GatorEye Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 A quote from this article about DG's number being retired: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8953-2002Dec18.html Cornerback Champ Bailey has lost his job as the club's punt returner. Coaches said yesterday that they will hand those duties to rookie defensive back Bruce Branch. Branch was promoted from the five-member practice squad to the 53-man roster Tuesday. "He catches the ball extremely well," Redskins Coach Steve Spurrier said. "I wish we'd known about him earlier." Bailey had fumbled a punt in each of the last two games. . . . First off - don't we have scouts to find guys like this in the first place. What does it say when SOS says he wishes we'd known about him earlier? Aren't we always keeping an eye out for talent? Was that a backhanded slap at Vinny and the boys? Second - what does it say that SOS says "He catches the ball extremely well." Uh, no offense coach, but if the most ringing endorsement of your punt return guy is that he catches the ball well, we have a problem. Couldn't he have said something like - "He's always a threat to score..." or "He's got great moves and a great burst through the hole." It sounds pathetic to me. Besides, don't most return men in the league catch the ball extremely well except us? :doh: I still don't understand why he hasn't given Gillespie a shot. Explain why he would be on our practice squad and we take someone else and give him a chance when we had 2 open roster spots. If we aren't going to give Gillespie a shot, why have him on there in the first place? Dump him and get someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRMADD Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Don't we have scouts? That's the $1 million dollar question, man. We do, but they're the same ones that decided to pick Betts several slots before any other team would have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ignatius J. Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 I think I am about to cut our front office too much slack, but bear with me. We wanted portis. Portis was selected by denver right before us. The next running back we wanted was betts. We felt we needed a running back so we traded down and picked him up a bit early so that we knew we would have him. My point is we had already missed the guy we wanted by 1 slot. We could not afford to enter next season without a possible replacement for davis. We traded down and then took the guy we had as the next best. WE could not afford to risk missing him and we traded down to the team that offered. We could have gone down more, but maybe those teams didn't want our pick. He probably would not have been there in round three. -DB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Madd, You've no idea where another team would have gone with Betts. Because the Sporting News had him rated in the third round doesn't mean anything. While I concede I felt it was too early to go with him myself, I think you are beating the drum on the front office without really paying attention to some of the very satisfactory things it has accomplished in just one offseason together. Further, our head scout is one of the most respected talent men in the game. His name is Scott Campbell. Vinny is actually the head scout and Betts was, unquestionably, a Cerrato pick and there's no doubt the Senior Bowl was a heavy influence on our draft, and that was Vinny's turf. I know we wanted Portis and I think Portis would have been a remarkable fit for this offense. How a single pick can change the perception of a draft . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ignatius J. Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 A single slot really. Could you imagine the coup if we had taken portis? Ramsey and Portis. Our terrible front office was one pick away. This jansen signing has me thinking funny, maybe I should go lie down.... -DB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inmate running the asylum Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 I think we had our best draft in about a decade. We finally got some promising players below the 1st and 2nd round who made the team. I give most of the credit to our scouts and Mendes, who probably made most of the choices. I'm sure Cerrato didn't. 1 - Patrick Ramsey - needs to develop, but looks promising. 2 - Ladell Betts - Personally, I have not written him off as a bust yet. It's too early after only one start. 3- Rashad Bauman - looks promising as a nickel back - is already a good special teams player. 3- Cliff Russell - too early to tell, but at least has great speed. 5- Andre Lott - at least made the team and played some. 5- Robert Royal - caught the ball well in the preseason. 7- Greg Scott - a project still, but at least made the team. 7- Rock Cartwright - a steal in the 7th round. Only has one carry, but could be an outstanding running back if given more opportunities. Plus we picked up some promising free agents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Mike Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Originally posted by inmate running the asylum I think we had our best draft in about a decade. We finally got some promising players below the 1st and 2nd round who made the team. I give most of the credit to our scouts and Mendes, who probably made most of the choices. I'm sure Cerrato didn't. 1 - Patrick Ramsey - needs to develop, but looks promising. 2 - Ladell Betts - Personally, I have not written him off as a bust yet. It's too early after only one start. 3- Rashad Bauman - looks promising as a nickel back - is already a good special teams player. 3- Cliff Russell - too early to tell, but at least has great speed. 5- Andre Lott - at least made the team and played some. 5- Robert Royal - caught the ball well in the preseason. 