by Coming into the week three game at Minnesota, Hoyer had thrown only 67 passes in his NFL career. Not only was Hoyer without inexperience, he would be without his number threat as the Browns shockingly and out of absolutely nowhere, decided to trade away their stud running back Trent Richardson to the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts were looking for a running back after a season-ending injury to Vick Ballard.
The Browns selected Richardson in the first round with the third overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft after they had traded picks with the Minnesota Vikings to select him ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Richardson was the highest selected running back since Reggie Bush went second overall in 2006. Coming out of Alabama, he looked like a sure thing and would be the figurehead of the Browns turnaround as they went on to select quarterback Brandon Weeden later in the first round, and appeared to be headed to big numbers on offense with major weapons.
Richardson was one of the top high school prospects in the nation as he attended Escambia High School. As a junior, Richardson reached the 400-yard single game plateau, as he ran for 407 yards in his opening game against Tate High School. He finished his junior season (8 games) with 1,390 yards and 13 touchdowns, and received FSWA All-State 5A second team honors. He made the FSWA 5A All-State First Team as a senior, and was named 5A Florida Player of the Year and a finalist for the 2008 Mr. Football. Richardson also received consensus All-American honors and was named to the Orlando Sentinel’s All Southern Team (Florida) his senior year when he ran for an incredible 2,100 yards on 228 carries scoring 25 touchdowns as a 12th grader. In a game against Milton High School in September 2008, Richardson rushed for 419 yards on 29 carries and scored six touchdowns, a performance that earned him a selection as the first ESPN RISE National Football Player of the Week.
He was seen as a genetic freak on and off the field as he also excelled in other sports while at Escambia. Richardson lettered in track & field at Escambia. In 2008, he captured a regional title in the 100-meter dash (10.81 s) and placed 5th at the state meet with a time of 10.9 seconds. Considered a five-star recruit by Rivals.com, Richardson was listed as the No. 2 running back prospect in the nation when he committed to play for Nick Saban at Alabama.
He didn’t wait long to prove he belonged at a big-name SEC school by answering the bell in big moments. Richardson was named SEC Freshman of the Week for Week 2 when he had 118 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 40–14 victory over Florida International. Richardson was also named to the 2009 SEC All-Freshman team alongside Barrett Jones and Nico Johnson.
He caught the nations eye in the 2010 BCS National Championship against the Texas Longhorns with 109 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. All of this capped off a tremendous freshman season that saw have 145 carries for 751 yards rushing and 8 touchdowns.
He was every bit as steady his Sophomore year at Alabama as he had 12 carries for 700 yards rushing and 6 touchdowns and 266 yards receiving and 4 touchdowns. He did all of this while splitting carries with Mark Ingram, but once Ingram left for the NFL, the true talent of Richardson began to show when he ran for over 100 yards in nine games. He tied Shaun Alexander with six consecutive 100-yard rushing games. He scored two or more touchdowns in seven games. He set a career-high against Ole Miss running for 183 yards and four touchdowns.
Once again, he saved his best for the brightest moments and biggest games as in the Iron Bowl game ( season finale) against Auburn, Richardson ran for a new career high of 203 yards in the 42–14 victory. In the 2012 BCS National Championship Game versus LSU, Richardson rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown to secure his second national championship with the Crimson Tide.
His senior season was another chance to capture plenty of hardware as well. He won the Doak Walker Award becoming the first player from Alabama to win. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting behind eventual winner Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck. Ironically, the same two players to be drafted ahead of him in the 2012 NFL Draft. All of this finished off a brilliant junior season that saw Richardson have 1,679 rushing yards, breaking Mark Ingram II’s record for most rushing yards in a season, and 21 rushing touchdowns. His 21 rushing touchdowns was also an SEC running back record. His Alabama career finished with a total of 3,130 yards with 35 touchdowns on the ground.
When the Browns selected him third overall, it truly seemed like a sure thing. Browns fans would have to wait to see him on the field however as On August 9, 2012, Richardson underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove some cartilage fragments in his left knee. This forced him to miss the entire preseason, but he was to return in time for the season opener. Then opening week against the Philadelphia Eagles at home, with the anticipation to watch him play, sky high, he came out and laid an egg as he stifled to only 39 yards on 19 carries in a Cleveland Browns loss.
