1) Introduction: Richardson was expected to offer valuable depth at safety for the Packers. While he played sparingly, Richardson contributed on special teams and brought some much needed emotion to the field when he did see action.
2) Profile:
Sean Richardson
- Age: 25
- Born: 1/21/90 in Fort Campbell, TN
- Height: 6’2″
- Weight: 216
- College: Vanderbilt
- Rookie Year: 2012
- NFL Experience: 3 years
3) Expectations coming into the season: Richardson provided depth at a safety position that saw Micah Hyde transition to it from cornerback and first-round pick Ha Ha Clinton-Dix added via the draft. Richardson was primarily used on special teams but did see a few defensive snaps in 2014.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Richardson logged tackles for a loss in games against the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles this season. His only real low-light of the season was not seeing more action on defense.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Richardson didn’t really make an impact on the field. His primary contribution was insurance in case of injury and on special teams. Fortunately for the Packers, they remained relatively healthy at the safety position in 2014.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: Richardson had one lonely tackle against the Seattle Seahawks and otherwise, didn’t show up on the stat sheet.
7) Intangibles: One thing we can say about Richardson is that he’s completely past the neck injury that required surgery and, if healthy, can continue to provide solid depth at safety. He’s a selfless player who contributed on special teams and displayed some emotion when he did make a play.
Season Report Card:
(B) Level of expectations met during the season
(B-) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(B-) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: B-
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Jason Perone is an independent sports blogger writing about the Packers on AllGreenBayPackers.com
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I like Richardson but have read that the team doesn’t value him due to low ceiling. Hope he can make another jump and prove them wrong
I suppose your expectations are correct, though I had some hopes of seeing Richardson on the field in a hybrid ILB/S/spy. He played the spy for example on the last play of the year: the TD to Kearse in OT. He played 119 defensive snaps including postseason and 321 snaps on STs.
Since Burnett, Clinton-Dix and Hyde were healthy, Richardson did not play much, but he was available. Since you concluded that he provided solid safety depth, it seems that pretty much satisfies your expectations and he should have gotten an A, but you gave him a B. I suspect that subconsciously you also hoped Capers would use him in some unusual packages, or that he would push for playing time.
I can’t say that I saw anything from him that would lead me to believe he provides solid depth at FS, maybe at SS. The book on him is that he is a tremendous athlete who gets lost playing zone and strangely has problems with man to man as well. He has no passes defensed. Not having all-22 or the like, it is hard for me to tell whether he improved his coverage skills. Darren Perry needs to coach this player up. He is a RFA. GB won’t tender him, but will re-sign him for the minimum.
“…he is a tremendous athlete who gets lost playing zone and strangely has problems with man to man as well. He has no passes defensed”
I like Richardson on Special Teams – good athlete. The above statement is so true, it is scary. He doesn’t seem to have much instinct for the game. He ends up in no-man’s-land because he doesn’t know how to read the play or where he needs to be. Fits in well on our prevent defense package…arrrgh!
And that’s exactly why, even though he technically met my expectations, he didn’t get an A. Nothing he did was A worthy.
Fair enough.
Overall B- ? He didn’t do anything. Very minimal impact
Ah, I thought Fort Campbell was in KY not TN