Is It Time To Finally Cut Ties With Ladell Betts?

[skinsfan07]

no way we get a 2nd for Betts.... maybe a 5th

4th rounder is what we could get for him and we could use that pick on a RB. Plenty of good backs are found in later rounds.

Betts isn't cutting it anymore. And to those talking about "he was our top receiver the other day" guess what, he isn't paid to be a WR. He's a RB, and hasn't been productive at all aside from his 2006 season.

No other way to sugar coat it. We need a better back, plain and simple. What good does it do to have Betts back there to relieve Portis when he can't do it? He comes in and runs for minimal gains and we punt it and then Portis comes out the next drive, probably still tired, but knows he has to play b/c Betts can't get it done.

I don't see how this is a Betts hate thread. I like the guy, I really do, but football is a game about skill and matchups, and with Portis/Betts, we've lost that edge that we used to have. Gimme Derrick Ward or Mewelde Moore, or a young, quick, elusive guy. Every other team in the NFC East has a spell back to come in for to relieve their "power back" but us. Felix Jones or Tashard Choice come in for Barber when he gets tired and are very productive, Ward or Bradshaw come in for Jacobs when he gets tired, and even though the Eagles usually don't need a back to spell Westbrook, Buckhalter is still a guy that s productive in relief.

We NEED someone to spell Portis. Unless you want to keep giving him ALL the carries, in which his career will be over well short b/c of the beating he is ALWAYS taking.

[addicted]

You just summed up what I thinking on this after I posted before you addicted, and the last paragraph was more or less what I concluded.

Glad to know my thoughts are keeping good company on the subject, I missed your original post GHH. I usually don't have a lot of time to read every single reply but if its as well thought out as this one I will make it a point to seek them out. No sense in kicking the same ideas around when a simple "Bingo" or "I agree" will do

The question, if we do change around the backs, should maybe's be more "Is it time to finally cut ties with Rock Cartwright?"

Do Rock's steady, if unspectacular returns warrant still warrant a roster spot?

I love Rock for what he gives to the locker room, his character is unquestioned. As is his commitment. But over the two, is Rock worth keeping above Ladell? We have plenty of quick return guys on the roster who've handled kick returning duty's before. If we could find that speedy, "change of pace" back deep in the draft, that we were willing to develop, I'd be much more in favour of letting Rock move on, and having Clinton, whomever, and Ladell taking the RB slots.

Hail.

I love Rock too and I'd like to be in a position to keep him on the team. He's a good tackeler and he's a decent return man. He is ranked 11th in the NFC in terms of kick off return average of the guys who have had 20+ returns on the year, not great but not too bad.

But this is a luxury position. Rock doesn't play much as a RB and is on the active roster each week simply because of special teams. I don't think we will ever see what Betts can do in place of Rock because of the injury factor associated with this dangerous position. I am not sure if Betts can be as good as Rock but I suspect since Betts is a good open field runner he would do as good or a better job at running the ball back on a kick off that Rock would do.

If we can't reasonably say for certain that we will have 4 RB's active each week next season whereby allowing us to keep both Rock and Laddel then I think we owe it to ourselves to test the waters and see if Betts can substitute for Rock in the kickoff game. If Laddell can't then we have a problem, if he can do as good of a job as Rock returning the ball then we have our solution, which unfortuantly means that Rocks not a Skin in 2009. That's the bad news, the good news is we now have an open spot for a running back who will spell Portis and provide the spark in the offense that brings big play potential something we are seriously lacking right now. Its a win for all concerned about Betts value to the team.

[kuraitengai]

Personally, I think it's time to cut ties with the guy. Or trade him, whatever works. He would be a great starter for a team like Denver who is running out of RB's like there is no tomorrow (Broncos just reported that Peyton Hillis is gone for the year) so they are real thin at RB. Why not try and trade Betts to Denver for a draft pick or two in the offseason and draft a younger, faster, better change of pace back for CP instead?

well theres a couple flaws in this. as you know since you said trade in the offseason, the trade deadline is over. now the key is that denver has lost their RBs for this season. they will be back next year (hillis is only out about 8 weeks, aldridge should be back in the offseason, as well as torain). so their RB situation will be better in the offseason when they all return from IR. so i doubt they would be trying to trade for an old RB when the 4 they have now are all under 3 rookies and a 2nd year player.