Richardson bounced back from the week one laid egg, to finish his rookie season with 950 yards in 15 games on 267 attempts with 9 touchdowns. He also caught 51 balls for 267 yards and 1 touchdown. He was the first Browns rookie to rush for over 100 yards and score rushing and receiving touchdowns in the same game. During Week 13, against the Kansas City Chiefs, Richardson rushed for 42 yards and 2 touchdowns, tying Jim Brown’s franchise rookie record of 9 touchdowns.
Speaking of Jim Brown, the grizzled legend was not impressed with Richardson and openly criticized him in the media by calling the Browns rookie, “average”. It was hard to argue with Brown as Richardson rushed for 3.6 yards per carry, which was the lowest yards per carry stat for a rookie running back in the NFL 2012 season. While the actions of Jim Brown were extremely questionable off the field, he knew his football and had Richardson pegged.
Still, for the Browns, they needed a threat like Richardson because they had no idea what they were going to get from Brian Hoyer. Browns general manager Tom Heckert didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on Richardson. He decided to ride and die with veteran running back Will McGahee who with in his 11th and final year in the NFL after a decent career with the Denver Bronco’s, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens.
McGahee was known for missing his entire rookie year in Buffalo after a gruesome leg injury sustained in the 2003 National Championship Game against Ohio State while playing for The University of Miami Florida. In the early part of the fourth quarter during the 2003 Fiesta Bowl National Championship Game, McGahee suffered an injury after catching a screen pass from Dorsey. He was immediately hit by Buckeye safety Will Allen, bending his left knee backwards and causing tears of the ACL, PCL, and MCL.
Prior to getting hurt, he had rushed for 67 yards and a touchdown, as Miami would lose the game in double-overtime, 31–24. This injury required several surgeries and extensive rehabilitation before he would be able to play again. At the season’s end, McGahee announced he would not collect on a $2.5 million insurance policy he had taken out before the Championship game, and therefore would enter the 2003 NFL Draft
He had a remarkable career at Miami, winning 1 National Championship and finishing 4th in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 2002. He had rushed for 2,067 yards and 31 touchdowns in his college career when he was selected with the 23rd overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. Prior to his knee injury in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, McGahee was considered “a cinch top-five pick.” By the time he showed up in Cleveland, his career was pretty much done, and it wasn’t a bad one either, that saw him reach the 1,000-yard plateau three times, and also 990 yards in 2006. He was a serviceable back, but he wasn’t the young stud Browns fans thought Richardson would be.
Down to their third string quarterback, the Browns were in a hole and a lot of people thought perhaps they were tanking the season to have a shot at taking Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel in the early part of the 2014 NFL Draft. Well, those fans would get their wish, but it would lead to a series of events no one can predict, but more on that later.
As the Browns prepared for the Vikings with very little firepower, they did have some good news with at least one stealth weapon coming back in the form of second year wideout Josh Gordon. He was a standout in his rookie season catching balls from Brandon Weeden all 16 games, as he finished his rookie campaign with 805 yards on 50 receptions with 5 touchdowns.
Gordon, Weeden and Richardson were seen as the future of the Cleveland Browns and a reason for fans to dream of 40–50-point games being a regular thing by the offense. Now, 2 games into their sophomore seasons, Richardson was traded away, Weeden appeared to be a bust sitting on the bench nursing an injury and Gordon was suspended for the first two games of the 2013 season. Why was he suspended? Well, let’s back up a few steps.
Josh Gordon was a physical specimen and a three sport all star at Lamar High School in Houston where he excelled at Track, Football and Basketball. He ran a leg on the Lamar 4 × 100m and 4 × 200m relay squads, helping them capture the state title in both events with times of 42.69 seconds and 1:30.43 minutes, respectively. Football was no exception to his success, just addition as a senior, he was named first-team All-District 20-5A after totaling 25 receptions for 531 yards (21.2 average) and nine touchdowns.
With his natural skill, he should have had the choice to pay his college ball wherever he wanted, however, due to substance abuse issues and legal problems, he was limited to playing in Texas only. Gordon accepted an athletic scholarship to play football for Baylor University. Although he received multiple Division I offers, his choice of Baylor was easy due to his supervised probation which required him to not leave the state of Texas. In October 2010, during his sophomore year, he and teammate Willie Jefferson were found asleep in a local Taco Bell drive-through lane. Police found marijuana in Jefferson’s car. Jefferson, who was driving, was kicked off the team due to it being his second violation, but Gordon was only suspended.
