End of the road? Trent Richardson cut by Ravens

I was rooting for Trent Richardson’s comeback.

Richardson was cut on Tuesday by the Baltimore Ravens, and that might be it for him in the NFL. He was out of football all last season. There wasn’t much interest in him before the Ravens, whose general manager Ozzie Newsome is a former Alabama star like Richardson, signed him.

Richardson has been the butt of many jokes after the former first-round pick failed with the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts. But he opened up about what happened, saying he struggled with the transition to the NFL. He didn’t work hard enough without the structure he had in college, and regretted that. He found his focus waning with friends and family members asking for money. He said he took it very hard when he was out of football last season. He just wanted to play again.

“Hands down, this is the happiest I’ve been since I was at Alabama,” Richardson told AL.com in March, after the Ravens agreed to sign him.

Richardson got into great shape, losing more than 20 pounds, but his body didn’t cooperate. He had knee and hamstring injuries and was on the physically unable to perform list early in training camp. Then he was cut.

Hopefully Richardson either gets another shot, perhaps from a team that was impressed at his weight loss in his comeback attempt and can talk themselves into another shot for the No. 3 pick of the 2012 draft, or he is at peace with life after football. Richardson’s NFL career didn’t work out like he or anyone else hoped it would. Now it might be over.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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