[addicted]

Overall, Betts is the least of the team's worries. At the same time, trading him for picks is not a bad idea. The problem is Betts won't have as much offseason value to a playoff contending team like the Broncos as he would now. The time to trade would be now, but I'm sure the trade deadline has already passed.

With so many known RB's entering FA, and especially after seeing how impressive rookie RB's have been this year, I think its foolish to believe we will be able to trade Betts for multiple picks. I believe that its possible that we could do one of several things with him to help the team if we wanted to move him:

1. Package him with another player in a trade

2. Trade him for a 6th or 7th pick

No one is going to give us a higher round pick for Betts and that's not a knock on him. Its the situation. People know that RB's like

Brandon Jacobs

Maurice Morris

Ricky Williams

Darren Sproles

J.J. Arrington

Correll Buckhalter

Are availible to bring in for no picks why would another team give up one for a guy who's had 51 rushes for 170 yards, averages 3.3 a carry, and has a history of fumbling? It's not going to happen. In addition 3 out of the top 10 rushers this season are in there rookie years. Teams do not want to give up picks for a 7th year RB unless he is one of the best in the league and clearly Betts isn't. He has value but that value is going to be determined by the market he's in and he's near the bottom in terms of tradeability and I think its time some of you fans need to realize that.

[Dick Edds]

Receiving wise yes, rushing, outside of his great 06 season, not so much.

Can you imagine if we had a Johnathon Stewart, Felix Jones or Chris Johnson on our team???

If our O-line got their act together, we'd be a whole lot more successful with an awesome change of pace back like that. When's the last time Betts broke off a 20 yard run, or 15 for that matter? Haven't seen it in a long while. He's a good back, sure, but not who we need in order for this offense to move forward.

And hopefully other teams see that he's a good back and do offer us multiple picks for him. But although I really do think we need to make a change, he's probably still going to be the 2nd stringer behind CP next season , picking up 1 and 2 yards per carry when CP is resting and not really helping us at all. Instead of having a Johnson, Felix Jones or Stewart who can break out for a 40 or 50 yard gain in relief of the starting RB. That's the kind of backup RB we need.

if we could get a couple mid round draft picks I say yes. But I see no need in trading a capable backup unless we get the better end of the deal. It's got to be more than one draft pick in my mind to be worth it. otherwise we give up a solid backup for the possibility of replacing him? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unless we find a desperate team.

[Muzzah]

I would get rid of Cartwright before Betts. Draft some fast speedy guy in the later rounds for kick returning and a possible home run hitter (if we get better blocking for the future).

[DCMONEY]

Betts is still a good back if given the reps. He's proven if he's the full time reps, he can produce. He does make a lot for a back up RB though. I said that the Skins invested too much money into the RB position. I feel if a team has an above average O-line, a good back will flourish. The Qb should be decent too. The Skins 91 Superbowl Offensive line proved what great blcoking can do for the running game and QB. They lead the leugue in rushing as a team and Rypien was sacked only 9 times including the playoffs. 4 of those sacks came against the Beagles in the last game in which the Skins sat their starters.

[Dick Edds]

You just summed up what I thinking on this after I posted before you addicted, and the last paragraph was more or less what I concluded.

The question, if we do change around the backs, should maybe's be more "Is it time to finally cut ties with Rock Cartwright?"

Do Rock's steady, if unspectacular returns warrant still warrant a roster spot?

I love Rock for what he gives to the locker room, his character is unquestioned. As is his commitment. But over the two, is Rock worth keeping above Ladell? We have plenty of quick return guys on the roster who've handled kick returning duty's before. If we could find that speedy, "change of pace" back deep in the draft, that we were willing to develop, I'd be much more in favour of letting Rock move on, and having Clinton, whomever, and Ladell taking the RB slots.

