Trent Richardson's future in the NFL is cloudy. (Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports)
It is often said the most important aspect of ability is availability. No matter how much talent any athlete has, if they aren’t available because of injuries or off-field issues, teams have to examine closely whether the player is worth keeping around.
But, there is another part of ability that is just as important as availability. And that’s accountability.
Taking responsibility for things that happen. Not looking to point fingers at someone else.
This comes up after listening to some of the comments made by running back Trent Richardson after he was waived by the Indianapolis Colts last Thursday.
In some ways, it’s a shame Richardson won’t be around the team any longer because maybe, just maybe, he might have learned a thing or two from the runner the Colts signed a day before setting Richardson free: Frank Gore.
Not only is Gore the classic nose-to-the-ground grinder that epitomizes what makes a good running back, he has always been available and accountable. Richardson, by contrast, has been a consistent disappointment since being selected by the Cleveland Browns with the third overall pick in the 2012 draft.
The Browns were so tired of his act and lack of production that they cut the cord during the 2013 season managing to pry a first-round pick from the Colts. It appeared that it would be the perfect place for Richardson to excel.
But that didn’t happen.
So it was that after being waived, he found a way to find someone else to blame for his problems, which included reports he was often late for meetings and didn’t make his required weight 14 times this past season.
His explanation to espn.com?
“We had made an agreement where I’d weigh 230 pounds, but it turns out that I was supposed to be 227 pounds and they didn’t tell me that,” Richardson said. “We’ve got a list of things we can use against the Colts where I can get my money back. They were fining me for failing to meet conduct code. Not making weight is not conduct code.”
Getting his money back is referencing his $3.184 million guaranteed salary for 2015 that the Colts will try to avoid because he was suspended two games at the end of the season. A clause in his contract says the guarantee disappears if he is suspended.
As for why things didn’t work out in Indianapolis, he said, “I’m not saying anything bad about the program, but that program just didn’t fit me at all. Me and the GM (Ryan Grigson) didn’t see eye to eye. It was a bad marriage for us.”
Then, Richardson turned downright delusional when he said, “I’ll be one of the top running backs from here on out. They ruled Marshawn Lynch off in his third year. Look at what he’s doing now. My next stop, I’ll be the starter. I still have my pride and I know who I am.”
It’s Not About the Money
There’s nothing wrong with players trying to get every dollar they can in a sport where careers are often short and can end or be compromised in an instant by injury.
However, what chafes people the most is when anyone tries to fool us all by claiming a negotiation really wasn’t about the money.
Really? Are they serious? Or just, like Richardson, delusional?
Or maybe we can another aspect of ability. How about believeability?
That was the case when running back DeMarco Murray signed on the third day of free agency with the Philadelphia Eagles. His former team, the Dallas Cowboys, wanted him back, but they weren’t prepared to pay crazy money for a runner that had 449 touches this past season, 392 on running plays, and turned 27 in January.
For a few days, it seemed the market simply wasn’t there for Murray. But then, the Eagles were spurned by former 49ers running back Frank Gore after trading LeSean McCoy because he was making too much money.
Eagles head coach Chip Kelly saw a way to help his team and hurt a division rival but guaranteeing a reported $21 million to get Murray to go with a total package of $42 million over five years.
The suddenly smitten Murray was so taken by the developments that he tried to convince those in Dallas that, you guessed it, the decision wasn’t about money.
He told espnDallas.com, “It was never about the money in any situation. If it was the money, I could’ve taken that a long time ago on a very high deal. It’s about winning a Super Bowl and being fair.”
That high deal might have been true about offers from the Raiders, but going there might have been career suicide.
Still, Murray made his decision all about winning, which, of course, the Cowboys did more of than the Eagles last season. And the Eagles will be banking on a quarterback in Sam Bradford that has played a total of 49 games in his 80-game career, and has missed the last 25 games with two torn ACLs.
Murray said, apparently with a straight face, “I felt this was a great opportunity for me to win a Super Bowl at the end of the day. It wasn’t about financial security or anything like that. Obviously, you want something that you deserve and something that is respectful. I felt that those two things were important to me and I was able to accomplish that here.
“It definitely wasn’t the biggest contract, but it was something about this organization, about this team, that caught my eye and I felt that there was a great chance to win here and that’s what you want. You want to be in a place that has great fans. You want to be in a place that has a great coach in Chip Kelly. You want to be in a place that has a chance to win and be successful.”
Questioning RGIII and Gruden
Former Redskins safety Ryan Clark, now retired and with ESPN, had some pointed words for the team he played for last season and the relationship between head coach Jay Gruden and quarterback Robert Griffin III.
Clark isn’t buying Gruden’s proclamation that Griffin is the team’s starter.
Said Clark, “He comes out early in the offseason and says, ‘You know what? Robert Griffin III is our quarterback.’ I think that was to kind of try to show there’s no issues in house, but there clearly is. He’s not his guy. They want to go in a different direction.
“As you saw from last year – the media reports where he would say RG3 took a five-step drop where he was supposed to take three, or he looked the wrong way this many times in a game – he showed the world that it wasn’t his guy.”
Clark believes Gruden’s mistake after taking over as head coach was trying to force Griffin to adapt to his system.
“When you give up what you gave to get RG3 at the No. 2 pick, you make things work for him, you don’t make him change his game to fit what you want to do. And I think that’s where Jay Gruden went wrong last year,” Clark concluded.
