Trade for Browns: This is one of the most bizarre trades in NFL history. Richardson is only the second player in NFL history to be drafted in the top-3 and then play for a different team in NFL history. The other player is John Matuszak in 1974, who was traded a year after being drafted first overall because he had tried to play in the now defunct World Football League in addition to the NFL. The Browns are trading a player who was the 3rd overall pick in the draft in 2012 for a first round pick in 2014 that has a good chance to be outside of the top-10. It’s the football equivalent of buying something for a dollar and then immediately selling it for 75 cents. Richardson hasn’t broken out yet, but he’s dealt with injury and a poor supporting cast and he still has a far better chance of being a special player than anyone the Browns are going to get with the pick from the Colts.
At the same time, this trade does make some sense. The Browns are going nowhere this year and while Richardson could be a special talent, it would be at one of the league’s most replaceable positions. What the Browns desperately need is a quarterback and this trade helps them acquire a franchise quarterback in two ways. It weakens them in the short term so maybe instead of drafting 5th-8th like they do every year, they’ll get a top-2 pick. And it also gives them more ammunition to trade up if they don’t get a pick high enough to draft someone like Teddy Bridgewater. There’s also a better chance the Colts’ pick ends up in the top-10 then you think if they stop being able to pull close victories out of their ass. We’ll see how the addition of Richardson affects that.
Grade: C
Trade for Colts: For the Colts, this was pretty much a no brainer. Running back was a need as Vick Ballard is a short yardage plodder and Ahmad Bradshaw is an injury prone 3rd down specialist. They don’t have anyone anywhere near as good as what Richardson can be and they’re buying him for 75 cents on the dollar. Richardson’s traditional stats don’t look great, but he was 7th in ProFootballFocus’ elusive rating in 2012 because of all the tackles he broke and he is now 1st this season through 2 games. He also is great in pass protection and pass catching. There’s a very good chance he breaks out as a top level back in the NFL on a better offense in Indianapolis and they’ll have him under team control very cheap for the next two seasons. He has a much better chance of being a special player than anyone they could have gotten with their first round pick this year.
Grade: A
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