I think it’s a good question, and there’s a pretty obvious answer that will be mentioned more than any other. It’s Trent Richardson.
I absolutely loved him coming out of Tuscaloosa and thought he’d be a hall of famer. I also thought his rookie year was largely overlooked. People forget how close he got to 1000 yards, and that was with him missing several games to end the year.
When my Colts traded for him I told everyone I knew that he was the missing piece of the franchise. That between him and Luck we’d replace the Patriots as the perineal AFC Super Bowl contender. Even after he’d fallen off the face of the earth, I still went to bat for him with everyone thinking he’d eventually sort it out... but as we all know that never happened.
There are a lot of reasons why he didn’t succeed, and they’ve all been beaten to death. I always thought the big bruiser had just fallen out of style. Although Derrick Henry, who has similar measurables just a different running style, has proven me wrong since entering the league. Unfortunately something just never clicked for TR and we’ll never know how good he could have been had it all come together.
I know the offensive style in the NFL has changed drastically over the years, but I’m staunchly convinced though that Trent’s career will be a factor in why you’ll never see a RB taken top 3 again. A handful will sneak into the top 5, as we’ve seen with Fournette and Elliott, but I don’t think we’ll ever see another RB go as high as Trent did. Too much positional risk.