David Richard/Associated Press

When the Indianapolis Colts take the field against the New England Patriots in Sunday's AFC Championship Game, they will do so without running back Trent Richardson.

Richardson released a statement to ESPN.com prior to Sunday's game, courtesy of ESPN's Mike Wells:

I had to miss walk-through. I'm dealing with a very serious family emergency. I'm still at the hospital. I wouldn't purposely just miss walk-through. I wouldn't just purposely turn my back on the team. I would have been there if I wasn't dealing with this issue.

On Saturday, Zak Keefer of The Indianapolis Star first revealed Richardson would not travel with the team to New England and that his absence was due to personal reasons and not injury related. WTHR's Bob Kravitz reported Richardson "didn't notify the team" before missing Saturday's morning walkthrough.

Even though the nature of Richardson's absence is going to be discussed, the former first-round pick's presence may not have changed anything about Indianapolis' game plan for this week. Kravitz noted Richardson wasn't even expected to dress for Sunday's game.

Ben Volin of The Boston Globe noted that Daniel Herron has been playing an overwhelming majority of snaps for the Colts:

Colts head coach Chuck Pagano made Richardson a healthy scratch last week against Denver, telling reporters that they wanted an extra body on special teams, via Holder:

Michael Hill was a special teams player and Trent – it's not any knock on Trent – but Trent's never been asked to be a special teams player. He was doing everything for a period of time to try to get himself ready. But Michael was more ready to go out and be the third back and contribute on special teams.

Despite being the Colts' leading rusher with 519 yards in the regular season, Richardson has been a non-factor in the playoffs. He didn't have a carry in the Wild Card Round against Cincinnati and didn't play last week.

In fact, even though Richardson wasn't a star in his brief time with Cleveland, ESPN Stats & Info noted he's been significantly worse since joining the Colts:

Herron has emerged as the No. 1 running back for the Colts down the stretch. Richardson was acquired from Cleveland last year for a first-round draft pick, but he has been a bust over three seasons with just 3.3 yards per carry.

It's clear that Richardson's future with Indianapolis is very much in doubt. He is under contract through 2015 with a salary of $3.1 million, per Spotrac.com, which isn't a huge sum. The team could release him without facing substantial consequences, though you wonder if the price they paid to get him makes that difficult.

There are egos in any front office. The Colts gave up more for Richardson than he was worth, though they clearly believed in his ability. His absence in the playoffs has spoken volumes about where he stands on the organizational depth chart.

This will be a big offseason for the former Alabama star to see if he can stick in the NFL.