In the 2012 NFL Draft, three of the top four picks have gone to the Pro Bowl. The only one that hasn’t is Trent Richardson, whose career has never quite met up to the promise of being the best running back prospect in the draft since Adrian Peterson.
It started well for Richardson in Cleveland after he rushed for 11 touchdowns and 950 yards during his rookie season. But in only his second year, he was traded to Indianapolis for a first round draft pick, and his career hasn’t really recovered. He was cut by the Raiders during 2015 training camp and it looked like his NFL career was over.
Richardson talked about his struggled with AL.com.
“I didn’t hit rock bottom, but I was right there to where it’s like, OK, I get it,” Richardson said. “To look my kids in the face after getting cut by Oakland and tell them I didn’t have a job and to not know what was going to be my next turn, that really bit me in the butt.”
Richardson was on the phone with Ravens coach John Harbaugh in a room with some of his close friends and a cousin, who cheered wildly when Richardson told them what the call was about. It was a high point after such a depressing low.
“It was just one of those moments,” Richardson said. “Everyone jumped up, and it felt like I won another national championship.”
While Richardson hasn’t officially signed with the Ravens yet, it’s all but official. He needs to reach “physical benchmarks” before pen can be put to paper, but the team seems fairly optimistic about the chances for the 25 year old back to do that.
“It’s in Trent’s court,” Harbaugh told reporters. “(Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome) and Trent have talked a lot. I text with Trent all the time. He’s keeping me posted on his training. I’m planning on Trent being a Raven right now. I’m kind of excited about it.
“Talking to him on the phone, I really like him. I’m excited. Here’s a high-caliber, high draft pick guy that seems like he’s really motivated and wants to do well. So Trent, keep working, man. Keep working hard. See you in a couple of weeks.”
Richardson was depressed when he moved into friend Agnew Hall’s house just outside the Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa following his cut by the Raiders, and Hall’s job was to protect Richardson from spiraling into a deeper depression.
“My main thing was to protect him and make sure he was OK,” Hall said. “It was ‘To hell with football right now.’ This is a lot more serious than football. He’s broken. And then the second thing after that was, OK, now it’s time to get off your ass and go and prove everybody wrong. That was the second push from me.”
He started with light workouts from there, and kept going and going. But Richardson, who was once considered one of the hardest working players on the Tide, didn’t keep that reputation in the NFL.
“It’s very easy to get lazy in the NFL — not having everything scheduled and not having everything like at Alabama where it was so structured,” Richardson said. “We had study hall or we had to get a workout in in between classes and had five classes a day. It was just so structured. In the NFL, everything’s on your own.”
But now, Richardson is out to prove people wrong, and after coming back from a depressed state, why not?
“This motivates me even more, motivates me to not let coach Harbaugh down for taking this chance,” Richardson said. “I had to readjust and come back and write my playbook over. If I didn’t, what was I going to get back? The same results? Nah. Just came back, doing what I did to get here and get past here and to get to a Pro Bowl, and I want to be that yellow jacket (a Hall of Famer). I know I’ve got that talent. I know I’ve got that pedigree. And I’m going to be that. That’s what I need. That’s what I’m going to be.
“And whether they want to hear it or not, I’m going to show it. This is what I’m going to do. I’m going to prove it. And like I keep saying, it’s going to be fun looking people in the eye and hearing what they have to say after this year.”
[AL.com]