Hail.

also agree, Ladell Betts has returned just as many kickoff's for TD's as Rock has ... 1. Ok, that's just a guess with no research. But i recall seeing Betts return a kickoff for a TD in the Bucs game a few years back, and don't recall Rock returning one since the Dallas game a few years ago.

I think Rock needs to go. He's a stop gap and he is not going to be anymore than what he is now. He's excels on kickoffs and punt coverages, but is mediocre on kickoffs, and he doesn't return punts. I love the guy, really do. But something has to give. His character (as well as Thrash) are no longer a need for this team and are taking spots form other potential contributors on this team. Thrash is not dependable as a WR anymore.

I see a whole slew of "character" guys being let go, or asked to take significant pay cuts.

[nightbird]

4th rounder is what we could get for him and we could use that pick on a RB. Plenty of good backs are found in later rounds.

If there was a back in the 4th round who is so clearly, obviously better than Ladell Betts, why wouldn't the other team just draft that guy themselves instead of trading the pick to us for Betts?

[Mercuryrising]

You have not gotten the Redskins "Homer" memo I see. The prevailing theory on this forum is that despite the Redskins not playing particularly well, every Redskin player individually is a stud. With the excpetion of Jason Campbell. So we have 52 studs and then Jason Campbell who is holding us back. We really don't even need draft picks, so why trade for them? Every player on our roster is entrenched in studly man crush love.

Which is why you will hear blanket statements about needing new lineman, but when you break it down to individual players you get: Griffin is good, and Monty and Golston, and Carter, and lets just give Taylor some more time, and we keep Evans and Wilson for sure, and even though James isn't good enough to even rotate in he was a first round pick by the Vikings, Alexander can play all positions (just can't play any of them very well), and Daniels and Buzbee will be back! So what you get is we need new DL, but lets keep all the ones we got now.

So please, just because Betts plays like crap does not mean he is not a stud. Sure other teams can have 2nd and 3rd backs who play much better during the games (like that really matters), but they do not have Laddell Betts! Why mess with a good thing, even if it isn't so good anymore.

[sugarbear326]

Why would we trade Betts, according to Zorn, he was game time ready and Clinton was not. We all know that Clinton is a physical player and he will be next year, so when he can't practice and does not know the game plan, who will we put in there, I'm just being SARCASTIC,

[LB Dizzle]

absolutely not. Then we would have to waste a draft pick on a RB to replace him or pick up one that's not as good and/or not as knowledgable of the offense in free agency

[Skins110]

Paying "character" guys like Betts and Cartwright isn't the real problem with our salary cap situation. The problem is our money is tied up in old guys who no longer produce (Shawn Springs, Marcus Washington, Jason Taylor, Jon Jansen, Randle El). Paying Betts 2M a year is not much of a burden, and I think he is a good backup.

[Mercuryrising]

Besides do you see the tough way he walks after he breaks off a 2 yard run and gets solo tackled by a 180 pound DB?!?!?! I mean he walks like a real tough guy back to the huddle. That has to scare opposing defenses when a guy can walk/ strut like that... even if he isn't breaking off runs he is getting in their heads!

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

until we fix these lines, our problems will be the same.

and shocker, we have no draft picks next year, and we arent trading guys for picks.

we have a 1st and a 3rd next year? what i do know is that were gonna cut so many of these expensive free agents, have a total purge of old guys and money, and im guaranteeing now that we have a crazy FA spending spree.

[Mercuryrising]

Why would we trade Betts, according to Zorn, he was game time ready and Clinton was not. We all know that Clinton is a physical player and he will be next year, so when he can't practice and does not know the game plan, who will we put in there, I'm just being SARCASTIC,

I agree! Also how would a new guy learn the system? IT is impossible to learn! Just ask Zorn or our Rooks. Also we all know RB's don't ever become productive until around year 8 or so......

[skinsfan07]

You have not gotten the Redskins "Homer" memo I see. The prevailing theory on this forum is that despite the Redskins not playing particularly well, every Redskin player individually is a stud. With the excpetion of Jason Campbell. So we have 52 studs and then Jason Campbell who is holding us back. We really don't even need draft picks, so why trade for them? Every player on our roster is entrenched in studly man crush love.

