A GMs Perspective – Damarious Randall

Ok, so Damarious Randall apparently threw a hissy fit after making some mistakes and now people think Ted should cut him. If Ted doesn’t cut him, that means he’s “arrogant’ or doesn’t want to “tarnish his legacy” (because GMs who build Super Bowl rosters with multiple franchises and draft the greatest player of all time are worried they will somehow have their legacy “tarnished” if they cut a 1st round pick in year three).

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: people are stupid.

It’s not about being arrogant or tarnishing a legacy, it’s about trying to get something out of your investment. These aren’t stocks where you can go from one to any of the thousands of others and then come back to the first one if you change your mind.

NFL Players are a very finite commodity.

There’s only 32 first round pick each year and the Packers never sniff the top half of them (oh the horrible woes of going to the playoffs every year). When you get rid of one, he will immediately be snatched up by another team, no matter how bad he sucked, because odds are high that almost everyone in the biz pegged them as elite talent (not just one GM that you think should be fired).

Plus, there is so much that goes into NFL games and performances, that a lot of times a player just will come out of it with just a little more time. Take out all the changed associated with the move from college to the pros and the scheme and personnel changes from year to year and you are still left with a human being – someone that may be dealing with personal issues or undisclosed (potentially unknown) injuries. Even if a GM were as hopelessly uninformed as the fans are, he still owes it to himself and his team to try to get a return on that investment, which means you don’t make rash hot-taek twitter-speed decisions on such matters.

No, no, no, you say, I saw Josh Hawkin’s PFF rating in one game where he played part-time against one of the worst QB-WR groups in the NFL when they were playing from behind – I suddenly have all the answers!

Look, there’s a reason guys like Josh Hawkins go undrafted.

There’s usually a deficiency somewhere and it’s possible to address that and coach up a player, but you usually don’t want to go all-in on them after one part-time performance. Sure, you can find guys like Sam Shields and point to them and say “Well look” but those are incredible exceptions. For every ONE undrafted free agent that goes on to make a single Pro Bowl, there are HUNDREDS of undrafted free agents who never even make it to a practice squad. Finding a role player in the UDFA ranks is like winning a small lottery.

If you want to complain that Ted should cut someone, you better have a replacement immediately ready and not just hope or, what is typically the case, the old “well anyone would be better” line.

No, Virginia, “anyone” would not be better – there’s a game on Sunday and it’s a thick playbook!

Why is Justin McCray the starting right tackle? He had a bad game – fire Ted!

Look, clown, McCray’s their 7th string tackle (who’s actually a 5th string practice squad guard) and they’ve looked everywhere else for one and couldn’t find a better option. When you consider that former Packer trainwrecks like Marshal Newhouse and Allan Barbe are starting on other teams – meaning those teams each have a few guys worse than that behind them – you start to get a stark picture of what level of talent is hanging around waiting for the Packers to call. Heck, Jeremy Vujnovich couldn’t hold a practice squad job with the Packers and he’s now the starting left guard for the Colts.

There’s only so much talent out there, especially at premium positions like cornerback. So when you get some of it, you don’t make knee-jerk decisions.

Unless you’re stupid.

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