It was quite the shocker when the Cleveland Browns suddenly traded their star running back Trent Richardson to the Indianapolis Colts. In exchange they received a first-round draft pick adding to their stockpile as their prepare for the 2014 draft. While it is true that the Browns are looking to the future there’s another reason Richardson worried them.
Make no mistake, the Browns dealt Trent Richardson to Indianapolis last month for strictly football reasons. The new Browns’ football regime simply didn’t feel Richardson, the third overall choice in the 2012 draft, fit their model anymore and jumped at the opportunity to grab another first-round pick in a 2014 lottery in which they figure to nab the franchise’s quarterback of the future. There were, of course, also some injury concerns for a player at a position whose significance has diminished in the league in recent seasons.
But Cleveland and NFL sources told NFP this week that a secondary factor in the decision to trade Richardson to the Colts was a concern that the second-year veteran, they felt, had some outside distractions that the Browns suggested needed addressed. Nothing sinister, mind you, just a need to perhaps rid himself of some hangers-on and family members who were perhaps a bit too close to him. It’s not known if those alleged components have contributed to Richardson’s slow start in Indy, but the tailback has been a disappointment so far in his new uniform.
