Trent Richardson’s productive return to professional football was one of many gridiron casualties in the 2019 collapse of the Alliance of American Football.

A high-profile signee of the Birmingham Iron, Richardson was arguably the league’s most productive player. He scored an AAF-best 12 touchdowns in eight games in his first season of football in nearly two years.

The AAF did not survive two months of operations. It filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April 2019, just two weeks after controlling Thomas Dundon ceased operations and allowed contracted players to leave.

More:Richardson, Travis rejuvenating careers through Alliance of American Football

For post-college players, the AAF once carried the potential of prolonging football careers or even propelling overlooked players into the NFL.

Its demise left many players, including productive ones like Richardson, unemployed and wondering what their next football opportunity may be.

“At the same, (at least) I got good film. I hate it for the guys who didn’t get good film,” Richardson of his AAF experience on Tuesday night at the Pensacola Bama Club Scholarship Kickoff event at Pensacola State College. “I hate it for some of the coaches that lost their job. But that’s something you have to prepare for. That’s some of the things I’ve learned talking to (Alabama great) Bobby Humphrey about life without football.”

Life without football is something the former first-round pick said he’s focused on since his last NFL season in 2016.

Prior to his stint in the Alliance of American Football, Richardson went north to play with the Saskatchewan RoughRiders in the CFL in 2017.

It was a productive, but brief stint due to injuries. He did not report to the 2018 Saskatchewan training camp due to travel issues surrounding his child custody agreement.

The RoughRiders soon released Richardson so that he could pursue his opportunities with the Birmingham Iron. The Iron made Richardson a high-profile signee prior to the inaugural 2019 season.

Richardson said the two years between his time in the CFL and AAF were formative for his family.

“To be out of football a couple years, I had transitioned from not only being a football player, but to being a full-time dad,” Richardson said. “You know, I was a travel softball dad and traveled to little league football games to help coaches.”

The dissolution of the AAF once again leaves Richardson’s playing career uncertain.

Vince McMahon’s XFL is set to open operation again in 2020, his second try at founding a flashier and rougher out-of-season football league. The original XFL lasted just one season in 2001.

It’s an opportunity Richardson said he would pursue if possible, though he’s hoping his AAF production will earn him another shot on “the big stage.”

“I’ve gotten a few phone calls, but you never know about the NFL,” Richardson said. “Hopefully I put enough out there to show I can still move and play. I’m doing this for myself and my kids.”

“A lot of people have been calling me. The XFL has been calling me. The NFL has been calling me…. The opportunity is there and if the NFL doesn’t come through, then definitely (I’d pursue XFL),”

Richardson’s presence remains welcome as ever in rooms clad with crimson and white, however.

The two-time Alabama national championship winner signed autographs and posed for countless photos with adoring local fans who remember him more for his role in establishing Alabama’s current dynasty than his nomadic professional years.

In a room with Alabama legends Bobby Humphrey, Javier Arenas and Dr. Gaylon McCullough, Richardson remained the night’s star attraction as the 10-year anniversary of Nick Saban’s first national title with Alabama approaches.

“This is a beautiful thing, especially with generations of (Alabama) football,” Richardson said. “We’ve got some guys that played for Coach Bryant… It’s a blessing to be back in Pensacola and have this in my city.

“This is home for me and to show some of this home to (Humphrey and Arenas), it’s big to me.”

Eric J. Wallace can be reached at ejwallace@pnj.com or 850-525-5087.