Redden Still Looking for Chance to Star(t)

The problem with being Barry Redden is that no matter how many times he impresses the boss, steals the show, or draws the ace, there’s always some guy standing next to him who can do it faster and better.

One year in college Redden rushed for more yards than anyone in the country, unless you insist on counting two plow horses named Marcus Allen and Herschel Walker.

It sometimes seems as though Redden was born to be forgotten.

Was it his fault that he came to the Rams a year before Eric Dickerson? Could he possibly have known?

And if there never was a Dickerson, would we be talking about Redden in the same breath as Simpson and Payton?

These are questions Redden struggles with privately, for he has chosen in the past not to vent his frustrations through the pens and words of others.

For this, of course, Redden has been branded as mysterious, brooding, unapproachable, sullen.

Barry Redden can’t win.

What he is on a football field, he is one of the finer talents the league has never seen, a back who’s greatest games are the ones that don’t count in the standings.

If there were a pre-season Hall of Fame, Redden would be in it. So is he so wrong for wondering how his career might have turned out?

Redden, 26, wants to be traded, while there’s still time.

It doesn’t matter that the Rams have put a glossy new look to their offense this year and even made Redden the starting fullback.

It doesn’t matter that Coach John Robinson drools at the very mention of his name and swears Redden will see the ball 15 times a game this year.

Promises, promises.

“I’m not positive this is foreshadowing things to come,” Redden said. “If it turns out that way, great. But don’t bet the house on it.”

Redden has read the script before, and the part about him usually ends around the conclusion of training camp, when Dickerson steps in to take all the good scenes.

And even if all the nice things Robinson is saying come true, it still wouldn’t change things. The truth is, Redden thinks he’s nobody’s foolback.

“I came from a single-back offense,” said Redden, who played at Richmond. “I was the tailback carrying the ball 35 times a game. I was getting the ball then. It was great. And the more I got the ball the better I felt.”

Redden once carried 51 times in a game for 280 yards. The Rams figured he was good enough to draft on the first round in 1982.

But those are memories now. The good times ended in 1983, when the Rams picked up Dickerson, abolished the two-back offense and put Redden on the pine.

It wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.

In the off-season after Dickerson’s sensational rookie season in 1983, Redden was in a grocery store back home in Sarasota, Fla. A clerk asked him what it was like being Dickerson’s backup.

Redden’s answer caught her off guard. “I told her that I’ve never felt like a backup,” Redden said. “I told her that I just have to live with the facts. She looked at me and smiled.”

What bothers Redden about the Rams is that they would keep him around here all these years and let him collect dust, like some fancy ornament to show their guests.

“They have one of the greatest runners in the history of the game. Why hold on to me?” Redden asked.

The Rams told Redden in the off season that they would try to work out a trade. They told him the same thing when he went to training camp.

The Rams need a cornerback desperately, and here they have this great back sitting here as trade bait. But nothing.

“It’s not even an issue,” Robinson said of a possible trade. “He has clearly expressed his wishes. But it’s clear that he is going to have a big part in what we’re doing. And it’s clear that he’s a darn good football player.”

Why then, Redden wonders, didn’t the Rams go to a two-back offense three years ago?

Redden said he can’t see the Rams trading him now. So he has no choice but to stay another year and make his sales pitch again in spring.”

“I’m here so I’ll adapt,” he said. “I’ll make the best of it.”

But inside Redden wants so badly to be a somebody that he would leave the Rams for a lesser-talented team.

For him, there is no other way.

“I’m a player and a businessman,” he said. “I can go to a team that doesn’t make the playoffs but personally and monetarily, I can get in a better situation for retirement. There’s going to be some trade-off.”

Redden is in the option year of his contract but since there is no true free agency in the NFL, leaving the Rams on his own would be difficult. So for now, Redden can only strap on his helmet each day and make the best of it.

He said he’s even working on a new image.

During Eric Dickerson’s 47-day holdout last season, Redden didn’t speak with the press. Dickerson’s holdout ended, but Redden’s silence didn’t.

“I just knew 90% of the questions would be about Eric,” Redden said. “And wanted to reserve judgment.”

But talking to the press or anyone, for that matter, is something that doesn’t comes easily for Redden.

He’s shy now and always has been. Teammates have encouraged him to seek out publicity. After all, if a guy wants to be traded, who can spread the news faster than a newspaperman?

“I know it’s part of the business,” Redden said. “It might have been part of my demise. Part of this business is public relations, getting your picture on billboards and on TV. You’ve got to sell yourself.”

Redden is trying, but it isn’t easy for him.

“There’s definitely room for improvement,” he said. “But it’s not going to occur overnight.”

But nothing ever has for Redden. Waiting is as much a part of his life as eating.

Still, he maintains that are 1,000 yards out there somewhere just waiting for him. Perhaps not here, but somewhere.

“The opportunity may not have come when I wanted,” he said. “But I will get a chance to do something in this league. I firmly believe in that.”