Jordan Richards

[patsfan13]

Patriots are a relatively tough team to make from the draft due to th depth of the roster.

Toughest roster = hardest roster to make.

That said we recognize that some players are used to churn the roster provide 'cheap' support as part of the cap management strategy.

 

[slam]

I root for Bill's contrarian head scratching reaches most of all because they make people so angry at him. No one cares that Jake Bequette never saw the field, Taylor Price sucked and Ron Brace was a bust. Were they drafted where the Mel Kipers of the world thought they should be drafted? And yet we can't stop hearing about Jordan Richards, Duron Harmon, and Tavon Wilson over and over again. (And the one guy on here who keeps bringing up the Bill drafted Cunningham over Carlos Dunlap every month)

 

[Kontradiction]

I root for Bill's contrarian head scratching reaches most of all because they make people so angry at him. No one cares that Jake Bequette never saw the field, Taylor Price sucked and Ron Brace was a bust. Were they drafted where the Mel Kipers of the world thought they should be drafted? And yet we can't stop hearing about Jordan Richards, Duron Harmon, and Tavon Wilson over and over again. (And the one guy on here who keeps bringing up the Bill drafted Cunningham over Carlos Dunlap every month)

Eh, it happens. The team has a lot of success but every team has a swing and a miss on a reach every once in a while. Not sure why you include Harmon since he can be moved into the "hit" category. But Wilson was pretty bad and Richards was even worse. Particularly with Richards, a relatively unathletic safety, I'm not sure why they just had to have him right there and didn't feel like they could afford to wait. It would be interesting to know if that was Belichick overriding his scouts or if that was the insistence of the scouts. Either way, he's been a failure at a second round pick to date. Luckily, a little later, the team drafted Flowers who has been a home run thus far.

 

[PatsFan2]

Draft Bio especially negatives was spot on round which he was Drafted wasn't. Richards by far is the worse Second Round Pick by BB.

2015 NFL Draft Profile: Jordan Richards

 

[Sfpat]

Man, Pats have won 2oo3 Super Bowls, have arguably the best safety tandem in the league and people are complaining that the back-up safety can't get on the field. 1st world problems.

 

[Kontradiction]

Man, Pats have won 2oo3 Super Bowls, have arguably the best safety tandem in the league and people are complaining that the back-up safety can't get on the field. 1st world problems.

Agree. The Pats have been the most dominant team in the NFL over the last 2,003 seasons.

 

[maineman209]

I've casually ragged on Richards' lack of contributions quite a bit, and I suspect that he may be in the "likely cut" category in TC this year (unless he makes an unusual leap in development during OTAs/Camp).

Richards played the same number of defensive snaps in 2016 as Ebner (18 all season), and played 13.7 ST snaps per game in which he was active (11 total games), which isn't "bad", but isn't "top level", either. For comparison, Grissom was active the same number of games (11), had fewer defensive snaps (11 total), but averaged 22.7 ST snaps in the games for which he was active (tops on the team).

While I agree that the coaches may see more in Richards than we fans are privy to, the fact that Chung played a killer number of snaps in the 2016 regular season (1207 between defense and ST, highest on the team) with virtually no relief (he missed only about 40 defensive snaps all season), would seem to suggest that there was no "safety" on the roster capable of giving him a break without making the secondary significantly more vulnerable.

It certainly seems possible that one of the current crop of UDFA rookies (or a street veteran yet to be signed) could beat out Richards, at least as a more legitimate 4th safety/ST contributor. And, it doesn't seem like spending a late draft pick on one would necessarily increased the Pats chance of finding a Richards replacement. Montae Nicholson was taken at #123 (Skins) a few picks before BB selected Wise at #131. The next safety taken after that was Nathan Gerry at #184 - nearly two rounds later, and one pick after the one BB traded for O'Shaughnessy.

In terms of comparing Richards to Chung on measurables ...
... Chung had nearly twice as many bench reps (25-13)
... Chung had a better long jump (119"-111")
... Richards had a better 3-cone (6.74 - 7.11 seconds)
There aren't really and meaningful differences between the two on other measurables (neither one showed particularly "elite" athleticism in pre-draft testing), and there's virtually no difference in size.

