Ryan Clark Right to Call Trent Richardson “Worst RB of All Time”

He was never one to mince words as a player, and it seems that talent is taking former Steelers and Redskins safety Ryan Clark down the path of a very successful and sensationalist career as an ESPN analyst.

His latest point of order? Calling former Browns, Colts and Raiders tailback Trent Richardson the “worst running back of all time.”

The announcement came after Richardson was released by Oakland – his third team in four seasons – for failing to make the 75-man cut ahead of this weekend’s final roster decisions.

As out there as the claim might be, though, it’s hard to disagree with Clark after the production – or lack thereof – Richardson has displayed in a dreadful career to date.

After a stellar career as a ground-and-pound, every down back at Alabama, Richardson entered the NFL and became a completely different player. His vision was non-existent, constantly pursuing faces, not spaces, in the open field, and crumpling at the first point of contact on the regular occasion that he would be stuffed at the line of scrimmage.

Gone was the downhill running explosiveness and upper body strength that once saw him shrugging off defenders like loose strands of confetti en route to two national championships.

“I have no reaction [to Richardson being cut], ‘cause this should have happened a long time ago,” Clark declared on ESPN’s First Take. “Trent Richardson is the worst running back of all time. Of all time. There’s a freshman that goes to University High in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, named Michael Hollins, that I would take on my team before Richardson.”

We’ll have to stop Ryan right there, because that’s where things get a little unjustifiable. While Richardson is undoubtedly a better professional player than any high school athlete, it’s probably true that he is on par with many NFL third- and fourth-stringers, too.

But his status as the league’s worst starting back is without question. At least, it was, because it’s hard to see any other franchise giving a chance to a back that has proven incapable of managing even the simplest aspects of his position.