Just 50 Carries in, Trent Richardson is a Leader in Cleveland
While Greg Little is preening and posing amidst a 14-point deficit and a shower of hashtags, Browns running back Trent Richardson stands mostly stoic and calculated. Certainly, when Richardson crosses the goal line — as he has three times in his very young career 1 — he exudes a level of energy that is matched only by Cleveland fans watching the plays as they unfold. But until that moment when the ball crosses the goal line, Richardson, beneath that orange helmet with dreadlocks flowing, displays a workmanlike attitude previously unseen by his predecessors.
On an otherwise tough day in the trenches with Richardson managing to gain a mere 2.3 yards per carry, when the rookie back out of Alabama was finally able to turn a busted play into a six-yard touchdown, bouncing the play to his immediate left after running right into the backs of the men who were to create a hole just to the left of center Alex Mack, it was those very men whom Richardson tracked down, one by one, on the Browns sidelines following the play.
A seated Mack got a fist bump to the shoulder pads. Then came Shawn Lauvao and Jason Pinkston and Mitchell Schwartz. The final moment of gratitude was reserved for Joe Thomas. A group of men who have underachieved individually and as a unit, being appreciated by the man whom they have largely let down. Three games in, two of them underwhelming by statistical standards coupled with the fact that his team was entertaining their third-consecutive loss, but Trent Richardson is already becoming a leader on a team in dire need of such a role.
“We’ve got to keep fighting,” Richardson said following the loss. “You’ve got to keep trying to motivate the team and I’ve got to keep motivating myself. As far me stepping in the role of being a leader, I have to make sure I’m doing everything correctly at all times. And so yeah, we’re 0-3 but we have another game Thursday, so we’ve got to go right back to the drawing board and try and find a way to win, no matter what it takes.”
This is the same player who missed the bulk of the preseason following a minor knee operation. The first rookie selected in the most recent draft, a player who the Browns traded up to obtain, and one who was arguably the team’s most talented skill player before even stepping foot on to the field. Sitting on a shiny new contract and closets full of accolades acquired during his days as an amateur player, it would be easy for Richardson, a 22-year-old kid at the core, to waltz in to Berea with a sense of entitlement. But Richardson’s senses include everything but.