In terms of where he was drafted (last pick in the 2nd round), none of us fans have any way of knowing for a fact that there wasn't another team that would have taken Richards between the #64 and the Pats' next pick at #97, despite the overwhelming number of claims that "the Pats could have gotten Richards much later."

 

[shmessy]

I root for Bill's contrarian head scratching reaches most of all because they make people so angry at him. No one cares that Jake Bequette never saw the field,..........

That must have been a multi-year absence from this forum ya had there, buddy.


.

 

[jah]

You're too kind.

UDFA.

By "fine", I mean "can't logically justify complaining", because the 5th round is kind of the line between real prospects and camp fodder (with many notable exceptions on either side).

So when I say he did fine for someone with the expectations that come with being a 5th round pick, I mean he did well not to get cut as a rookie and see the field even a few times...

 

[old 55]

He was a major reach whose time is almost up

 

[Deus Irae]

In terms of where he was drafted (last pick in the 2nd round), none of us fans have any way of knowing for a fact that there wasn't another team that would have taken Richards between the #64 and the Pats' next pick at #97, despite the overwhelming number of claims that "the Pats could have gotten Richards much later."

• You go with the info you have
• If someone had taken him before N.E. had a later chance to get him, we'd be grateful

People really need to stop with the variations on the "how dare you question?" theme, be it via a hindsight argument, a general appeal to authority, a draft inscrutability argument, or whatever. They're terrible arguments.

 

[n1997y]

• You go with the info you have
• If someone had taken him before N.E. had a later chance to get him, we'd be grateful

No, come on, you've been on this board long enough to know we'd be too busy complaining about whoever was taken by NE instead to admit or even feel gratitude for somebody that was taken by another team. Probably would have had complaints by those whose binky went elsewhere, but no gratitude.

 

[Kontradiction]

Welcome to the New England Patriots Jordan Richards

Fun, little thread if anyone wants to hop in the time machine and take a journey.

 

[fnordcircle]

Jordan Richards will make the final 53.

Who wants to take the bet? Winner gets to pick the loser's new avatar and it has to be used for a month.

 

[tasmlab]

Drafting underwhelming DBs in the second round is a BB/Patriots tradition (Butler, Dowling, Wheatley, Wilson, etc.) Five rings with that strategy, no need to stop doing it now.

 

[Kontradiction]

Here is another fun thread that I stumbled upon about another lightning rod, albeit later draft pick, of a DB in Jemea Thomas...

What you're getting in Jemea Thomas

Thomas was cut from the team just over three months later. Lmaoooooo. DaBruinz had a really good showing in that thread. He really killed it.

 

[mgteich]

We have three fine safeties, as good as anyone.

So, there are good reasons why Richards hasn't seen the field much. So, it is indeed possible that Richards is progressing in practice and is ready to be play a major role if Chung is injured, or NOT.

This is his 3rd season. Traditionally, this camp and pre-season is the time to prove his value to the coaches.

BTW, at this point it makes little difference when he was drafted. He will need to compete with UDFA's and JAG free agent signings. It is not even clear whether he is worth carrying even if there is no safety backup other than Ebner and King. If there were two injuries, we would simply move on of the 6 corners to safety.

 

[jboston19]

He was a healthy scratch for quite a few games last year. I think the writing is on the wall. Supposedly, he is very smart and understands the game well. Hopefully, he can either catch on somewhere else or take the Kingsbury/Applewhite approach and get in to coaching soon.

 

[Tuck]

Jordan Richards will make the final 53.

Who wants to take the bet? Winner gets to pick the loser's new avatar and it has to be used for a month.

Not taking that bet. McCourty and Chung will both be 30 when the season starts.

 

[zimmy]

I agree with the writeup of Richards. We knew he was clever but was lacking in athleticism. What has really disappointed me was his tackling and the poor angles he took when he was on the field. I think Bill was hoping for a James Sanders type - not flashy but a leader who knows the D inside out, keeps the play in front of him, and limits yards after the catch. We haven't had any of that.

I'd be ready to cut ties if we had another back up safety for Chung. Maybe one of the undrafted free agents can challenge his spot.