Red Right 88

The 57 days of Trent Richardson

The Cleveland Browns opened their three-day minicamp on Tuesday with what some will have fans believe is chilling news: running back Trent Richardson will not take part in any practices until August.

“We don’t want his muscle strain to get any worse, so we’re going to rest him now and give him a full summer to prepare,” Browns coach Rob Chudzinski told ESPN after Tuesday’s workout. “He could have went out, if necessary, and practiced these next few days, but we just didn’t see any sense in it. I don’t know the medical (risks going forward), but he’s got a strain right now. I’m not concerned about anything else at this stage.

“My only concern, really, is Trent needing to stay into it mentally while he’s out. So far, he’s done a great job taking mental reps and getting into game shape.”

OK, so let’s summarize this for everyone.

Richardson may be out until Aug. 1 – 57 days from now.

During those 57 days (counting today), the Browns have three minicamps and, with training camp opening on July 26, six additional days of practice.

That means Richardson will miss nine days total of practice – not actual games, but practice. And three of those practice days are players running around in shorts and helmets.

Yes, it would be nice if Richardson was with the rest of the first-team offense learning offensive coordinator Norv Turner’s offense from day one.

But the only thing that Richardson needs to know, really, is that when Brandon Weeden hands him the ball he should run to daylight.

We may be over-simplifying things, but we’re talking practice. Practice.

Now if Sept. 8 rolls around and Richardson isn’t ready to go, then we have a problem.

But that is more than three months away and we all know there will be plenty of angst and agita waiting for Browns fans come this fall, so why the need to manufacture it now?

(Photo by Getty Images)