In case you were in the Twilight Zone last week, I will remind you that the Indianapolis Colts gave up their number one pick in the 2014 draft to acquire former Cleveland Brown running back Tent Richardson. Richardson is a record-setting runner from University of Alabama and is listed at being 5’ 9” and weighing 227 pounds. He was the third pick in last year’s NFL Draft behind Andrew Luck and RG-III. He had a very solid rookie year with the Browns, running for 950 yards on 267 carries. That works out to an average of 3.5 yards a carry but he was playing with broken ribs most of the season. He hit the end zone 11 times. Along with this he caught 51 passes for 367 yards and a TD. He showed solid blocking skills as well. It will long be remembered that on his first carry as a Colt he scored a touchdown.
Apparently, Browns’ General Manager Mike Lombardi contacted Colt GM Ryan Grigson about a trade when he saw owner Jim Irsay’s Tweet about the Colts shopping for a running back. He said that Richardson might be available for the right price. Of course that price turned out to be the Horseshoe’s first pick in 2014.The initial reaction by Cleveland fans was one of anger and dismay. There was a general feeling that the Browns’ front office was already writing off the 2013 season and trying to position itself into being able to obtain a franchise quarterback in the 2014 draft. Last year’s first round pick, Brandon Weeden, is a total washout. Lombardi said in a press release that no Browns player was off the table. That led to several teams making inquiries about their All-Pro Left Offensive Tackle Joe Thomas. The GM let it be known that Thomas was the one Browns player whose job was safe. Cleveland fans haven’t had much to cheer about in the new millennium. Their team and the Detroit Lions are the only teams from the 50-year-old NFL/AFL merger to have not appeared in a Super Bowl.
For Colts fans there seems to be guarded optimism. Having the first and third player picks from the 2012 draft, a draft that was rich in quality players, playing in the same backfield seems very appealing and could turn out to be a very good deal. Some have pointed out that while Richardson has been tough and steady in his career so far, he has yet to show really big play capability and he was probably over-drafted in the first place. Former Colts GM Bill Polian likes the deal and calls it a win-win for both teams. In his opinion, the Colts get a quality back and the Browns get a top draft choice and a chance to rebuild the franchise….yet again. Richardson is said to be ecstatic over the chance to play in the same backfield with Luck and thinks he can really be effective in the Big Blue offense. Time will tell, but it also must be noted that both teams won big games this last weekend, after the deal transpired. As a matter of fact, in beating Luck’s old college coach and former Colt quarterback, Jim Harbaugh, the Colts played their most effective game of the Pagano/Luck era. When they beat Green Bay last season they played above themselves and with great passion. At San Francisco last Sunday, they played with enthusiasm but were cool, calm, and flawless in their execution with just one penalty, dominating on both offense and defense. Luck played one of his best games. He was the master of the field and the defense bottled up Colin Kapurnic.
A number of pundits have compared the Richardson trade to the 1999 draft when the Colts selected Edgerrin James with the fifth pick in the draft to complement Peyton, trading away the faster but less powerful Marshall Faulk. (Faulk apparent resented his increased role as a blocker in the new Colts offense and the attention Peyton was getting and wanted out,) Polian and Irsay selected James over the more publicized Ricky Williams which turned out to be the right acquisition, and set up the Legendary three headed monster of the Colts offense — Manning-James- Marvin Harrison. I agree, but I think it also harkens way back to 1987 when the Colts were able to get running back Eric Dickerson in a three way deal with the Rams and the Bills. The deal gave the Colts’ front office real credibility and helped to further separate the team from its Baltimore roots. While the team’s relationship with Dickerson didn’t end well, it did put the team on the map as the I-N-D-I-A-N-A-P-O-L-I-S Colts and gave Jim Irsay the reputation as a big time deal maker who was serious about making the Colts winners.
Montoya is Back in the Indy 500
A few weeks ago I reported that 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner and former Formula One and NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya, after not being re-signed to drive for Chip Ganassi’s NASCAR team, was exploring the possibility of returning to the Indy Car circuit. He was then talking to Michael Andretti about the possibility of driving for Team Green and that several teams were interested in talking to him. Well it turns out that one of those teams was Penske Racing and that they, indeed, signed him to a deal to drive one of their cars in the Indy Car series in 2014. This, of course, means that after a 13 year absence, Montoya will once again be in the chase for the Borg-Warner Trophy. This is by far the longest gap that any driver has been absent between races. Montoya has competed in a number of events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; the United States Formula One Grand Prix, the Brickyard, and the Rolex endurance series, so he is no stranger to the track. Roger Penske, as always, is the master psychologist. Montoya has long be associated with Penske’s arch-rival Ganassi, so to have Montoya in the cockpit of one of his Indy cars gives — well, let’s just say that Roger Penske always finds a way to make things interesting. It will be a fascinating story.
snicewanger@yahoo.com