy. What was considered to be one of his best games as a Colt came week seven of the 2014 season against the Cincinnati Bengals.

He rushed for 77 yards on 14 carries, against Cincinnati’s 29th-ranked run-defense, in the Colts’ 27-0 shutout victory.

It just speaks volumes to me when only rushing for 77 yards gets people talking about it, and how it may be “the best game he’s seen as a Colt.”

The Bengals and Colts would later face one-another again in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, in which Richardson only saw one carry.

That one carry would be his first and only carry in the Colts’ 2014 playoff run.

Many may read this and seem to think that I hate Richardson, or have some personal vendetta against him. None of that is true. In fact, I was one of the people who heavily supported Trent all of last season, and in the offseason, stating multiple times that I believed that if he really tried to improve, he could rush for close to 1,000 yards for 2014.

I told people to be patient with him, let him take the offseason to learn the playbook some more, and time will tell.

Well, the time is up now, Trent.

For all I know, Trent could be a very nice guy. And I’m sure he is. But he may just not be an NFL-caliber running back in this league. Some may go as far as to even question his dedication for the game, with recent reports of his increased weight throughout the course of the season, and his lack of communication with the team.

He was suspended two games following the Colts’ loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game, after failing to make the trip with the team, and not contacting them until later the next day.

Whatever his reasoning may be for going MIA that day, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture already tainted that is his career thus far with the Colts.

All things given, Trent just hasn’t shown the ability to produce and be a quality back in this league. The writing is on the wall. We may have seen the last of Trent Richardson wearing a Colts uniform.

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