Jesus. People really need to stop talking about his total numbers from his rookie year like they mean something.
He got a million touches. He was not very good that year. Most any RB in the nfl could just get the ball and run straight ahead with their eyes closed and get the same yards on that many touches.
The knee scope and ribs are just excuses to try and argue he would have been better had those things not happened, yet he played even worse when healthy.
Nope, not going to stop talking about his rookie season because it happened and I think it's relevant. Just like I thought Lynch's early production was relevant when people were leaving him for dead. It's part of the picture because for whatever the reason(s) he was a worse player in Indy. I thought Trent played well his first season,not great but well, and not just for fantasy either. The knee scope and ribs I absolutely felt impaired his performance but unlike his time with the Colts he had some good games and looked the part.
At the end of his rookie season I heard no one saying he sucked or was one of the worst RB's in the league. Several people did not consider him elite and based on what he showed his rookie season I would not have said that either but the main issue people had with Trent at the time was durability concerns, not that he sucked. Two years later we've seen nothing but a sorry player. So again I say it's relevant to factor in that rookie season to try and determine if he's just plain sorry like we've seen the past two seasons or if something else went wrong such as mentally losing confidence or handling his conditioning differently which caused him to be a worse player despite reportedly being healthier.
This is not really relevant to his rookie season but something I had forgot about and remembered a few days ago. When I knew the Colts would cut him I kind of assumed his best bet to get signed would be someone with a connection to Saban. Raiders kind of came out of the nowhere but then I remembered the man who drafted Trent and publicly said the Browns made a mistake trading him. That would be Holmgreen and the part I forgot was his connection to McKenzie including advising the team at various points in the last year. I'd be willing to bet it's that connection that got Trent signed in Oakland. Which of course won't do a single thing to help him play better but now I understand the connection.