Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Jordan Hugh Richards was born on January 21st, 1993, in Folsom, California. He is a defensive back in the NFL.

In his early years, Richards attended Folsom High School where he was the nation’s 75th-best prep receiver by Scout, 60th-best athlete by Rivals. As a senior, he made 56 rushes for 563 yards and six touchdowns. made 69 catches for 1,068 yards and 11 touchdowns and made 61 tackles and two interceptions. As a junior, he made 492 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 78 carries. He was a NorCalPreps.com All-Northern California first-team offense, was a Sacramento All-Metro first-team defense and was a Delta River League All-Purpose MVP and first-team all-league defense. He also helped the team to CIF Division II state, Sac-Joaquin Section and Delta River League titles.

After he finished high school, Richards committed to the University of Stanford where as a freshman in 2011, he appeared in all 13 games with three starts, making 31 tackles and one pass breakup. He earned starts against USC, Oregon State, and Oregon in place of injured Delano Howell, made a season-high nine tackles against Washington and had eight tackles in his first career start at USC. As a sophomore in 2012, Richards was a SI.com Midseason All-America second team, was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention and was a Pac-12 All-Academic first team. He finished third on the team with 68 tackles, had a team-high 15 passes defended and finished second with three interceptions. He made seven tackles, four solo tackles, two tackles for loss and a 10-yard sack against Wisconsin in Rose Bowl and recorded four tackles, one interception and four pass breakups in a home win over USC. As a junior in 2013, Richards was a Capital One Academic All-America second team and a Capital One Academic All-District. He was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention, a Pac-12 All-Academic first team, a Phil Steele All-Pac-12 second team and was on the Jim Thorpe Award watch list. He was a preseason All-America fourth team by Phil Steele, was a preseason All-Pac-12 by Phil Steele, was a preseason All-Pac-12 by Athlon Sports and was a preseason All-Pac-12 third team by Lindy’s. 

In his senior year, Richards was a team captain and won the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award, being Stanford's 12th winner, first since 2011. He was on the Pop Warner National College Football Award, was on the Phil Steele All-America fourth team, was a SI.com All-America honorable mention, a Capital One Academic All-District, was a Pac-12 All-Academic first team and was an All-Pac-12 first-team. He also was a Phil Steele All-Pac-12 first-team, was a Campbell Trophy finalist, a Lott IMPACT Trophy semifinalist,  was on the Bednarik Award watch list and the Nagurski Award watch list, was a Senior CLASS Award candidate, was ESPN.com midseason All-America and ESPN.com preseason All-America, was Athlon preseason All-America fourth team, was Phil Steele preseason All-America second team, was Phil Steele midseason All-America second team, was Athlon preseason All-Pac-12 first-team, was a Sporting News preseason All-Pac-12, a Phil Steele preseason All-Pac-12 first-team and a Phil Steele midseason All-Pac-12 first-team. 

After he graduated from college, Richards entered the 2015 NFL Draft where he was selected in the second round by the New England Patriots and on May 8, 2015, the Patriots signed Richards to a four-year contract as 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 and 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. 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 and 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. On January 26, 2016, he played in the first career playoff game as the Patriots defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 27-20 to advance to the AFC Championship. Richards completed his rookie season with 20 combined tackles where 16 tackles were solo and two pass deflections in 14 games and two starts. 

In 2016, he was named the third strong safety on the depth chart behind Patrick Chung and Duron Harmon to begin the 2016 season. He made three combined tackles where one of them was solo, in 11 games and zero starts and was limited to special teams throughout the 2016 season and became a Super Bowl Champion on February 5, 2017, after the Patriots defeated the Falcons in Super Bowl LI in overtime. In the 2017 season, Richards started the Patriots season-opener against the Kansas City Chiefs and recorded six combined tackles and forced the first fumble of his career. Richards started as a hybrid outside linebacker and was tasked with covering one of the Chiefs tight ends in dime packages and recorded twice as many tackles then he did the entire 2016 season and played 41 defensive snaps, well above his total of 16 snaps for 2016. On August 31, 2018, Richards was traded to the Atlanta Falcons for a conditional 2020 seventh-round draft pick where he played in 15 games with 12 starts, recording 39 tackles and three passes defended. On April 5, 2019, Richards signed with the Oakland Raiders on a one year deal.