The 2000 Draft revisited

[Riggo-toni]

In 2000 we traded 2 #1s to move up to the #3 spot With the seond and third picks in the draft, we picked up Lavar and Samuels, gave them signing bonuses in excess of $10m each along with escalator clauses that ensured if they panned out they'd cost us a fortune. Then in the 3rd round when we were in desperate need of a WR (remember we had to bring Irving Fryar out of retirement to be our #3, and 99 was the first year Westbroken had remained healthy), and we passed on both Coles and Darrell Jackson to pick up the incomparable Lloyd Harrison :doh: All subsequent picks were busts as well.

This draft is still haunting us. Sorry but as much as I love Lavar, he is no where near the kind of $$$ we are paying him. Factor in all the restructuring we've had to do to manage his contract and his bonus $$$ are around $18m. And that doesn't even count the additional bonus $$$ we'll need to pass out to work out an extension. Look at it this way, if he were a free agent this offseason, how much of a signing bonus would you want Snyder to offer him based on his level of play thus far. I think we all over-rate him beause of the Carolina INT and the hit on Aikman. His propensity to be caught out of position has cost us several games this year. Let's face it Marvin Lewis using him primarily as a pass rusher was the best use of Arrington as much as he hated it.

As for Samuels he's probably the best run-blocking LT in the league but he is only above average at pass protection. Did anyone see a noticeable dropoff in pass protection when journeyman scrub Winey took his place? Again, just not worth the money. Ron Wolf drafted Chad Clifton in the 2nd round that year. Clifton is not the run-bloker that Samuels is, but probably a better pass blocker, and came at a fraction of the cost.

We've got way too much cap space tied up in these guys. IF Spurrier leaves/gets the boot after next season, I'd like to see us gut the team, including both these guys, and start over concentrating first and foremost on the lines. Swallow a year in cap hell with a solid new coach who is hired with the understanding that he has a couple years to rebuild.

[The Wicked Wop]

Riggo, I've been leaning the same way as far as bitting the bullet and living in cap hell for one year, and then completely retool. Unfortunately many of our big name players aren't playing like big time players. We always here the media bring up the Champ's, Lavar's, Trotter's, Samuels.....but fact is these guys aren't getting it done plain and simple.....but for some reason we fell that we can't live without them. Now granted I would hate to lose another of season of football....but it's becoming painfully obvious that these players are not all they are made out to be.

[KDawg]

You people are ridiculous. LaVar isn't worth the money?Alright then, if we release him and he goes and kicks ass somewhere else, I don't want to read any posts from you people stating how we should have never let LaVar go, andhow big a fan of his you were.

We release LaVar our front office is dumber than I thought they were.

[Prosperity]

we shouldn't release Lavar but if he is not willing to rework his deal so were not paying him 10 mil a year we will have to look into it.

[Riggo-toni]

I don't doubt that Lavar will play quite well if he goes somewhere else, just as I had no doubt S. Davis would do well elsewhere. Do I miss SD? Of course, but he still wasn't worth the $11m cap hit we would've taken for him. Champ is an excellent CB and will be a pro-bowler whereever he ends up, but that doesn't mean he's worth an $18 SB.

Take a lesson from the Pats. Lawyer Milloy was as big to them as Lavar is to us. Perhaps more so, because they'd won a Super Bowl with him, whereas we haven't even had a winning season since (pre-Lavar) '99. Yet they courageously decided he wasn't worth the $$$. Sure, Milloy played well for the Bills, but the Pats are 13-2 and are looking for another SB.