Jim Brown by most accounts was the best running back in NFL history. During his era, he made the now lowly Cleveland Browns an NFL powerhouse & champion. Since being run out of the organization as an advisor, he’s been, to put it nicely, a bitter old man.
His comments today about Alabama star Trent Richardson, are just another example of Brown’s contempt and/or jealousy of current players and the Browns franchise. Obviously, when his former team is rumored to be targeting a great RB, he’s going to be asked his opinion of the player. I’ve honestly not seen or heard one single scout, analyst, executive, fan, former or current player have a single negative thing to say about Richardson’s talent. Until now:
In a guest spot on ESPN Radio, Jim Brown downplayed Richardson’s game and lamented the NFL’s move toward a more pass-happy culture.
“I’m not overwhelmed with it,” Brown said of the prospect his former team, the Cleveland Browns, could select Richardson. “The problem is that he’s ordinary. I think he’s ordinary.”
What’s ordinary about Richardson? “The size, the speed, his moves,” he said.
Brown also said that former Heisman trophy winner and Alabama RB Mark Ingram “bores him” and that if Richardson couldn’t start over Ingram, there’s no reason to believe hell be any good in the NFL.
Honestly, I’m nearly speechless. I get that he hates the Browns. And I get that he probably hates the direction the NFL is heading towards, and I get that he probably thinks all players, especially RBs can’t hold a candle to him in his day. And he may be right about all of that. But to say Richardson is “ordinary” is beyond absurd.
Richardson is clearly dynamic and he’s easily the best RB prospect since Adrian Peterson. He really doesn’t fit the mold of anyone currently in the NFL with his combination of size, speed, strength, agility & overall skill.
I really don’t get what Jim Brown is thinking.
