Trent Richardson traded to Indianapolis Colts

Cleveland Browns running back Trent Richardson has had to sit out of some preseason games and practices because of his injury issues, and that is why it makes sense to trade him.

(John Kuntz, PD Photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- At next spring's NFL draft, I'm going to love the Trent Richardson deal and what it could mean for the Browns.

Think about having two first-round picks -- their own and the first-rounder picked up from the Indianapolis Colts for Richardson. Other trades have allowed the Browns to pile up 10 choices in the 2014 draft.

The 0-2 Browns already seemed doomed to a bad year, with only one touchdown in two games. But now it looks awful, and keeping Richardson wasn't going to change that. My preseason prediction of 6-10 looks wildly optimistic. Now it could be 2-14 or 3-13 awful.

Here's the bottom line: If I'm sitting in the chair of CEO Joe Banner, I make the trade. I make the trade knowing fans will hate it. I make the trade knowing the coaching staff has been assigned to a job harder than swimming from Key West to Cuba with 50-pound weights on each leg.

I make the trade because I know that Richardson is not a big-time running back. Two knee surgeries and the broken ribs were the first indication that he couldn't stay healthy.

Part of my column after Sunday's loss at Baltimore dealt with how Richardson has shown little speed or ability to break loose. The last few weeks, I have written about Richardson having had only two runs over 20 yards last season, his longest being 32 yards. That was in 267 carries.

I hoped it would be different this year once he was past the knee issues and broken ribs. But in 31 carries his longest run was 10 yards. He was averaging a mediocre 3.4 yards per run, down from 3.6 last season.

I never questioned Richardson's desire. The man has played hurt, and plays hard. I loved him at Alabama and liked the idea of the Browns drafting him at No. 3. Now I wonder if he's even worthy of a first-round pick.

The warning signs

It's a danger signal when you have a 23-year-old running back with two knee surgeries and you need to limit his training camp practice time. It's hard to see Richardson becoming an impact player in a league where most running backs are disposable items after a few years.

Perhaps he goes to the Colts and proves his critics wrong. The Colts were willing to trade a first-rounder for Richardson because starting RB Vick Ballard blew out his knee in practice last week. With Andrew Luck at quarterback and coming off a 10-6 season, the Colts expect to win big right now.

The Browns have been playing the "Wait Until the 2014 Draft" game since they traded two picks in 2013 for extra third- and fourth-round picks in 2014.

Meanwhile, anyone can understand why Browns fans want to howl. They are so sick of lousy football and all the talk about "the process" and "building through the draft." Over and over again, the new front office comes in and dumps most of the guys from the old front office.

Consider that General Manager Mike Lombardi and Banner are the fourth group in the last six years to run a Browns draft. That alone tells you why the franchise is a mess. This last draft does little to inspire confidence -- another reason fans are suspicious about the Richardson deal.

What good is a first-round pick if you waste it -- which has happened here over and over again.

Can the fans trust these guys?

The Browns appear to have made the right move with 2013 first-rounder Barkevious Mingo. Coming off a bruised lung (doesn't it seem strange injuries like this only happen to the Browns?), Mingo had a promising debut at linebacker last week.

But third-rounder Leon McFadden looks like a project. Sixth-rounder Jamoris Slaughter is on the practice squad. The fourth- and fifth-round picks were traded for picks in the 2014 draft. Right now, Mingo is about it from 2013. Seventh rounders Garrett Gilkey and Armonty Bryant have yet to appear in a game.

As Banner said at Wednesday's press conference, "I don't expect (the fans) to trust us until we prove that the trust is well-placed."

The fans do have serious doubts about this front office -- and I share some of them. But I also know the Browns are going nowhere until they find at least an above-average quarterback. And that quarterback probably is not on the team now.

He just may be in the draft.

Trading Richardson (and losing all these games this season) may put the Browns in position to draft a franchise-changing quarterback.

That's why I make the trade.

But it's also why I have such a hopeless feeling about the team for this season.