There are not a lot of people in Trent Richardson's corner at the moment. The former first-round draft pick has yet to really show his true running potential after a standout career at the University of Alabama. Fantasy owners are tired of 3.0 yards per carry average. The Indianapolis Colts are lacking patience over his learning curve with the team. Donald Brown is now starting over him. As Richardson's 2013 continues to go from bad to worse, one person sticking up for him is teammate Reggie Wayne.
Many people continue to ask what is wrong with Richardson. This is a running back that was a center piece to a national championship team. At first some thought it was the overall poor play of the Cleveland Browns offense that caused him to struggle. However, after he was trade to the Colts earlier in the season in exchange for another first-round draft pick, Richardson has not looked much better. It can be said the Colts offensive line is not much better either, but the heat is placed on the running back who has been demoted for the remainder of the season.
Wayne spoke with Jake Query and Derek Schultz at WNDE radio to defend the struggles of Richardson. He believes the low numbers are a result of getting thrown into an offense mid-season and being forced to pick things up faster than usual.
"He came to me, he wasn't pouting or anything," Wayne said. "This was the next day after he found out he was demoted and he said, "Now I can sit back and actually watch the way it's supposed to be done. He kind of feels that he was maybe forced into it early without actually learning it."
Wayne is certainly not wrong. Richardson was traded to the Colts on a Thursday and was expected to learn the entire offense on a six-hour flight to San Francisco where the Colts were playing on Sunday. He had a quick turnaround going from Cleveland to Indianapolis that some players can make work while others cannot. Wayne claimed that was simply the nature of the beast and Richardson will improve over time. Wayne's advice to the running back was simply to practice and work harder, and study the offense.
In the meantime, Donald Brown will get the starts and the majority of the carriers for the Colts. While the Indianapolis offense is not that great, Brown does appear to be the better back right now. Will he be in 2014? That remains to be seen.
