Cleveland Browns Rumors: Brad Childress’ History Could Land Alabama RB Trent Richardson in Brown and Orange

Monday, January 30, 2012

By Bob Evans
Senior Writer

When former St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur accepted the head coaching position for the Cleveland Browns, he was immediately scrutinized for wanting to call his own plays and not hire an offensive coordinator.

Some claim the team couldn’t find the “right guy” in a shortened offseason, but the end result was an ineffective and hapless Browns offense in 2011.

Thanks to the poor performance by Shurmur’s offense, the Browns’ front office set out to bring in an offensive coordinator to take some pressure off their new head coach. After scouring the unemployment line, the Browns have decided on former Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress.

The man known as “Chilly” has a long line of experience running offenses, dating all the way back to his first offensive coordinator position at Northern Arizona in 1986. Since then he was in charge of the Wisconsin offense from 1994-1998, and the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense from 2003-2005 before accepting the Vikings head coaching position.

While many people are quick to point out that his biggest accomplishment as a coach was grooming Donovan McNabb, many of them forget he has been involved in some pretty run-heavy offenses in his day.

Obviously the most notable running back he had under his direction was in Minnesota, as the team drafted superstar Adrian Peterson in 2007 during his second season. With Peterson, Childress and the Vikings utilized a run-heavy offense which recognized the importance of having a game changing running back.

Peterson wasn’t his only disciple though. During his tenure at Wisconsin, Childress groomed and featured perhaps the greatest running back in Badger history in Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne. Childress was one of the people who developed the vaunted Badger running attack still dominating the Big Ten to this day.

So what does this all have to do with his new offense in Cleveland?

For starters, Childress will likely stress the importance of locking up a superstar running back. It just so happens the Browns own the No. 4 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, and Alabama dual-threat running back Trent Richardson could be theirs for the taking. He is the type of running back that is perfect for the West Coast offense, as he has the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield as well.

Richardson has the power, drive and running skills to bring a Peterson-type of running style to the Browns, while being able to swing out of the backfield and catches passes in the flat like another one of Childress’ running backs, Brian Westbrook, from his Philadelphia days.

Since the end of the season the question in Cleveland has been who will be under center for the Browns in 2012. Now with Childress, it may just change to who the team will draft to pound the ball up the middle for the orange and brown next season.


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