The Redskins made their first big move of free agency on Tuesday, agreeing to terms with former Seahawks wide receiver Paul Richardson on a five-year contract.
Richardson is listed at 6-foot, 183 pounds and is known primarily for his speed. He’s a deep threat who can take the top off the defense and create big plays. Let’s take a look at how he’ll fit with Washington’s offense under Coach Jay Gruden.
Here against the Jaguars, Richardson lines up outside to the left and runs a corner-post.
Richardson releases inside toward the numbers to give himself space to break outside to the corner. As he breaks outside toward the sideline, he forces the deep safety to open his hips outside. That allows Richardson to cut back inside, getting the safety completely turned around.
Quarterback Russell Wilson is pressured and is late to deliver the throw, allowing the safety to recover. But Richardson tracks the ball well and makes the catch before cutting back inside of the safety to complete the 61-yard touchdown.
Richardson gave the Jaguars, one of the league’s best passing defenses last season, more issues with his speed.
This time, Richardson is split wide to the right. As before, he releases inside but this time he runs up the seam and breaks inside.
The speed from Richardson is clear to see here. He simply runs by both the corner and the free safety. Wilson can’t quite find Richardson with the throw, but the chance was there.
While speed is clearly a big factor, it’s not the only reason receivers are able to get open deep. Richardson shows some understanding of how to angle his routes and make subtle changes to beat the cornerback.
This is another simple vertical route, this time against the Falcons. But it’s how Richardson runs the route that is key.
Richardson makes subtle adjustments to his route, angling himself inside and then out. It might not be obvious to see from this perspective, but the reaction of the corner covering him reveals how effective it is. The corner initially opens his hips inside because of Richardson’s release, but quickly has to turn back outside. As soon as the corner shows his back to him, Richardson cuts back inside of him.
While the ball went elsewhere, the play is a good example of Richardson understanding how to manipulate a corner not only with speed, but the angles of his routes. The difference between being a pure burner and being a good deep threat is those subtle nuances with route running. That speed can cause panic to corners and expose mistakes if partnered with good route running.
Here against the Texans, Richardson runs a deep out.
Richardson’s route is a good one. At the top of his route, he breaks inside, selling a fake to the post, forcing the corner to break inside with him. Richardson then cuts back outside, creating plenty of separation from the corner. Wilson is late to see him and pressure forces him to scramble. But the initial route from Richardson was a good one.
He does, however, need to improve on certain routes. Comebacks and curl routes can be hugely effective for fast receivers that cause corners to play off. But Richardson needs work on those routes.
Richardson is isolated to the left on this play and runs a comeback.
But the route isn’t convincing. He doesn’t sell the threat of going vertical well enough to force the corner back and takes one long stride toward the top of his route that gives the corner a hint of his intention. The corner quickly breaks on it and is in great position to contest the route; only a perfectly placed throw from Wilson allows Richardson to make the catch.
With that being said, when Richardson manages to sell his route vertically, he creates plenty of separation.
Here against the 49ers, Richardson motions to the left but stays tight to the formation. He runs an out route.
As we saw earlier, the angles of his routes are important to Richardson’s success on the play. He initially works outside toward the numbers to widen the corner covering him. Once he reaches the numbers, he straightens out his route to sell a vertical route, getting the corner to open his hips inside as he prepares to run deep. As soon as the corner does that, Richardson cuts sharply outside, creating plenty of separation as the corner has to fully turn around to try to catch up.
Another way the Redskins might look to use Richardson’s speed is on underneath crossing routes.
The Seahawks often had him run crossers off bootlegs in the red zone, as they did on this play.
Richardson’s speed is just too much for the corner to stay with on a crossing route. Wilson bootlegs out to his left and has Richardson wide open in the end zone for an easy touchdown.
One issue Richardson will need to address is drops. He dropped too many simple passes last season, many of them on shorter routes. He will have to correct that issue going forward.
By signing Richardson, the Redskins have managed to address the need for more speed at wide receiver. They lacked that last season without DeSean Jackson and they weren’t quite as effective when attacking down the field. Richardson should take over the Z receiver position and be used in a similar fashion to Jackson, as a deep threat who can change the game in one play while opening up space for other receivers underneath.
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