Titans DT Jurell Casey speaks on Richardson/Brown

[Coffeedrinker]

You don't believe in the "contract year" phenomenon at all?

Not much, no.  I think there are many more factors involved than a contract year.

 

Usually those contract are after 3 or 4 years in the league.  So a player plays and is not very good, not very good and then all of a sudden they are playing up to the potential fans and media have of them and people write it off as, well it's a contract year and then he gets a big contract, goes to another team and bombs and people say, "See, he was just playing for a contract."  Well, of course he bombs, it took him 3 or 4 years to learn his old defense well enough to make an impact and people expect him to carry that over to a new D, new language, new keys, new reads, a complete new way of doing things.  Very few players, in that type of situation, are capable of doing that.  The smart coaches/GMs re-sign those players, the dumb ones sign those players from other teams.

 

The 2nd factor is that people see what they want to see.  As we have discussed on this forum before, it takes sometimes takes a play for a player to get a perceived reputation and a year to a year and half for that perception to be overcome.  So then, when that perception is overcome (like in the case of DB), people claim he is playing for a contract. 

 

The 3rd factor is people see what they want to see.  A player on another team is going to be a free agent the following year in a position of need for the viewers favorite team(or employer because I think this happens to scouts as well), all of a sudden that player does everything that is missing from the current team.

 

Now, I am sure there are players out there who think, man I have a contract coming up so they spend more time in weight room, watch their diet better, study the playbook harder, do more film study.  But I don't think that happens as much as people claim (contract year) and again it may have more to do with a light coming on and that player saying, "these are the things I need to do be professional football player", not, "Well I will work really hard this year, get my big contract and coast until I'm released."

[Le Neon]

Fr srsly, i like Ballard too. But using the 60 yards gained against Oakland when we still had Donald Thomas is a pretty garbage conparison. For any of our rbs.

Credit where credit is due, I don't know if we ice the clock and win with trich in the game. Maybe. Same goes for big plays trich made against Seattle and Houston. Both players are helping us win games, which is all that really matters to a Colts fan. As fun as these Internet slap fests can be...

[Tunggreat]

Trent Richardson should become a dancer if he wants to tiptoe. Pick a hole and run through it.

[Superman]

Not much, no.  I think there are many more factors involved than a contract year.

 

Usually those contract are after 3 or 4 years in the league.  So a player plays and is not very good, not very good and then all of a sudden they are playing up to the potential fans and media have of them and people write it off as, well it's a contract year and then he gets a big contract, goes to another team and bombs and people say, "See, he was just playing for a contract."  Well, of course he bombs, it took him 3 or 4 years to learn his old defense well enough to make an impact and people expect him to carry that over to a new D, new language, new keys, new reads, a complete new way of doing things.  Very few players, in that type of situation, are capable of doing that.  The smart coaches/GMs re-sign those players, the dumb ones sign those players from other teams.

 

The 2nd factor is that people see what they want to see.  As we have discussed on this forum before, it takes sometimes takes a play for a player to get a perceived reputation and a year to a year and half for that perception to be overcome.  So then, when that perception is overcome (like in the case of DB), people claim he is playing for a contract. 

 

The 3rd factor is people see what they want to see.  A player on another team is going to be a free agent the following year in a position of need for the viewers favorite team(or employer because I think this happens to scouts as well), all of a sudden that player does everything that is missing from the current team.

 

Now, I am sure there are players out there who think, man I have a contract coming up so they spend more time in weight room, watch their diet better, study the playbook harder, do more film study.  But I don't think that happens as much as people claim (contract year) and again it may have more to do with a light coming on and that player saying, "these are the things I need to do be professional football player", not, "Well I will work really hard this year, get my big contract and coast until I'm released."

 

This is well thought out. I agree with a lot of this.

 

I do think that NFL players, as a rule, approach their job very seriously every week, and every year. If you don't, you probably don't keep your job, so it's a necessity.

