Report: Raiders release former Colts running back Trent Richardson

After being drafted third overall in 2012 by the Browns, traded to the Colts for a first round pick in 2013, and then signed by the Raiders this offseason, running back Trent Richardson has been cut by Oakland, according to reports.

This comes via ESPN's Bill Williamson, who reports that Richardson is among the Raiders' first cuts.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Raiders have cut Trent Richardson. <a href="http://t.co/ABG7kxDQwq">http://t.co/ABG7kxDQwq</a></p>&mdash; Bill Williamson (@BWilliamsonESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/BWilliamsonESPN/status/638481342179639296">August 31, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Raiders gave him another chance, but it seems that Richardson wasn't impressive enough to stick around.  Silver and Black Pride's Levi Damien wrote about how there were weight concerns surrounding Richardson in Oakland as well, and even after the back said he met those goals he still didn't impress:

At his new weight, he looked quicker, but was still having trouble finding his gaps and following his blocks. Through three preseason games, he had 15 carries for 42 yards (2.8 yards per carry).

In two seasons with the Colts, Richardson played in 31 games (including playoffs) and rushed for 978 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 3.1 yards per carry.  He also caught 55 passes for 494 yards and a touchdown.  In 31 games with the Colts, Richardson didn't even top 1,000 combined rushing yards.  It was a disaster in every sense of the word, from the price they gave up (a first round pick) to the struggles on the field (3.1 yards per carry, and often worse) to the struggles off the field (weight and his team suspension for AFC championship game).  After a third team has now decided to move on from Richardson - and this one coming as part of the first cuts in preseason - it's hard not to wonder whether his NFL career might just about be over.

If so, he will go down as one of the biggest busts in recent draft memory.  Almost everybody (besides Jim Brown) thought that he was going to be a good NFL running back after watching him at Alabama, but we never really saw that same player at the NFL level.  Looking back, that 2012 draft class was pretty terrible, and the Colts emerged with two of the best players in the entire draft in quarterback Andrew Luck (first round) and wide receiver T.Y. Hilton (third round).  The Colts nailed the first pick in drafting Luck, but the next two players have not turned out well.  Earlier today, the Redskins officially announced that they have benched Robert Griffin III in favor of Kirk Cousins, while now the Raiders have released Trent Richardson.  If you're looking for the silver lining in the Richardson trade by the Colts, it's this: at least they only gave up one first round pick instead of three for him.  But even though the Colts whiffed on the trade for Richardson, they still emerged from a pretty poor NFL draft class overall with a tremendous haul, including Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton, Coby Fleener, and Dwayne Allen.  And looking at the other players who went in the top ten, it's even more important that the Colts hit on the most important one, drafting Luck with the first overall pick.