He was a can't-miss, surefire prospect. A turnkey Hall of Famer. During the 2012 draft cycle, Bleacher Report NFL draft lead writer Matt Miller explained Richardson was a paragon of the ideal in every trait a scout evaluates. Best of all, a tailback's natural talent translates more readily to NFL success than perhaps any other position.
Miller was far from the only one to peg Richardson as the top running back in the class, a top-five overall talent selection and the best tailback prospect in years. In fact, NFL Network's Mike Mayock called Richardson the best tailback prospect "since Adrian Peterson" came out in 2007, per the Star Tribune's Dan Wiederer.
That kind of difference-making ability can anchor a franchise year in, year out. As teams around the NFL are finding out, prying a generational player such as Peterson away from his original team is all but impossible.
Now, as NFL Media's Ian Rapoport reported, the former No. 3 overall pick is on to his third NFL franchise after just three seasons on the field:
What went wrong between then and now? The NFL's brightest minds have pondered this almost from the beginning.
Richardson had an adequate rookie season. His 3.6 yards per carry were hardly dominant but entirely serviceable on a 5-11 Cleveland Browns team that featured fellow rookie Brandon Weeden at quarterback and the doomed Pat Shurmur at head coach.
Richardson might not have proved to be the answer, but he certainly wasn't the "problem." Two games into the 2013 season, though, he'd put together just 105 rushing yards on 31 carries. The Browns shattered the In Case of Emergency glass and pulled the trigger on an out-of-nowhere trade that all but broke Twitter, as FanSided Browns blog FactoryofSadness.co chronicled.
They sent Richardson packing to Indianapolis in exchange for a first-round dra...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