 

But I think in certain cases, individuals step their game up, in all aspects, when the time comes for them to get a new contract. It's not necessarily that they don't plan on living up to whatever contract they get, just that they recognize they have to prove that they're worthy of it in the first place. That can lead to putting in more work on the practice field, in the weight room, in film study, etc., which can lead to better performance. Couple that with a player simply coming into his own as a player, and you get a really good season that kind of stands out from the total body of work.

 

The problem is when you pay $12m/year for the guy who just got 13 sacks, but you never get double digit sacks from him again. Like you said, there are plenty of variables to consider, but this happens enough for teams to be wary of it. 

 

All told, it's a sounder strategy to draft well, develop your own guys, and re-sign them. But sometimes you need to add talent from other sources, and when you bring a guy into a new everything, it doesn't always work out the way you hoped it would.

[Superman]

Trent Richardson should become a dancer if he wants to tiptoe. Pick a hole and run through it.

 

Doesn't there have to be a hole first?

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

I agree except for the terrible OL picks (not that his picks the last few years were good with the exception of AC, although I wanted Hudson with that pick).  DB's biggest problem with the Colts was the zone blocking scheme.  I have said on this forum for years that DB is not good at anticipating where the hole is going to be.  Therefore, in a zone blocking scheme where the can be anywhere from left shoulder of the center to right shoulder of the tackle, for example, he struggled.  But now that the Colts are running more man blocking, especially in the running game, the hole is the 2, 4, 6,1,3, 5 (I have no idea if the Colts give the holes those numbers, it's just common enough I figured everyone would understand what I mean) etc.  Brown is running to that spot, if the hole is there it's a good gain because he hits the hole fast and runs with power once he gets to the 2nd level.  If the hole is not there then it will be a gain for 0-1 yard.  For years I said the Colts should not have drafted DB, not because he had no talent but because it was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

 

Now the Colts are doing the same thing with Richardson but in reverse, Richardson came from a team that runs a zone blocking scheme, he is used to waiting with the ball in his hand for the hole to develop and then hitting the hole.  Well in a man blocking scheme the hole will not develop... it will be there and then it's gone because the Lbers are reading the oline and filling the hole.  The idea is to have the running back into the hole before the LBers can fill it that way they(the Lbers) are hitting the running back at an angle and therefore an easier tackle to break.  Just like I said early on in a thread about Trich's learning curve, it will take him to next year to be comfortable, there isn't really time to practice that kind of stuff during the season because the practices are spent on game plan prep, not fundamental prep.

I hear you coffee but honestly IMO Trent DOESN'T NEED AN OFF SEASON to get it. Just run to an Threw the hole? Not that hard an it is honestly easier to run that way, of coarse if you are not met 2 yards in the backfield that would help. To this point I have been very UNDERWELMED with Richardson, an we gave a #1 pick to boot?

[Gavin]

Weren't we only up by 1 at the time of our last "drive"? Why discredit Brown's production there when it literally sealed the game for us. Down after down he'd squeeze through the small gap and lower his head at full speed 

6 carries for 46 yards on the drive, great series by him...7.6 yards per carry on that series

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

Doesn't there have to be a hole first?

True but Donald seems to find them! Sometimes you got to make your own hole?

[Tunggreat]

Doesn't there have to be a hole first?

 

There's a hole for Brown but not for Richardson? Do they not like Richardson or something? Maybe it's Richardson.

[Gavin]

There's a hole for Brown but not for Richardson? Do they not like Richardson or something? Maybe it's Richardson.

Its both

[dudeski]

There's a hole for Brown but not for Richardson? Do they not like Richardson or something? Maybe it's Richardson.

there isn't always a hole for brown

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

Donald has had a great Season, I love it, for a guy who had to bust his butt to make the team, played sparingly, didn't complain, played STeams, is the 3rd back goes to 2, then 1, then 2 with the addition of Richardson & then totally out plays him LOVE IT. WE really IMO need to resign the guy, we have NO OTHER BACK with his speed. Honestly its painful to watch Richardson run sometimes when there is a hole & he darts  tip toes to the left or right of the hole? REALLY someone needs to tell him this is the NFL not college, you are a power back hit the damm hole & and run throw it period. At this point I hope Ballard is healthy next year because he is better than Richardson!

