Angel
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Smith chooses Rivers' potential over Brees' experience, injury
March 12, 2006
You can criticize the decision, but not the motivation.
If A.J. Smith believes Philip Rivers will develop into a better quarterback than Drew Brees, then he made the right call in clearing a path for Rivers to assume the starting job.
We often talk about playing to win instead of playing not to lose. That philosophy applies to general managers as well as to teams.
Smith knows the popular decision would be to bring back Brees for another year, even if it means paying him $9 million as a franchise player. But Smith has no interest in winning popularity contests; he's more concerned about winning championships, and clearly he believes Rivers is more capable of doing that, otherwise he would have made a legitimate effort to re-sign Brees.
And don't bring up that one-year, incentive-laden deal they offered Brees. It doesn't pass the sniff test. At best, it was disingenuous. At worst, it was insulting. Follow along:
Say Brees is completely healthy during training camp and earns the starting job entering the season opener. On the first play from scrimmage, however, he sustains a career-ending knee injury. Now he has no chance to earn the $8 million in 2006 play-time incentives the team included in its contract offer, and the reason is his knee, not his shoulder.
You don't have to be a Mensa member to see that this scenario makes no business sense for Brees. It's one thing for the team to have protection against his shoulder not healing, but by structuring the contract offer the way they did, the Chargers also would be protected if Brees went down for any reason.
Brees would have been stupid to accept such an offer, so let's stop with the talk that the Chargers really wanted to keep him. On their terms, yes, but only on their terms. Part of the reason is that they have Rivers in the wings, and Smith believes the third-year pro has the tools to be special.
Rivers set at least 50 school records as a four-year starter at North Carolina State and was MVP in every bowl game in which he appeared. He has a release that's as quick as his mind. Whether that means he'll enjoy the same type of success that he did as a collegian is something only time knows. But clearly Smith believes it is time to find out. He didn't make the draft-day trade in '04 to get Rivers so Rivers could hold a clipboard forever.
So, go ahead, question Smith's wisdom for letting Brees walk without the Chargers getting anything in return. In a league in which it's hard to find a decent quarterback, let alone a former Pro Bowler who's just 27 years old, it makes little sense to let Brees walk without the team protecting itself.
But if Smith believes Rivers can take the team where Brees did not – maybe not this year, but soon after – he has to go with his conviction. He has to play to win instead of not to lose. There's a big difference.
Notes
Each year, the league warns teams about tampering during the pre-free agency period, and each year teams prearrange deals for players before they're officially allowed to do so. Many times, the arrangements go off without a hitch. And then there is what happened yesterday.
New Orleans offensive LeCharles Bentley, one of the top players in this year's free-agent class, allegedly had an agreement in principle to sign with Philadelphia once free agency kicked off. Everyone knew it. People close to Bentley privately confided the player had told them as much.
However, when word of the deal leaked out, Bentley's agent got calls from other clubs that offered to pay more. One such team was Cleveland, which yesterday signed him to a potential $36 million deal. The moral of the story, according to an agent not involved in the situation: “People's word means nothing in this business.” . .
Broncos defensive end Courtney Brown recently signed an extension even though his agent, Marvin Demoff, told him he could get more on the open market. Brown didn't care and said he wanted to remain in Denver, at which point Demoff did the deal. Said Demoff to the Rocky Mountain News: “I'm not excited about this particular deal. But you represent the client and Courtney is very excited about Denver. He likes it there and wants to be there. And this is what he wanted to do, which is fine.” Wow. A prominent player who actually understands that the agent works for him, not vice versa. . .
Former Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington knows teams have concerns about his reputation as a free-lancer, as well as questions about the leg injuries that have limited him in recent years. In hopes of allaying fears about his physical condition, he hired a personal trainer and has lost 10 pounds to get down to his college playing weight of 249 pounds.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060312/news_1s12trotter.html
March 12, 2006
You can criticize the decision, but not the motivation.
If A.J. Smith believes Philip Rivers will develop into a better quarterback than Drew Brees, then he made the right call in clearing a path for Rivers to assume the starting job.
We often talk about playing to win instead of playing not to lose. That philosophy applies to general managers as well as to teams.
Smith knows the popular decision would be to bring back Brees for another year, even if it means paying him $9 million as a franchise player. But Smith has no interest in winning popularity contests; he's more concerned about winning championships, and clearly he believes Rivers is more capable of doing that, otherwise he would have made a legitimate effort to re-sign Brees.
And don't bring up that one-year, incentive-laden deal they offered Brees. It doesn't pass the sniff test. At best, it was disingenuous. At worst, it was insulting. Follow along:
Say Brees is completely healthy during training camp and earns the starting job entering the season opener. On the first play from scrimmage, however, he sustains a career-ending knee injury. Now he has no chance to earn the $8 million in 2006 play-time incentives the team included in its contract offer, and the reason is his knee, not his shoulder.
You don't have to be a Mensa member to see that this scenario makes no business sense for Brees. It's one thing for the team to have protection against his shoulder not healing, but by structuring the contract offer the way they did, the Chargers also would be protected if Brees went down for any reason.
Brees would have been stupid to accept such an offer, so let's stop with the talk that the Chargers really wanted to keep him. On their terms, yes, but only on their terms. Part of the reason is that they have Rivers in the wings, and Smith believes the third-year pro has the tools to be special.
Rivers set at least 50 school records as a four-year starter at North Carolina State and was MVP in every bowl game in which he appeared. He has a release that's as quick as his mind. Whether that means he'll enjoy the same type of success that he did as a collegian is something only time knows. But clearly Smith believes it is time to find out. He didn't make the draft-day trade in '04 to get Rivers so Rivers could hold a clipboard forever.
So, go ahead, question Smith's wisdom for letting Brees walk without the Chargers getting anything in return. In a league in which it's hard to find a decent quarterback, let alone a former Pro Bowler who's just 27 years old, it makes little sense to let Brees walk without the team protecting itself.
But if Smith believes Rivers can take the team where Brees did not – maybe not this year, but soon after – he has to go with his conviction. He has to play to win instead of not to lose. There's a big difference.
Notes
Each year, the league warns teams about tampering during the pre-free agency period, and each year teams prearrange deals for players before they're officially allowed to do so. Many times, the arrangements go off without a hitch. And then there is what happened yesterday.
New Orleans offensive LeCharles Bentley, one of the top players in this year's free-agent class, allegedly had an agreement in principle to sign with Philadelphia once free agency kicked off. Everyone knew it. People close to Bentley privately confided the player had told them as much.
However, when word of the deal leaked out, Bentley's agent got calls from other clubs that offered to pay more. One such team was Cleveland, which yesterday signed him to a potential $36 million deal. The moral of the story, according to an agent not involved in the situation: “People's word means nothing in this business.” . .
Broncos defensive end Courtney Brown recently signed an extension even though his agent, Marvin Demoff, told him he could get more on the open market. Brown didn't care and said he wanted to remain in Denver, at which point Demoff did the deal. Said Demoff to the Rocky Mountain News: “I'm not excited about this particular deal. But you represent the client and Courtney is very excited about Denver. He likes it there and wants to be there. And this is what he wanted to do, which is fine.” Wow. A prominent player who actually understands that the agent works for him, not vice versa. . .
Former Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington knows teams have concerns about his reputation as a free-lancer, as well as questions about the leg injuries that have limited him in recent years. In hopes of allaying fears about his physical condition, he hired a personal trainer and has lost 10 pounds to get down to his college playing weight of 249 pounds.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060312/news_1s12trotter.html