7- Greg Scott - a project still, but at least made the team. 7- Rock Cartwright - a steal in the 7th round. Only has one carry, but could be an outstanding running back if given more opportunities. Plus we picked up some promising free agents. Right on!:thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatorEye Posted December 19, 2002 Author Share Posted December 19, 2002 Great points all, but I'm curious...how many scouts do we actually have and second, that statement about him catching the ball bothers me. I really think that was a backhanded stab - either at the scouts, Champ, or both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennesseeCarl Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Most of our scouts left with Casserly and are employed by the Houston Texans. I'm not sure who's in charge of our draft. Snyder himself is reputed to have handled the first round...the trading down and the selection of Ramsey. If so, I think he deserves some credit. Picking up those 3rd rounders and the 5th rounder was nice work. I don't know if Bauman, Russell or Royal will work out, but we needed an infusion of young talent. I think we did better on Day Two than we had in a long while, but that's not hard to do. All you need is one guy who sticks. Talent evaluation has been a weak point for a long time - it'd be nice to improve through the draft (the most cap-friendly way to do it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sage Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Originally posted by Art Vinny is actually the head scout and Betts was, unquestionably, a Cerrato pick and there's no doubt the Senior Bowl was a heavy influence on our draft, and that was Vinny's turf. I don't know if its been mentioned here, but did you notice this line in the Washington Times article? and vice president of football operations Joe Mendes took running back Ladell Betts in the second http://www.washingtontimes.com/sports/20021219-98869401.htm 10th paragraph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Diggler Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Fellas I'm up here in Jet/Giant country and I've had to hear for years how the Jets were 1 pick away from Brett Favre and had to settle for Browning Nagle. What are you gonna do? No use cryin over it. You snooze you lose. The 2001 draft is about 3 players: Ramsey, Ramsey, and Ramsey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Max, I read the Times more for amusement at what they'll make up than what is true anymore. Betts was a Cerrato dream. Cerrato is the guy who wanted him and got him. Inmate, You are exactly right. This team found eight young players good enough to retain in this draft. I suspect we'll lose another one or two of them perhaps this year or soon, but, we did a good job of replenishing our young players and the more bodies we have learning and competing the better chance we have of finding a couple of real talents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickalino Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Originally posted by Dirk Diggler Fellas I'm up here in Jet/Giant country and I've had to hear for years how the Jets were 1 pick away from Brett Favre and had to settle for Browning Nagle. The other problem with the Jet fans's theory is that the team that actually drafted Favre, dumped him. Who's to say that the Jets would have held on to him long enough to watch him develop into what he is ? And who's to say that if he dropped to them they would have even drafted him at all ? It's all hindsight and self-pity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwampSkin Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Originally posted by GatorEye Great points all, but I'm curious...how many scouts do we actually have and second, that statement about him catching the ball bothers me. I really think that was a backhanded stab - either at the scouts, Champ, or both. That quote doesn't bother me, b/c 1) I think he's just highlighting the one quality that has cost us on the punt returns...a lack of good catching/fumbles. After Champ's first game returning punts where he cost us all that field position against Jax, his only real problem was hanging onto the ball, which is a problem Branch, according to Spurrier won't have, and 2) he may very well have said some other positives about Branch, but were just not printed. You know how he can be with a one-track mind...the reason they're choosing Branch over Champ is b/c of the fumbles, so he was probably throwing a subtle--albeit benign--shot at Champ as well. JMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sage Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Originally posted by Art Max, I read the Times more for amusement at what they'll make up than what is true anymore. Betts was a Cerrato dream. Cerrato is the guy who wanted him and got him. I know what you mean, Art, and I was of the assumption that Betts was a Cerrato pick as well. After all, he did grade several players at the Senior Bowl for ESPN (Betts wasn't one that he did...maybe because he wanted him all along). But that was the first time I had actually seen the Betts pick attributed to one person like that, so it kinda jumped off the page at me (even if it was the Washington Times!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 A single slot really. Could you imagine the coup if we had taken portis? Ramsey and Portis. Our terrible front office was one pick away. Who knows what we would have seen from Portis this year anyways. He may have gotten the games that Watson started for us, but if he had hadn't we still would be wondering what we had in him. Betts hasn't played enough to make a judgement. He's been solid as a KR. But everyone who's bashing the guy is just bitter over the fact we picked him too early. Give the guy a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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