If the Cleveland Browns select running back Trent Richardson tonight, the greatest Browns running back of them all will not be impressed.
Jim Brown said today on ESPN Radio that he doesn’t think Richardson is a great running back who’s going to make a great impact in Cleveland.
“I’m not overwhelmed with it,” Brown said of the idea that the Browns could take Richardson. “The problem is that he’s ordinary. I think he’s ordinary.”
Asked what about him is ordinary, Brown said, “the size, the speed, his moves.”
Asked if any running backs in this year’s draft impress him, Brown said, “Not really. It’s not a good year, obviously.”
Brown also said he wasn’t impressed with Mark Ingram, the Saints’ first-round draft pick last year, and he suggested that if Richardson couldn’t start ahead of Ingram when they both played at Alabama, that means Richardson can’t be better than Ingram.
The 76-year-old Brown, who was Cleveland’s first-round pick in the 1957 NFL draft, said he doesn’t see many impact running backs left in pro football.
“When I watch football today I see a game of quarterbacks,” Brown said. “Protecting quarterbacks, throwing the ball, short passes, long passes, all kinds of passes.”
And in a game of quarterbacks, Brown doesn’t see the point of drafting an ordinary running back.