Jets pick up former Rams running back Richardson

Daryl Richardson has been claimed by the Jets. (USATSI)

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At this time last year, Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pead were competing to see who would replace Stephen Jackson as the Rams No. 1 running back. A season later, after Zac Stacy was the surprise candidate to rush for nearly 1,000 yards in 2013, the Rams released Richardson, and on Friday, the Jets claimed him off waivers.

Richardson impressed during his rookie season when the 2012 seventh-round pick gained 475 yards with a 4.8 yards per carry average as Jackson's backup. But he dealt with turf toe last season and played only seven games while recording a 3.1 average. And after St. Louis drafted Tre Mason in the third round of the NFL draft, the Rams figured they had no more use for Richardson.

Which was somewhat surprising. Particularly because of this quote four months ago.

“We're all better when we have competition," Rams general manager Les Snead said in January. "Daryl's the type of person, I do know this, when he was inactive he didn't like that. You do like the fact that he didn't like that. He's always said, ‘Hey, I want to start covering kicks and doing things like that.' He's trying to find his way back on the 46-man (game-day roster).”

Instead, Richardson will try to make the Jets squad while competing against former Titans standout Chris Johnson, Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell.

NFL Hot News

Free agent WR Miles Austin could return to Dallas



Reported by DallasCowboys.com, Cowboys Head Coach Jason Garrett indicated that he would "absolutely" consider the possible re-signing of current free agent Miles Austin.



Lets break this down into two scenarios, one, the real-world, and two, fantasy land.In the real world this seems to be a no brainer even with the current NFL draft over and Dallas drafting Devin Street. Why is it a no brainer? Dallas needs to address their wide out situation as after Dez Bryant its gets very thin. Bringing back Miles Austin at the right price, even with his hamstring history, could easily make him the 2nd our 3rd ranked wideout on their current depth chart [provided by Ourlads.com]. The key here is what is the right price?Lets bring fantasy mindset to light here. As of now, Miles Austin is 115+ on my braft board for wide receivers which notably makes him undraftable (12 team leagues, say each team drafted 10 wide outs each can't say Miles Austin would be part or should be part of the 120 players selected). If Miles does sign somewhere then we can return to his fantasy discussion but don't get sucked in by the name. Miles Austin is fantasy football irrelevent at this point.