Name: RB Trent Richardson
School: Alabama
Size: 5'9, 228 lbs
Expected Round: 1, top 10
Strengths: Stops on a dime. Fantastic lateral movement and hesitation moves. Solid receiver. Low center of gravity, hard to tackle. Willing blocker. Great when running to the outside. Powerful and can pick up yards when he lowers his shoulder. Can attack the hole with a single cut run. Easily breaks arm tackles and continuously churns his legs. Extraordinarily strong.
Weaknesses: Lacks elite breakaway speed. Might not be as reliable when running directly behind center. Very few holes in his game. Underwent knee surgery in the off-season.
What is their role? Dominant feature back.
Will it change from year 1 to year 2? Nope. Continue to be a dominant running back.
How many downs can he play? Three downs and he is willing to return on special teams.
Which current player will he beat out? Most likely a full back, but he would also make all current running backs slightly more expendable (but not really, since they're all young and Bill Belichick like a stable of running backs)
What’s his ST value? Possible returnman, but he's too valuable.
Does he have positional versatility? He can catch the ball, but he's a running back.
Why the Patriots? Richardson is a game changing running back. He can do it all and, if he has Nick Saban's support, he can fit into Belichick's system. There's very little not to like about Richardson's game, other than his associated price tag.
Why not the Patriots? Very small chance he lasts to the middle of the first round and his position is not a great need for the Patriots to trade up and grab. He will most likely come off the board in the top 5, and is almost assuredly going to be drafted in the top 10.
Verdict: No. While he could completely change the make-up of the Patriots offense, I don't believe that Richardson's price tag is in the same range of what Belichick is willing to pay. At all.