Early in the 2013 season the Indianapolis Colts sent a first round pick to the Cleveland Browns for Trent Richardson. The trade did not immediately pay dividends for the Colts as Richardson never got going and eventually lost the starting role of Colts running back to Donald Brown.
While Richardson struggled the Colt stressed the difference of the two systems and continued to speak about how the trade was not made simply for the 2013 season.
Richardson recently told the teams website that he is starting to feel comfortable with the Colts comparing it to his days in college at Alabama.
“The system around here, this whole environment was winning again and building a family. It brought me back to my Alabama days,” Richardson said.
“Around here, all you hear is winning. They love Colts football and blue-collar players. That’s what it is. That’s what you live off of. It’s just getting back to my basics here.”
With Brown gone the Colts have Richardson at the top of the depth chart and the running back is ready for a better 2014 season with the club after totaling just 458 yards on 157 attempts a season ago.
“They haven’t seen everything they’re going to get out of me yet. A lot of it is going to come next year. A lot of it is going to come in the offseason. I’m going to put in a lot of work, as I’ve been doing this whole season.”
Colts coach Chuck Pagano again is stressing the talent of Richardson and continue to expect him to contribute heavily in 2014.
“It’s going to be very, very important for (Richardson) to be here for the offseason program and to dive into this thing full steam ahead, which he will,” Pagano said.
“He wants to be great. He’s got all the talent. He’s got all the ability. We would have never done what we did if we didn’t believe that deep down in our core. So we look for him to have a great offseason and to have a great 2014 campaign.”
Even with all the nice words back and forth it is hard to imagine the Colts not snagging a running back in the mid rounds of this years draft.
