Trent Richardson’s quest for progress

SB Nation is taking a look at the NFL’s most notable underachievers, the players who failed to live up to big expectations in 2013, and exploring whether or not they can turn things around in 2014.

With just two seasons in the league, Richardson hasn’t done much other than be the guy that two teams over-invested in, due to unimpressive numbers on the stat sheet. Falling short of expectations has defined Richardson’s short career thus far, and now, in his third season, reports indicate he’ll be on a “short leash,” as noted by CBS Sports.

Richardson has been given plenty of opportunities to succeed, though we’re not going to pretend that the Browns were the most stable team for a rookie to join. He carried the ball 267 times in 15 games as a rookie, so nobody can deny the fact that he got his attempts. He finished his rookie season with 950 yards -- not a terrible number by any means.

What was particularly poor: his 3.6 yards-per-carry average and his three fumbles. Richardson may have put up more yards than most rookie running backs manage, but the Browns also attempted to run the ball down the opposing teams’ throats. Taken as a whole, Richardson’s rookie campaign was unimpressive.

Whatever the case, it was just one year, and many expected him to turn things around in 2013, despite a new coaching staff (a trend in Cleveland). As it turns out, Richardson didn’t really fit well with the new regime, and he was traded before the third week of the season. His rookie season was so poorly regarded that when the Colts gave up a first-round pick, many thought they’d been duped.

You can say what you want about needing to adjust to a new system in such a short amount of time, but Richardson performed even worse with the Colts. He got another healthy dose of attempts, with 157 carries, and only managed to put up 458 yards, which equated to a per-carry average of just 2.9 yards. He also had two more fumbles.

Now Richardson is on a “short leash,” and SB Nation’s Colts blog, Stampede Blue, has listed him among Indianapolis’ “pressure players” for 2014. He’s officially fighting an uphill battle.

Is Richardson dangerously close to being out of a job entirely? Probably not -- but there are different degrees to which the phrase “make or break” can apply. Richardson will be playing the third year of a four-year, $20.4 million contract that is fully guaranteed. He’s not going to be released this offseason if he doesn’t play well, as he’ll likely get to ride out the rookie contract.

That said, he could be dangerously close to losing out of his starting job for the remainder of said contract. If Richardson doesn’t play well early and often in 2014-15, then he could be buried on the depth chart by the end of the season, and heading into the final year of his contract. The worst thing that can happen for Richardson, at this point, is to play poorly and then not have a chance to show other teams that he’s worth a look on the free agent market.

Vick Ballard tore his Achilles during the first week of Colts camp, ending his season before it even began. That only ups the pressure on Richardson this year. The Colts will need him performing closer to average, at least, in order to have a running game of any kind.

Richardson has all the tools to be a successful running back in the NFL. He’s got power and speed, he seems to have a quick grasp of NFL playbooks and all of that ... he just hasn’t put it together just yet. Unlike many we’ve covered in this underachiever series, Richardson knows he’ll be the starter going into next season, which means his fate is essentially in his own hands.

A player can talk about the offense not being a good fit or not getting enough opportunities, but at the end of the day there’s one stat that Richardson simply has to improve to have any hope of keeping his job: the paltry 2.9 yards per carry he averaged in 14 games with the Colts. If he put up anything close to that through the first half of the season, he’ll likely find himself on the bench.