Which is why you will hear blanket statements about needing new lineman, but when you break it down to individual players you get: Griffin is good, and Monty and Golston, and Carter, and lets just give Taylor some more time, and we keep Evans and Wilson for sure, and even though James isn't good enough to even rotate in he was a first round pick by the Vikings, Alexander can play all positions (just can't play any of them very well), and Daniels and Buzbee will be back! So what you get is we need new DL, but lets keep all the ones we got now.

So please, just because Betts plays like crap does not mean he is not a stud. Sure other teams can have 2nd and 3rd backs who play much better during the games (like that really matters), but they do not have Laddell Betts! Why mess with a good thing, even if it isn't so good anymore.

lol yea I feel you. People should just open their eyes a little bit. Betts isn't necessarily holding us back, but he isn't really helping us move forward either.

We NEED to adjust correctly to the new age NFL where a 2 back system is key in helping take pressure off your QB as well as lead your team to long drives and more W's. And Betts IS NOT THAT GUY. Anyone who has watched the games this season should be able to see it. Man why can't the Redskins FO understand it?!?!?!

[scruffylookin]

So for 2m a year this is what we've gotten out of Betts (Mr. Valuable according to some).

144 carries

35 receptions

In 26 games (16 in 07 and 10 so far in 08)

That's a hair under 6 carries a game and a little over 1 catch per game.

Boy he sure is worth 2m a year.

No way can we get a guy for half that amount (probably more) who can carry the ball that many times and average about 3.7 per carry.

[justice98]

So for 2m a year this is what we've gotten out of Betts (Mr. Valuable according to some).

144 carries

35 receptions

In 26 games (16 in 07 and 10 so far in 08)

That's a hair under 6 carries a game and a little over 1 catch per game.

Boy he sure is worth 2m a year.

No way can we get a guy for half that amount (probably more) who can carry the ball that many times and average about 3.7 per carry.

He would be worth the money if they actually put him in the game more and gave him the ball.

[The Enforcer]

And who do we replace him with??? We need O-line help and defensive tackle help more than we need a backup running back. Betts is a runner like Portis meaning the more carries he gets, the better the yardage and right now Portis is getting the majority of the carries so Betts is only going to produce so much. He would be able to do a lot more if we had an upgraded o-line that could open up more holes.

[[[ghost]]]

I'm no McD5, but Betts is a very good back. No way should we get rid of him UNLESS someone offers multiple mid/late round picks for him.

I just posted this verbatim in a different thread about 20 minutes ago.

What does Betts offer?

He's no Home Run Threat to compliment Portis. He isn't a power back, otherwise he wouldn't get stuffed as badly as he does. He's great out of the backfield, but a horrible blocker.

I'd rather get someone speedier. Trade him for a 2nd/3rd Rounder.

[skinsfan07]

];5923579']What does Betts offer?

He's no Home Run Threat to compliment Portis. He isn't a power back' date=' otherwise he wouldn't get stuffed as badly as he does. He's great out of the backfield, but a horrible blocker.

I'd rather get someone speedier. Trade him for a 2nd/3rd Rounder.[/quote']

That's what I've been trying to say!!!

He's a poor man's Clinton Portis.

[Spartacus87]

];5923579']What does Betts offer?

He's no Home Run Threat to compliment Portis. He isn't a power back' date=' otherwise he wouldn't get stuffed as badly as he does. He's great out of the backfield, but a horrible blocker.

I'd rather get someone speedier. Trade him for a 2nd/3rd Rounder.[/quote'] I agree that Portis needs a speedy style back to compliment him, but a 2nd or 3rd rounder?

Who on Earth would give us a 2nd or 3rd rounder for Betts? We'd be lucky to get a 6th.

[HitStickTaylor21]

he's the same age as portis with less wear and tear, why?

and who said we could get an early 2nd rounder for him? hahahahahahahaha

[Taylorfan2179]

you are out of your mind.