[Le Neon]

Donald has had a great Season, I love it, for a guy who had to bust his butt to make the team, played sparingly, didn't complain, played STeams, is the 3rd back goes to 2, then 1, then 2 with the addition of Richardson & then totally out plays him LOVE IT. WE really IMO need to resign the guy, we have NO OTHER BACK with his speed. Honestly its painful to watch Richardson run sometimes when there is a hole & he darts  tip toes to the left or right of the hole? REALLY someone needs to tell him this is the NFL not college, you are a power back hit the damm hole & and run throw it period. At this point I hope Ballard is healthy next year because he is better than Richardson!

We already have two starting rbs coming back for cheap next season. Wouldn't you rather use cap space to fix the oline, which improves the running game and pass pro for Luck?

Brown is playing for probably his last big chance at a pay day. Do we really want to be the ones to give it to him? Would he give us the home town discount if it means playing behind the same line and competing for playing time?

[Balzer40]

We already have two starting rbs coming back for cheap next season. Wouldn't you rather use cap space to fix the oline, which improves the running game and pass pro for Luck?

Brown is playing for probably his last big chance at a pay day. Do we really want to be the ones to give it to him? Would he give us the home town discount if it means playing behind the same line and competing for playing time?

 

 

 

Brown isn't getting a big pay day, don't  matter where he signs, nobody is giving him more than 3-4 mil. a yr..

[dudeski]

Brown isn't getting a big pay day, don't matter where he signs, nobody is giving him more than 3-4 mil. a yr..

that is way more than I would pay him

[Balzer40]

that is way more than I would pay him

 

 

 

I'm just saying that if we decide to resign him, it isn't going to hurt us financially to do so. If Brown thinks he's going to get a big pay day, he's going to be sorely mistaken. 

[Le Neon]

Brown isn't getting a big pay day, don't matter where he signs, nobody is giving him more than 3-4. a yr..

Everything is relative. If he signs for 3 or 4 years he may not see another contract. If he can't maximize his value he'll want to maximize his opportunity, doubt that will be here.

And I'm not the cap guru some on here are, but 3-4 million could still be a veteran at a position of need or the difference in signing a difference maker or a marginal player. I'd imagine moving forward with Ballard and Richardson greatly improves our cap flexibility in the short term, though others probably know better.

[Balzer40]

Everything is relative. If he signs for 3 or 4 years he may not see another contract. If he can't maximize his value he'll want to maximize his opportunity, doubt that will be here.

And I'm not the cap guru some on here are, but 3-4 million could still be a veteran at a position of need or the difference in signing a difference maker or a marginal player. I'd imagine moving forward with Ballard and Richardson greatly improves our cap flexibility in the short term, though others probably know better.

 

 

 

We have 39 million available this offseason, Signing DB to a 3 million a yr. contract isn't going to make a dent in that money. I can't see Satele being retained which will add another 3-4 million to our cash. Might be a couple other players under contract let go too. Money isn't a concern this offseason and DB isn't a bad contingency plan in case Ballard isn't healthy or if Richardson continue's to suck.

[Narcosys]

2/3rds of TRs yards were on a meaningless 13 yard gain on 3rd and 20. About 90% of DBs yards were on the game winning drive where he averaged about 8 YPC. The YPC for the game are misleading.

soooo....both sucked?

[Le Neon]

We have 39 million available this offseason, Signing DB to a 3 million a yr. contract isn't going to make a dent in that money. I can't see Satele being retained which will add another 3-4 million to our cash. Might be a couple other players under contract let go too. Money isn't a concern this offseason and DB isn't a bad contingency plan in case Ballard isn't healthy or if Richardson continue's to suck.

