Chris Jones on bringing Trent Richardson to Riders

Riders head coach and general manager Chris Jones met with the media after signing running back Trent Richardson on Tuesday.

What’s the thought process on bringing Trent Richardson in?

“Well our A group tailback is injured right now and on six-game. And we had an opportunity – he is friends with Christion [Jones] – and expressed an interest in playing in the CFL, so we explored it and brought him in.”

Like Vince Young he hasn’t played in a while, so what make you think that he can be a contributor?

“Well he’s 26-year-old and I think that he’s a pretty good athlete. And from the people that we got videos from down in Alabama he’s in tremendous shape, so we’ll see.”

What changed to get Richardson here now?

“A lot of guys when they’ve been in the NFL, when they get calls from different GMs or personnel guys it makes them want to hang tight hoping that they get an opportunity, but he knew that he had to get back on the field and so we provided that opportunity.”

What’s your schedule with him as far as playing?

“We’re going to spend a lot of time with him over the next couple of days, we’re going to condition him. I talked with our strength and conditioning coach and we’re going to condition him every day to see exactly what type of CFL conditioning he’s in and then we’ll go from there.”

Does blocking take longer for running backs that come in?

“We won’t put him in there until he knows all of our protections. He’s a good blocker and he played on three special teams his senior year. So he’s a guy – at Alabama you don’t just play running back you have to be able to do multiple things.”

Does the fact that he comes from such a big NCAA program attract you to him?

“He’s a high-profile guy that played at a very high-profile school and he played at a high level, he was drafted at a high level.”

Is there a chance that Richardson plays on Friday in Ottawa?

“Nope.”

Do you get excited about a player like Richardson?

“We’ve had a lot of NFL guys come through that weren’t able to make it, I’ve had a lot of great athletes come up here, we work them out, they look great – until you get them, see what kind of shape they’re in, see how much commitment they have to our game and to their football team and then not only that they gotta get on the field and perform. There is a lot of steps that have to take place before I’m going to look forward to saying anything further.”