Sean Richardson, safety
FOX Sports Wisconsin's Paul Imig gives an in-depth statistical analysis and film study of every Packers player in his annual offseason checkup. You can find every report here.
Season stats (playoffs included): 18 games, zero starts (135 snaps; 10.7 percent of total defensive snaps), 26 tackles, one missed tackle, zero sacks, zero quarterback hurries, zero interceptions, one pass defensed, zero forced fumbles, zero penalties committed, two stops (solo tackles that resulted in offensive failure); targeted eight times in coverage, allowing four receptions for 74 yards and one touchdown
ProFootballFocus.com season rating: minus-0.7 (ranked No. 10 out of 24 Packers defensive players); minus-0.5 rating on special teams
Best game: Week 7 win over Carolina (played 19 of 71 snaps); four tackles, zero missed tackles, three stops; targeted once in coverage, allowing zero receptions; 1.5 PFF rating
Worst game: Week 8 loss at New Orleans (played 15 of 69 snaps); one tackles, zero missed tackles, zero stops; targeted twice in coverage, allowing two receptions for 22 yards and one touchdown; minus-1.3 PFF rating
Expectations at the start of the season: Low
Expectations were ... Met
Looking live: Sean Richardson's NFL career was almost over not long after it began. He suffered a herniated disk in Week 12 of his rookie season in 2012 and underwent single-fusion neck surgery on vertebrae C-5 and C-6 in January 2013. Nine months after surgery, Richardson got the news that Nick Collins and Jermichael Finley never did: he was medically cleared to play football again.
Richardson appeared in the final seven games of the 2013 season, playing 36.8 percent of the defensive snaps in that span. That was at a time when safety was clearly the Packers' weakest position.
In his 2013 Annual Checkup, it was noted that "the next test for Richardson will be seeing how he plays when given a full offseason to train and not worry about rehab work. . . . Richardson should get a lot of opportunities to prove himself in 2014."
Richardson had a terrific training camp. He was recognized in the "Movin' On Up" category of FOXSportsWisconsin.com's Training Camp Report series on three occasions. That means that one out of every six practices, Richardson was one of the most noteworthy players on the field.
On July 31, Mike McCarthy said: "I think Sean Richardson is having an excellent training camp. He's done a lot of good things. . . . He did some real good things early in the week on special teams."
After another week of watching Richardson, McCarthy continued to be impressed with what he saw. McCarthy said on Aug. 7: "Sean Richardson's had a hell of a training camp. I've been impressed with him both defensively and special teams."
Richardson did everything from intercept a pass from Aaron Rodgers to Jordy Nelson, to showing his power by flattening Richard Rodgers with a lowering of his shoulder, to making more plays around the ball than any other member of the secondary. Richardson had an unofficial team-high of three interceptions during live periods of training camp. This was all while becoming one of seven core special-teams players, with Richardson being a part of three different first-string groups.
Upon further review: Richardson played more defensive snaps in his seven-game stint to conclude the 2013 season (174) than he did throughout all of 2014 (135). That has only a little to do with Richardson and a lot to do with the difference in overall talent of Green Bay's safety position between the two years.
Richardson wasn't used at all on defense in the opening two regular-season games and was then on the field for a total of just seven snaps in Weeks 3 and 4. However, through a four-game midseason stretch (Weeks 7-11), he averaged 19 snaps per game. It was around that time when Richardson became involved in what Dom Capers described as the "Big Okie" package. When the Packers needed an extra boost from their secondary in stopping the run near the line of scrimmage, Richardson was in. Looking at his season-long snap breakdown via ProFootballFocus, Richardson was used 62 times against the run and 66 times in coverage. That shows the type of situations in which Capers found best use for Richardson.
If Richardson has one specialty as an NFL safety, it's in that role. At 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds, Richardson can provide some additional thud to a run-stopping unit. He showed that off particularly well when stuffing a fourth-quarter run for a loss in Week 7 against Carolina.
But where Richardson contributed most to Green Bay in the 2014 season was on special teams. He led the Packers with 17 special-teams tackles and also recovered an onside kick attempt Week 4 in Chicago.
"If I was to pick an MVP of our special teams today, I'd pick Sean Richardson," McCarthy said on Oct. 8. "I think Sean has clearly been our best player from a production, attitude, and you just talk about a young guy taking a big step from year one to two or two to three, and Sean is definitely one of those guys."
Overall 2014 grade: C-plus
Status for 2015: Ninety percent chance of being on the Packers' active roster to begin the 2015 regular season. Richardson was tendered as a restricted free agent this offseason and will earn $1.542 million in 2015. That doesn't guarantee him a 53-man roster spot, but it clearly means that Green Bay thinks he'll earn one. The Packers don't expect Richardson to become an every-down starting safety, and they don't need him to be. Not while Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Morgan Burnett -- plus the multipositional Micah Hyde -- are around. But the purpose that Richardson serves is one that every good team could use a reliable player at, and he does an effective job with it.
Next: Defensive lineman Luther Robinson
Follow Paul Imig on Twitter