Him coming back needs to be a mutual decision. It could happen but I don't see it IMHO. I didn't see Wayne coming back either, FWIW.

If he wants to come back and he does it on the cheap that's great.

[CanuckColt]

Doesn't there have to be a hole first?

There usually IS one but you must recognize it and get thru in a hurry...even Donald has no problem...and Bradshaw positively blasted thru the one he found and shredded the D.

[dudeski]

There usually IS one but you must recognize it and get thru in a hurry...even Donald has no problem...and Bradshaw positively blasted thru the one he found and shredded the D.

did you catch the first 3 and a half quarters Sunday?

[colts_100nascar17fan]

A good oline WILL NOT help trich. The browns have/had a intact line all year and and last year and he didnt do much to impress. He will always b a high draft pick rb bust-happens all the time with first rd rbs.

[ColtsLegacy]

soooo....both sucked?

DB had 8 carries prior to the final drive. Pep abandoned the run until the last drive where DB went 6 carries for 46 yards and scored the game sealing TD. So no I wouldn't say he "sucked", he was underutilized until the very end where he sealed the game even though the Titans knew we wanted to run it.

Get off the DB hate train, man. It's old news, tiresome, and erroneous now.

[dw49]

A good oline WILL NOT help trich. The browns have/had a intact line all year and and last year and he didnt do much to impress. He will always b a high draft pick rb bust-happens all the time with first rd rbs.

 

The WILL NOT is very convincing but does "intact" mean good ? If you go by Cleveland's production running the ball , your argument is not all that strong. 

[Derakynn]

A good oline WILL NOT help trich. The browns have/had a intact line all year and and last year and he didnt do much to impress. He will always b a high draft pick rb bust-happens all the time with first rd rbs.

Yeah, teams were begging to trade for McGahee with his 2.8 ypc average behind Cleveland's line.

[CanuckColt]

did you catch the first 3 and a half quarters Sunday?

Yeah...Sunday Ticket and PVR'ed.

Yeah Donald got stuffed on a few plays, everyone does...Richardson gets stopped on most plays.

[colts_100nascar17fan]

Browns dont have any running backs now,an old worn out guy n two no names.

The WILL NOT is very convincing but does "intact" mean good ? If you go by Cleveland's production running the ball , your argument is not all that strong.

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

We already have two starting rbs coming back for cheap next season. Wouldn't you rather use cap space to fix the oline, which improves the running game and pass pro for Luck?

Brown is playing for probably his last big chance at a pay day. Do we really want to be the ones to give it to him? Would he give us the home town discount if it means playing behind the same line and competing for playing time?

I don't think whereever DB goes he is going to get a HUGE payday. I wouldn't overpay but I would pay him. We have way more than enough cap space to address an OL, LB, CD, WR and DB. Honestly the way way the colts have treated him this year he just might walk because he can. Richardson has low pay? Richardson may just suck, and Ballard whom I do like may or may not be ready, or recover at all. Then what? I think you may need to draft RB but WR is the biggest need amongst many the Colts have.

[colts_100nascar17fan]

Mcgahee's numbers are same as trichs were/are and he wasnt there until aftr trich. Cleveland hasnt had a good running rb in years.

Yeah, teams were begging to trade for McGahee with his 2.8 ypc average behind Cleveland's line.

[indy1888]

did you catch the first 3 and a half quarters Sunday?

 

Brown only had about 8 carries until the final drive Sunday.  Hard to take a whole lot away from a guy who was getting 2-3 carries a qtr.   Brown's average also suffered from when he slipped in the backfield on one play and lost 5 yards.  Early in the game he had a couple of 4 and 5 yard bursts.  It's not like he was terrible every snap.  He just had limited chances, until the end of course.

