Trent Richardson Signs With The Oakland Raiders

Photo © Joe Robbins/Getty Images.

The Oakland Raiders will be Trent Richardson’s third team in the last four years. There he is likely to fight for the starting spot with Latavius Murray, with Roy Helu probably serving in a back-up role. This is a key offseason deal for the Raiders, who were in desperate need of a running back: they lost Darren McFadden to the Dallas Cowboys in free agency and Maurice Jones-Drew to retirement.

Originally, they attempted to sign DeMarco Murray in their extravagant spending spree — they have signed ten free agents, the most in the league — but obviously lost him to the Eagles. So their next option was Trent Richardson, a 24-year-old who has had a rough start to his career.

In three seasons, he only rushed for 2,032 yards and 17 touchdowns with an awful 3.3 YPC: hardly worth the third overall pick wasted on him in the 2012 draft. And after a fairly breakout year in 2012 with the Browns, the Colts traded for Trent in the midst of the 2013 season. But he never lived up to the expectations of the trade: garnering only 977 rushing yards, six touchdowns and 3.1 YPC over 29 games.

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He soon lost the starting job to Daniel Herron at the end of 2014. And was cut after the Colts signed Frank Gore in the offseason. However, Trent believes that his poor play was the product of Indianapolis’ system.

“I was expecting [to be released],” Richardson told ESPN. “It just didn’t work out. I’m not saying anything bad about the program, but that program just didn’t fit me at all. Me and the GM didn’t see eye to eye. It was a bad marriage for us.”

And even with all the reported problems, the Raiders are gladly going to take a chance on the running back: they could look like geniuses with this pick up, as there are very few young talented backs still on the market. Just look at Marshawn Lynch, who struggled in Buffalo in 2009-10 and then became a key piece to Seattle’s Super Bowl winning team.

As of right now, the terms of the deal have not been released, but they most likely got the running back for cheap: especially since, they expect him to fight for the starting position. And after the last three seasons, he has a lot to prove.