It’s not looking good for 2nd and 3rd overall picks in the 2012 NFL Draft. Andrew Luck is doing pretty well, but Robert Griffin III and Trent Richardson may be starting at the end of their careers after being benched and cut this week, respectively.
For Richardson, there is almost certainly no coming back. After being drafted to the Cleveland Browns, things just went downhill. The Browns gave up four picks to move up one slot and pick up the star running back, and after a decent rookie season, the Browns dealt him to the Indianapolis Colts for a 1st round pick.
The change of scenery didn’t help Richardson, and he continued to struggle even on a solid offense. The Colts eventually had enough and just cut the former Alabama back.
While, in typical Oakland Raiders fashion, they picked up the draft-bust with $600,000 in guaranteed money hoping to stabilize the running back position with uncertainty surrounding Roy Helu and Latavius Murray.
Surprise, surprise, things didn’t work out in Oakland. Richardson just can’t produce. He hasn’t been able to since his rookie season. If you watched the Raiders play the St. Louis Rams, you probably noticed the goal line situation in which Richardson missed a huge hole opening to the end zone and ran into a wall of bodies instead.
Some things you just can’t teach.
Things aren’t much better for RGIII. Of course, the Washington Redskins also gave up a good amount to jump up to the Rams’ spot and draft the Heisman Trophy winner, and now they aren’t even going to play him.
Hard to blame them. After a fantastic rookie season, Griffin has been a running joke amongst football fans. He’s basically a less-popular Tim Tebow. He sucks, but you still have to hear about him every time you turn on a TV.
Jay Gruden finally had enough of the subpar performances, and named Kirk Cousins the starter for 2015.
Sure, Cousins may not be a drastic improvement, but Gruden seems to think he has a better hold on the team. After another horrible season in the nation’s capital, it really can’t hurt.
Unlike Richardson who could very likely end up unemployed for a few weeks until injuries start to pile up, RGIII doesn’t have to worry about job security. He’s a pretty big name, after all. Even if the Redskins were to cut him, he would have no problem finding a cushy backup job to “scare” a team’s starter into working harder.
Sounds like something the Jets would do.