[dudeski]

Brown only had about 8 carries until the final drive Sunday. Hard to take a whole lot away from a guy who was getting 2-3 carries a qtr. Brown's average also suffered from when he slipped in the backfield on one play and lost 5 yards. Early in the game he had a couple of 4 and 5 yard bursts. It's not like he was terrible every snap. He just had limited chances, until the end of course.

Lots of games, trich had limited snaps.

The point is you can't just look at ypc and say this guy is good and this guy sucks. There is more to it than that. This line was horrible until we went to try a 4 minute offense

[indy1888]

Lots of games, trich had limited snaps.

The point is you can't just look at ypc and say this guy is good and this guy sucks. There is more to it than that. This line was horrible until we went to try a 4 minute offense

 

Richardson averaged 15 carries a game the first 5 games he was here.  His limited snaps lately were due to him being out played by Brown. Now he is benched because he is being outplayed. I would say the coaching staff seen enough in the time he was given to come to the conclusion that he just wasn't getting it done.  Agreed?

 

I'm not judging anything by YPC.  My eyes do a fine job of telling me who is performing and who isn't.  The guys who get paid big money to see these things evidently agreed.

[luckyblue]

Everybody should face the facts that Grigson totally blew the trade for Richardson. Keep dreamin Colts fans he is never going to get any better, he is a complete NFL bust, sooner we get rid of him the better. What we need to do is to resign Donald Brown and also hope that Vick Ballard can come back from his injury. If we even tried to trade Richardson in the offseason, I bet we couldn't even get a 7th round pick for that bum.

[MaoBerry]

He's politely calling him a giant sissy basically. Now, how to correct this character flaw?

[dudeski]

Richardson averaged 15 carries a game the first 5 games he was here. His limited snaps lately were due to him being out played by Brown. Now he is benched because he is being outplayed. I would say the coaching staff seen enough in the time he was given to come to the conclusion that he just wasn't getting it done. Agreed?

I'm not judging anything by YPC. My eyes do a fine job of telling me who is performing and who isn't. The guys who get paid big money to see these things evidently agreed.

not trying to give trich a pass. Lots of plays have been bad. He definitely has work to do and should be backing up brown at this point

Just trying to point out that everyone will struggle at times behind this line.

[Narcosys]

DB had 8 carries prior to the final drive. Pep abandoned the run until the last drive where DB went 6 carries for 46 yards and scored the game sealing TD. So no I wouldn't say he "sucked", he was underutilized until the very end where he sealed the game even though the Titans knew we wanted to run it.

Get off the DB hate train, man. It's old news, tiresome, and erroneous now.

 

Not really erroneous when he averaged 3.9 only because of his last 6 carries when the D was protecting against the pass and not the run.   But the hate TRich train is the new popular thing to do.  All the cool kids are doing it!

[GoColts8818]

Doesn't there have to be a hole first?

sssh details...

[ColtsLegacy]

Not really erroneous when he averaged 3.9 only because of his last 6 carries when the D was protecting against the pass and not the run.   But the hate TRich train is the new popular thing to do.  All the cool kids are doing it!

 

Why was the defense "protecting against the pass and not the run" when all we were doing was running on the final drive? Sounds like another bull% excuse to not give credit to DB.

 

There's a reason everyone is down on TR, it's because he isn't doing anything right now. It's pretty simple. There's a reason people are up on DB, it's because he is doing well right now. Again, simple. If you can't see DB is playing well then it's your preconceived hate of him that is blinding you or you don't know what you are watching or you're literally blind.

 

You say "the cool kids" are hating TR but what does that make you? A rebel for still hating on DB when he's playing very well? And, for the record, I like TR and was very happy to get him (I loved him at Alabama). However, I do not like his current production which is next to zero.

[esmort]

Not really erroneous when he averaged 3.9 only because of his last 6 carries when the D was protecting against the pass and not the run.   But the hate TRich train is the new popular thing to do.  All the cool kids are doing it!

 

Or maybe some people are just getting tired of riding the TRich excuse train that just keeps chugging away on "old recycled fuel".