Jordan Richards (born January 21, 1993) is an American football free safety who is a free agent. He played college football at Stanford and was drafted by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft.
College career
Richards played college football at Stanford, where he was a team captain and first-team All-PAC player during his final senior collegiate year. Although recruited as one top the top 100 receivers in the country, he was switched to defense and played all 13 games as a true freshman.
Professional career
Richards accepted an invitation to play in the 2015 East–West Shrine Game and practiced well throughout the week leading up to the game. He played for the West team under former Seattle Seahawks' quarterback and Washington Redskins' head coach Jim Zorn. Richards recorded three combined tackles, as the West lost 19-3 to the East. He attended the NFL combine and completed all of the required combine and positional drills. Richards lackluster performances in the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, and broad jump was thought to negatively effect his stock. His time in the three-cone drill finished in the top five amongst all safeties at the combine. On March 19, 2015, Richards opted to participate at Stanford's pro day, along with James Vaughters, Ty Montgomery, Andrus Peat, Lee Ward, A. J. Tarpley, Alex Carter, Henry Anderson, David Parry, and five others. Over 75 team representatives and scouts from every NFL team attended as Richards decided to redo his vertical jump (), broad jump (), 40-yard dash (4.59), 20-yard dash (2.64), 10-yard dash (1.58), and short shuttle (4.32). He performed well and was able to get better times and lengths in everything but the broad jump and short shuttle. His positional drills were led by the New England Patriots' director of player personnel Nick Caserio. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Richards projected to be a fifth to seventh round pick by the majority of NFL draft experts and analysts. His fall from a perspective third round pick was mostly due to his lack of preferred athletic ability and his mediocre performance at the combine. He was ranked as the seventh best strong safety prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com and was ranked the 23rd best safety in the draft by NFL analyst Charles Davis.
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots selected Richards in the second round (64th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft. Richards was the fourth safety selected in 2016, behind Damarious Randall (No. 30, Packers), Landon Collins (No. 33, Giants), and Jaquiski Tartt (No. 46, 49ers).
His selection in the second round was heavily criticized by draft analysts and the media due to his draft projection being a fifth to seventh round pick and was partially due to the fact the team already had Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung as established starters at safety. Many journalists and analysts speculated his selection by Patriots' head coach/general manager Bill Belichick was due to his solid performance in the three-cone drill, his intelligence, and high football acumen.
2015
On May 8, 2015, the Patriots signed Richards to a four-year, $3.71 million contract with $1.15 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $959,307.
Richards was not able to attend team activities held in the spring due to Stanford following the quarters semester system and the NFL's graduation rule that does not permit players that haven't completed or graduated from their school to attend team activities. Upon arriving at training camp, he competed with Nate Ebner, Tavon Wilson, Duron Harmon, and Brandon King for the role as a backup safety. Head coach Bill Belichick named Richards the backup strong safety behind Patrick Chung to start the regular season.
He made his professional regular season debut in the Patriots' season-opening 28-21 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. On September 27, 2015, Richards recorded two solo tackles and deflected a pass, as the Patriots routed the Jacksonville Jaguars. He made his first career regular season tackle on Jaguars' running back Corey Grant and stopped him after an eight-yard reception in the first quarter. Richards was a healthy scratch and was inactive for two games in Weeks 13-14. On December 20, 2015, Richards earned his first career start and recorded three solo tackles and defended a pass in a 33–16 defeat over the Tennessee Titans. He started at free safety after Devin McCourty was unable to play after sustaining an ankle injury the following week against the Houston Texans. The following week, he earned his second consecutive start at free safety and recorded a season-high seven combined tackles during their 26–20 loss at the New York Jets.