Gordon didn’t learn from his mistakes and failed to properly take advantage of a third chance when In July 2011, Gordon was suspended indefinitely by head coach Art Briles for later failing a drug test and testing positive for marijuana. His Baylor career lasted all of two seasons and when he arrived at Utah, it was too late, thus those two years as a Baylor Bear were on the only NCAA action he saw.
Cleveland was desperate for talent on the skill positions, any talent no matter their history and went after Gordon. He was taken in the second round of the 2012 Supplemental Draft by the Cleveland Browns. After a trouble-free rookie season, Gordon was back to his old devilish ways by the summer following his rookie season when On June 7, 2013, the NFL announced that Gordon would be suspended for the first two games of the 2013 season due to violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.
He would be back for Week 3 to help Brian Hoyer as they traveled to take on the 0-2 Minnesota Vikings. Their 0-2 was a bit different then the Browns however as they has lost both of their games by a combined 8 points and led late in the fourth quarter of both. The Vikings easily could have been 2-0 coming into the Week 3 clash.
The game was stunning as Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski dialed up a game plan of almost all passing. McGahee only ran the ball 8 times as Brian Hoyer completed 30 of 54 passing for 321 yards in stunning fashion. Hoyer and Gordon had instant chemistry as Gordon went off for 10 catches on 19 targets for 146 yards, including a first quarter 47-yard touchdown bomb in the Browns 31-27 victory. Perhaps the only drawback may have been Hoyer forcing the ball to Gordon a bit, as he was picked off 3 times throughout the game. The interceptions were a small price to pay for a major road win that even included a thrilling last second touchdown pass to tight end Jordan Cameron to win it.
Suddenly Cleveland had Hoyer fever as the hometown kid appeared to be the savior. Hysteria reached an all time following the Week 4 victory over Cincinnati at home in a game that featured two more touchdown passes from Hoyer and 269 passing yards!
Hoyer was the man and his connection with Gordon appeared to be deadly. Now it was time to show it off on Prime Time as Thursday Night Football came to town for their Week 5 home game versus Buffalo. Another packed crowd filed into Cleveland Browns First Energy Stadium for a Prime Time showdown with a long time AFC rival.
The first quarter couldn’t have gone any worse for Cleveland as they dug themselves a quick 10-0 hole. Making matters even worse was Brian Hoyer getting knocked out of the game due to getting hid while sliding and tearing his ACL. Suddenly, all that hope, all that hype for Hoyer, was over just like that!
Chudzinski had no choice but to go to the bench and put in the now healthy Brandon Weeden who was just chomping at the bits for a second chance. A little-known fact about Weeden was that he 29 years old when he was drafted because he didn’t start his college football career until his late twenties. His first love and passion was baseball and almost had a pro career as a pitcher.
Weeden was drafted in the second round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees as their first selection in the draft. After the 2003 season, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers with Jeff Weaver and Yhency Brazobán for Kevin Brown. Following the 2005 season, he was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Kansas City Royals. Weeden played his last season of professional baseball in 2006 for the Class-A High Desert Mavericks of the California League. Injuries and poor performance led Weeden to quit baseball.
Weeden as mentioned, was the 22nd pick in the quarterback heavy 2012 NFL Draft that also featured Robert (RG3) Griffith, Andrew Luck and Ryan Tannehill selected before him. His rookie season had it’s ups and down, including one of the worst NFL debuts in history as Weeden was named starter Week 1 of the 2012 season in which he had a 5.1 passer rating after throwing four interceptions in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, which is the sixth lowest in a season opener by any quarterback attempting at least 15 passes since the merger in 1970.
It wasn’t easy for Weeden to being with because fans loved Colt McCoy who he replaced without even having a quarterback competition in pre-season. Weeden would go on to have a mediocre rookie season with only 14 touchdowns in 15 starts, compared to 17 interceptions. He also fumbled 6 times in the 28 times he was sacked. That was perhaps his biggest flaw, he was seen as a turnover machine.
Down 10-0 to Buffalo, the Browns didn’t need rookie season Brandon Weeden, they needed the guy who lit it up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. In his senior season, 2011, he led Oklahoma State to an 11–1 regular season, a number 3 ranking in the BCS standings, and a berth in the 2012 BCS Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. He also broke school records in total attempts, completions, yardage, and touchdowns. In 12 games, Weeden completed 379 of 522 passes for 4,328 yards. He saved his best for last as in the 2012 Fiesta Bowl, he threw for 399 yards, completed 29 of 42 passes, and had 4 touchdowns in a 41–38 win against the Stanford Cardinals.
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