OWINGS MILLS - Ravens running back Trent Richardson said he had too many distractions to succeed when he first entered the NFL.

“As a person at that time, mentally (I) wasn’t stable enough to play football, for any level,” Richardson said in a revealing interview with CSN colleague Chris Miller. “My mindset wasn’t right for it, I had too much going on outside of football. The football was always there, but everything that carried on outside the field, it carried onto the field. I couldn’t think about football all the time. Football became little to me at the time.”

Richardson saw his career plummet, from being the No. 3 overall pick in 2012, to being out of the NFL last season. After unsuccessful stops with the Browns, Colts, and Raiders, Richardson said he was committed to succeed with the Ravens.

“This is a good chance of being my last ride when it comes to proving myself in the NFL,” Richardson said. “I know myself that I’m not done in the NFL, don’t want to be done. I got a taste of what that felt like. To tell my kids that their father didn’t have a job, it was big for me.

“I’m here, I’m going to be here for awhile.”

Richardson has returned to the practice field this week, after missing the first week of OTA’s with a hamstring issue. But it won’t be easy for Richardson to make the Ravens. They have a talented and crowded backfield group that also includes Justin Forsett, Buck Allen, rookie Kenneth Dixon, Terrance West, and Lorenzo Taliaferro. All of them won’t make the 53-man roster.

However, Richardson has far loftier goals than just making the team. Asked how his NFL story would end, Richardson set the bar high.

“Putting on a yellow jacket,” said Richardson, referring to making the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “People wrote him off, he came back and did some amazing things. He always had the pedigree. He just had to get back to the guy that we know.”