Denver Broncos

Trent Richardson works out with Broncos for future consideration

Published Dec. 15, 2015 7:26 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Darryn Albert

Free agent running back Trent Richardson is really milking his status as a former No. 3 overall pick for everything that it’s worth.

According to a report by Mike Klis of 9NEWS Denver, the 25-year-old Richardson received a workout from the Broncos on Tuesday. The workout was said to be only for future consideration and not for this NFL season.

Denver’s interest in the coming market for free agent running backs makes sense. C.J. Anderson has been appearing on milk cartons for most of the year recording just 538 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in 12 games. Ronnie Hillman hasn’t been a whole lot better either with 663 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns in 13 games this season. And undrafted second-year back Juwan Thompson isn’t much more than depth fodder. Furthermore, Thompson is the only three of the backs under contract in 2016 as both Anderson and Hillman are set to become free agents.

But what doesn’t make sense is the Broncos’ interest in THIS free agent running back. Regarded as perhaps the single biggest NFL bust in the last decade (depending on your opinion of JaMarcus Russell), Richardson is nothing more than a gigantic punchline in football circles these days. He hasn’t looked anywhere close to an NFL-caliber running back in years now, and the last time we saw Richardson in the league, he was embarrassing himself with boneheaded plays like this for the Oakland Raiders, the third team to give up on him in three years.

But with the league-wide talent pool of quality running backs becoming ever the more thin with each passing season, it has become almost inevitable that some team will take it upon themselves to poke Richardson’s NFL dreams with a stick to check for a sign of life. The Broncos aren’t even the first team to gratify Richardson with a workout in recent months. But with his career mark of 3.3 yards per carry and the basic eye test of watching Richardson constantly humiliate himself with his sheer ineptitude at the sport of football, they probably should be the last.

More from Larry Brown Sports: