FOXBORO, Mass. — School’s finally out for the summer for Jordan Richards, and now the former Stanford safety can focus full-time on being a football player for the first time in his life.
Richards had to finish his academic career before reporting to the New England Patriots last Friday, per NFL rules, so he’s a month behind his fellow rookies, and he’ll have to catch up by leaps and bounds to the team’s veterans. The 2015 second-round draft pick is receiving plenty of help, however.
“It’s really the entire group — group of safeties, group of corners,” Richards said of the guidance he’s received from his teammates Thursday after OTAs. “The defense has just been huge, and I’m excited to play football again and excited to be on this field each and every day.”
Richards will receive his diploma Sunday June 13 while his veteran teammates are getting their Super Bowl XLIX rings at a private ceremony at owner Robert Kraft’s house. Richards had to finish his senior project on public policy at Stanford while also learning the Patriots’ playbook and finding time to stay in football shape.
“It’s just time management skills,” Richards said. “It wasn’t impossible. Obviously it’s tough to be a full-time football player when you’re not, when you’re 3,000 miles away, but that’s why I tried to do as much as I could, electronically, looking at the playbook, write down questions. …
“I’d get my workouts in that Coach (Harold) Nash and the strength and conditioning coaches gave me, and I’d get my lift, my run in, then go to class. In the evenings, I’d study the playbook.”
The rookie safety was called “Coach Richards” by his Cardinal teammates because of his knowledge of the team’s defense, so picking up the Patriots’ complex playbook might not be too big of a challenge for the 5-foot-11, 210-pound defensive back. Richards was a three-time Pac-12 All-Academic and had a 3.31 GPA at Stanford as of December 2014.
“I’m excited,” Richards said. “It’s a sense of urgency to go play football again, and obviously it’s a new environment. I’m just trying to learn as much as I can as fast as I can.”
Richards likely will start his pro career on the depth chart behind veterans Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, Duron Harmon and Tavon Wilson. Richards, like Harmon and Wilson, will have to prove himself on special teams before he starts seeing regular snaps on defense.
Thumbnail photo via Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY Sports Images
