Outside Linebackers in the draft

jake

 

I think we do a better job of not tolerating bad behaviour than a lot of teams do. Obviously we do not cut anyone who causes a problem but we have gotten rid of a lot of guys for that reason:

Chris Terry
Todd Sauerbrun
Lamar Smith
Jarod Cooper
Rashard Anderson

 

I can't think of any free agents that we've brought in with a history but I would agree that JR seems more willing to take a risk on a rookie with a history in college. Nothing wrong with that as college is the place to make mistakes if you are going to make them. The pro's is when you better be perfect.

 

who did we draft that had a history? I just can't think of any off the top of my head.

 

Collins, Cooper, Sauerbrun, etc. The list is long. We keep them throughout all of their screw-ups until we feel like they no longer have a use for us on the field.

 

I do not see how you can say that. We cut some of those guys in the middle of the year and it hurt us on the field. Chris Terry left a big hole on our OL that year. Cooper was an important part of our special teams and Lamar Smith was probably our best back that year.

 

We kept Terry through previous domestic violence charges, didn't we? We didn't cut him until we felt like he was never going to be the above average tackle we hoped for. And we kept Cooper through several charges, didn't we? We didn't cut him until it became clear that he would never be more than a special teams ace. As for Smith, he was only averaging 3.5 yards per carry for us that season at age 32, but he might be your best example of us cutting someone with potential use.

 

I'd agree that we keep people around despite a few screw-ups until they prove to the org that they're obviously not going to change.

Sauerbrun was (is) a Pro-bowl caliber punter, Cooper was (is) a better special teams players then any back-up safety (Gunner)then we had last year.

Collins I wouldn't count because he left here before we started making such a fuss about off-field issues. fact, he was probably the beginning of the new rule.

 

Don't forget the Moose gun & dope incident.

 

Collins spoke out against the coaching staff in preseason 98 and got punched out before that. We cut him because Dom over-reacted to Collins asking to be benched, not because of disciplinary actions. Considering Dom wouldn't bench Greene after choking Kevin Steele, I wouldn't mistake Dom for someone who'd Parcells a player.