Trent Richardson Trade

Now I know this is a little late getting out but I figured I would get a better grasp of this big trade after a little time has passed.  The trade was the Cleveland Browns traded Trent Richardson to the Indianapolis Colts for a couple of future 1st round draft picks.  When it happened, it was all that the NFL analysts were talking about.  You couldn't turn on ESPN without hearing about this trade.  I will give my take on both sides of the trade and see how it benefits both the Colts and the Browns.  I will also look for potential pitfalls of this trade, if there are any.

Cleveland Browns Side:

"Running back Trent Richardson was traded from the Browns to the Colts."  When I heard this on Sportscenter on September 18, I had to do a double take.  This was a guy who was drafted as the third overall pick in the previous year.  The Browns lost their first two games and looked as if they were giving up on their season.  I was thinking why would anyone trade a guy who is only 18 games into his young career.  He has a lot of potential and can be a future pro bowler in this league.  I was thinking the Browns were well on their way to a premium draft pick again thanks to a dismal record.  After they made the trade though, the Browns have gone 3-0 without Richardson in the backfield.  Let's take a little look at some stats from these games.

• With Richardson, the Browns were averaging 52 yards rushing and 8 points a game.
• Without Richardson, the Browns are averaging 96 yards rushing and 28 points a game!

Now, if you had watched any games and not look too far into the stats, you would see that Richardson was running against defenses that had 8 man fronts constantly.  The 8 man front means the defense had 8 guys up at the line of scrimmage.  Defenses do this to stop the run and make the opposing team throw against them. Now with Richardson gone, the Browns have do definite star for a defense to stop and they aren't using the 8 man front.  So far, this looks to be a good move by the Browns ownership, but they definitely could have gotten more out of this trade.  Only time will tell if this success can be sustained by the talent they have there.

Indianapolis Colts Side:

At the time of the trade, the Colts had just put one of their key running backs on the injured reserve list, which means that he is done for the season.  So they were looking for a running back.  The Browns noticed this and contacted the Colts to see if they wanted Richardson.  The Colts jumped all over this and didn't give up a whole lot to get him.  This was a playoff team last year and looks to be even stronger this year.  After the trade, the Colts now have the top overall pick and the third overall pick of the previous year's draft.  They have a lot of talent now both in the passing game and now in the running game.  Richardson will benefit greatly from this trade in my opinion.  With a great quarterback like Andrew Luck under center, Richardson will rarely see those pesky 8 man fronts again because Luck will tear that apart by throwing the ball.

Prediction:
I predict that the Browns will be the ultimate winner of this trade.  They unloaded a guy that didn't fit their system and got some value back for him.  There's also no telling whether Richardson will be able to produce over in Indy, but his career is still young so he will have plenty of opportunities to make an impact.