Thanks.
Of course, I don't want you to reveal anything confidential. I was just wondering if you had any non-confidential examples. It's not a big deal though.
So there is 5-8 lines of on the field info, anything else?
It's shocking to me that a decision maker would use sparknotes. I must have glorified what they do.
Yes, I remembered that after I asked.
Thanks, the check is in the mail.
One more question Matt, where would you rank Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh Freeman, and Tyrod Taylor among starting QBs? I understand you'd be guessing on Taylor. Fitzpatrick is a quality backup. If I were a GM/personnel man for an NFL team, I'd be satisfied with Fitzpatrick as my backup who can keep my team competitive for the short-term. He understands defenses, plays with an aggressive mindset, and doesn't shrink against competition. Of the three players you mentioned, he's the most limited as an athlete. However, athleticism is a tool in a player's tool chest.
If you've every tried to fix anything around your house, it doesn't matter how nice your tools are - if you don't know how to use them, you're stuck.
Freeman has the most upside. If I had a sense of what went on with him in Tampa that he went from playing like a potential long-term starter to a bench warmer and thought it could be fixed, I'd take him in a heartbeat. I think the Tampa Bay situation was a mess during the Morris years and Schiano's culture change was too much for the organization to handle.
I knew a player who played for the Buccaneers for a short time during Freeman's second season. This player told me that after the Bucs' beat the Saints, they partied and the environment from that point on seemed like one big party. This included the behavior of the coach. The player I spoke wound up with a different team and was relieved he was no longer there.
I think Schiano might have had the right idea of running the show with more structure but his 180-degree change was too much for players from the previous culture and without an ownership truly committed to the transition through the losses, player turnover, and criticism in the media, Schiano was playing a losing game.
I'm not naturally a proponent of a militaristic approach to pro football in terms of my management style in other realms, but if you're going to be that kind of guy and the ownership knows this about you - the owners better have a clue what they are getting into and see it through.
Back to Freeman, who wasn't linked to a lot of this partying, but he's caught in a culture change-offense change and probably not the strong enough veteran presence to lead this kind of transition. He had his chance and failed. It doesn't mean if he lands with another team that he can't be a good fit for the situation. Think about your work career or other people you know who lacked the skills to perform their best in one environment but were stars in another.
Sometimes players have lessons they need to learn and mature as most human beings in their late teens and early twenties do - it's like we forget this about young NFL players. Other times this high pressure environment kills their confidence and it's time to find another career if they can't hang on for more paydays as backups.
Freeman's physical talent and flashes of franchise skill are good enough that I'd aim for upside here if I had a young team with a really strong coaching staff and some solid veteran leadership. But if I'm seeking a backup to keep my team afloat when my starter gets nicked, I'm not taking the chance.
Taylor is a player I have not seen enough from since he left Virginia Tech. Some of his preseason moments have been impressive and he might have arrived in the NFL just before the league has begun to open its mind to the idea that size isn't nearly as important as they claim at the QB position - especially if the player is an athlete who can operate a spread offense. Taylor would be most successful in an offense like Washington's two years ago or the 49ers - not because he can't throw - he has a good arm, but he's a creative player and I'd want to maximize his gifts.
Upside: Freeman-Taylor-Fitzgerald
Safety: Fitzgerald-Freeman-Taylor
