Who’s not impressed with Trent Richardson? Just the greatest Brown ever

"Back in my day, we carried 13 defensive players on our backs" -Jim Brown

Trent Richardson put together a Heisman-candidate 2011 season, and impressed a lot of people along the way. In his first year as the full time starting running back for Alabama, Richardson was a human highlight reel, using his speed to run away from people, his strength to run over people, and his jukes to start an impressive collection of jock straps. Most scouts are calling him the total package running back and the best running back coming out of college since Adrian Peterson, even better than Mark Ingram, who won a Heisman while at Alabama and was a first round pick of the New Orleans Saints last season. All that talent will likely make him a top-5 pick in tonight’s draft, with the most likely destination being Cleveland, who needs help all over. Everyone is convinced that this is a good pick, safe though not flashy, and that Richardson will add some playmaking ability to the Browns terrible offense. Well, almost everyone.

From Pro Football Talk:

“I’m not overwhelmed with it,” (Jim) Brown said of the idea that the Browns could take Richardson. “The problem is that he’s ordinary. I think he’s ordinary.”

Asked what about him is ordinary, Brown said, “the size, the speed, his moves.”

Asked if any running backs in this year’s draft impress him, Brown said, “Not really. It’s not a good year, obviously.”

Yes, Jim Brown, only the greatest Cleveland Brown in history, poos all over his former team’s likely pick. That’s not to say he likes someone else better, he thinks they’re all bums this year. And last year, too, apparently, as he also went on to say he wasn’t impressed with Mark Ingram. Or really any running back left in football, to tell the truth.

“When I watch football today I see a game of quarterbacks,” Brown said. “Protecting quarterbacks, throwing the ball, short passes, long passes, all kinds of passes.”

Does anybody else feel like this was part of one of those old guy “back in my day” rants?  We get it, Jim, nobody today is as tough as you were when you were playing, but could you let the fans of Cleveland hold onto some glimmer of hope, at least until the Browns make their first pick? No? Okay, then, just keep old guy ranting.

While Brown is all gloom and doom when it comes to the current state of running backs and the running game in general in the NFL, there are still some marquee names that should impress even people as jaded and cantankerous as Jim Brown. Names like Adrian Peterson, or Maurice Jones-Drew, Arian Foster, and Michael Turner just to name a few. Yes, the league has become pass-oriented, and the running game is not as paramount as it was in the 1950s when Brown ran wild over defenses, but there are still immensely talented running backs that deserve some respect from the all-time greats.

As for his talent evaluation of Richardson, there’s a reason nobody’s asking him to break down a draft anytime soon (other than his severe inability to play nice with others). When Barry Sanders was going to get drafted, Brown said he was “too small and too slow” to do anything in the league. So, yeah. Richardson is going to be a talent and help whatever team he gets drafted by, and as anyone who saw any part of a Cleveland Browns game last season can tell you, that team needs all the help it can get.

(pic via)