10-15-2019, 01:50 PM
(10-15-2019, 08:30 AM)corpjet Wrote: How many times have the Bengals had a player like this only to keep him around for years and years.
This is what a good franchise does, cuts player(s) who don't gel, fit the mold, cause disruptions. It still pisses me off we let head cases like PacMan, Odell, Vontaze and more stick around for years and allow them to be a thorn in the side of the team/locker room.
If Odell Thurman could have laid off the drugs, he'd be destined for the HoF.
98 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 4 pdef, 5 INT (1 TD), 4 FF just in his rookie year.
That's worth putting up with a bit. Burfict was the same way until he started having concussion issues and showing up out of shape (I wonder how much of his decline was because of Zimmer leaving? He was 2nd team All-Pro in 2013, Zimmer left, and he started going downhill fast). If a player is truly great, it's worth putting up with some of their crap. It's a balance. The greater you are, the more people are willing to put up with. As soon as they stop being great and just become good, or average is when it immediately becomes a losing proposition. Other teams cut them then, the Bengals do not.
Ray Lewis murdered a guy, but he is a Hall of Famer, so they put up with it. If Ray Rice was producing like 2011 or 2012 Ray Rice, teams would have snapped him up in a hurry. It's only because he had 2013 where he ran for 3.1 YPC that once he got in trouble his career was over.
This balance is in all sports. Over in MLB Chris Sale didn't like some throwback uniforms, so he hacked all of them to pieces with a pair of scissors. Still has a job because he is a perennial Cy Young candidate. If he were Joe Schmoe and did that shit, he'd be gone.
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