Trent Richardson is best known at this point in his career as one of the biggest busts in recent NFL Draft history. But that hasn’t stopped the Baltimore Ravens running back from setting his sights on the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which he still views as an attainable goal.
When asked how his NFL career will end, Richardson set the bar as high as it can go.
“Putting on a yellow jacket,” said Richardson, referring to making the Pro Football Hall of Fame (h/t Clifton Brown of CSN Mid-Atlantic). “People wrote him off, he came back and did some amazing things. He always had the pedigree. He just had to get back to the guy that we know.”
The biggest problem with “the guy that we know” is that Richardson has never really been a dynamo in the NFL, even dating back to his rookie campaign, which was easily his best. During the 2012 season, he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry but did manage 950 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns as a workhorse for the Cleveland Browns.
Since that time, Richardson has been nothing short of an utter failure as an NFL-caliber running back. For his career, he has averaged 3.3 yards per carry. Some of that has to do with his inability to stay in shape, but he has also displayed outrageously bad vision.
While it would be easy to knock him for his Hall of Fame dreaming, it must be noted that Richardson realizes he is likely facing his final shot at playing in the NFL.
“This is a good chance of being my last ride when it comes to proving myself in the NFL,” Richardson said. “I know myself that I’m not done in the NFL, don’t want to be done. I got a taste of what that felt like. To tell my kids that their father didn’t have a job, it was big for me.”
That said, he’s supremely confident in his ability to come through and take advantage of his final shot.
“I’m here, I’m going to be here for awhile.”
A recent photo of Richardson showed he has certainly been putting in work to get into better shape than he has been in recent years (look here).
That said, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh recently said Richardson still has some work to do in order to be physically fit enough to play this season. He’s also had to sit out OTAs with a hamstring injury.
It’s certainly going to be an uphill battle for the running back to make the Hall of Fame — let alone the Ravens’ final roster this summer.