Paul Richardson (American football)

Paul Richardson (born April 13, 1992) is an American football wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Seahawks in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Colorado.

Richardson attended Junípero Serra High School in Gardena, California and Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos, California. During his career, he had 110 receptions for 1,948 yards and 28 touchdowns. He was also a letterman in basketball and track. In track, he had career-bests of 10.62 in the 100 meters, 21.0 seconds in the 200 meters and 40.66 seconds in the 4x100.

Richardson originally attended UCLA, but was dismissed from the team prior to his freshman season after being placed under arrest for felony theft of a purse, along with his cousin Shaquille Richardson and another teammate, Josh Shirley. He then attended the University of Colorado Boulder. He played in all 12 games that year, recording 34 receptions for 514 yards and six touchdowns. As a sophomore in 2011 he played in nine games recording 39 receptions for 555 yards and five touchdowns. He missed four games due to injury. In April 2012 he tore his ACL which caused him to miss the season. He returned as a starter in 2013. During the season he set the school record for receiving yards in a season of 1201 yards. On December 2, 2013, Richardson announced his intent to declare for the 2014 NFL Draft.

Richardson was selected by the Seattle Seahawks as the 13th pick of the second round (45th overall) in the 2014 NFL Draft. In week 3 against the Denver Broncos, Paul Richardson caught his first NFL reception, which was for 7 yards. In week 13, Paul Richardson caught what would have been his first NFL touchdown, but it was called back due to a penalty. During week 15, Paul Richardson caught his first NFL touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers. Richardson finished with 29 receptions, 271 yards, and a touchdown in his rookie season. In Seattle's opening divisional playoff matchup against the Carolina Panthers, after only having one reception for 21 yards, Richardson went down in the third quarter with what was first believed to be a sprained knee at the time, was later revealed to be a torn ACL upon further inspection. Richardson was then placed on the Injured reserve, ending his 2014-15 rookie campaign. On December 5, 2015, after making a 40 yard catch Richardson hurt his hamstring and was subsequently placed on injured reserve.

Richardson had a relatively quiet season again in 2016, until starting wide receiver Tyler Lockett suffered a season-ending injury in Week 16. In the Wild Card round of the playoffs, Richardson recorded three catches for 48 yards, including a one handed touchdown catch on 4th & Goal.

Career statistics