Beware of Players with an Injury History

[AntSports Steve]

Laboy cutting has me mad and the front office.

I am not mad because they cut him. He is injured and will not be able to perform so cutting him makes sense.

I am made for 2 reasons.

1) They signed a player with an injury history (Laboy) and gave him a large upfront signing bonus. Then, a year later, when his injuries greatly affected his performance they cut him. He gets to keep the bonus so the Cards are out that cash.

2) At the beginning of this season, the Cards gave Laboy a $1.5M roster bonus. He got that cash and gets to keep it, then a month later the Cards cut him? When a players roster bonus is due, the front office has a responsibility to evaluate that player to determine if he belongs on the roster or not. Once you make that evaluation, you need to stick with it. Giving him the money and then cutting him makes NO sense and wastes cash and cap space.

This front office also gave Al Johnson (a player with a recent injury history) a large up front bonus, and then cut him the next year. This trend has to stop. Players with injury history cannot be giving large upfront bonuses. It just hurts the team in the end by wasting cash and cap space.

So, the Cards should try to limit the bonuses paid to players with injury history in the future. It only makes sense.

That means Boldin will be a huge problem. I contend he is a player with a large injury history. I want him on the team and happy and playing, but I do not want him to have a huge bonus. That's at odds with what Boldin wants.

 

[cardsfanmd]

IIRC Laboy had a head injury history. He had multiple concussions that had caused him to miss time. I dont think even Tennessee was aware that the rest of his body was constructed of rose petals.

Howvere, I love to trash RG whenever presented with the opportunity and am so glad he will be relieved of his duties soon, so carry on.

 

[Mulli]

IIRC Laboy had a head injury history. He had multiple concussions that had caused him to miss time. I dont think even Tennessee was aware that the rest of his body was constructed of rose petals.

Howvere, I love to trash RG whenever presented with the opportunity and am so glad he will be relieved of his duties soon, so carry on.

really?

You must be registered for see images

 

[cardsfanmd]

really?

You must be registered for see images

Well I dont really love to trash him, because that means that the team has done something I am upset about, but he is incapable of performing his duties as he should IMO.

 

[Mulli]

Well I dont really love to trash him, because that means that the team has done something I am upset about, but he is incapable of performing his duties as he should IMO.

Just wanted to know if you thought he was going to be relieved of his duties soon based on something you heard.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Well, to be fair, Kyle Vanden Bosch was supposed to have injury problems and the Cardinals let him walk because of it.

He came back to give the Titans some good years.

It is a roll of the dice, IMO

 

[Mulli]

Well, to be fair, Kyle Vanden Bosch was supposed to have injury problems and the Cardinals let him walk because of it.

He came back to give the Titans some good years.

It is a roll of the dice, IMO

Garrison Heart called. He said this is a good point.

 

[Pariah]

Beanie Wells called and said don't listen to AntSportsSteve.

 

[Mulli]

Beanie Wells called and said don't listen to AntSportsSteve.

 

[JeffGollin]

When I was looking at all the draft books this Spring, I was amazed at the high percentage of prospects who had been injured at least once in their careers.

I'd bet that if "not having an injury history" was a prerequisite for acquiring a player, most NFL teams would be hard-pressed to fill a roster.

That said - of course you want to factor in the likelihood of injury when considering the pickup of a player - especially in terms of the dollar-investment being made for him.

But this becomes a value-judgment which must factor in (a) raw talent/value and (b) size of investment along with (c) likelihood of injury - a decision that involves medics, scouts, coaches and the team's "cap guy."

I also think that teams that throw away gobs of money at apparently healthy players or give up their entire draft (like Ditka did with Ricky Williams) is risky because "all it takes is the dude stepping in the wrong place on bad turf" to ruin an entire season. Players are fragile, in general - it's not a good idea to put all your proverbial eggs in one or two baskets.

But to bash a team because they signed one guy with an injury history (without knowing what the medics, scouts and coaches knew) seems to me to be a bit harsh.

 

[Treefiddy]

Free Agents are hit or miss when injuries are concerned. I'm just glad they've finally started spending the money on talent so we have hope. Now we're talking about wasting money?

Would you rather the team not sign these guys and sit on their piles of money?

 

[perivolaki]

2) At the beginning of this season, the Cards gave Laboy a $1.5M roster bonus. He got that cash and gets to keep it, then a month later the Cards cut him? When a players roster bonus is due, the front office has a responsibility to evaluate that player to determine if he belongs on the roster or not. Once you make that evaluation, you need to stick with it. Giving him the money and then cutting him makes NO sense and wastes cash and cap space.

I know how you feel. But I hear an interview with Whiz that I think makes some sense.

When asked about Edge being released he said that the team had to sign all their free agents, go through the draft, and then sit down and evaluate where the team was as far as personnel and where they fit into various packages.

He said they weren't really able to evaluate a players status till after free agency and the draft were completed.

Whiz obviously feels like he got an adequate replacement in the draft. But what if no player at LaBoys position fell to us or had the right value where we picked? Maybe then they would of kept LaBoy because of having an inadequate replacement or tried to sign a free agent after the draft and then released LaBoy.

I think it all came down to when the coaches felt they had someone to fill his role on the team.

 

[Skkorpion]

The best example in support of Jeff's thesis that many prospects have injury histories that predict nothing: Joe Montana.

In college he was a full time starter for only 1 year plus 8 games due in large part to major injuries. Freshmen were not varsity eligible but he didn't even get in to a freshman game because of nagging elbow soreness.

He was in college 5 years because his entire Junior year was wiped out by a severe dislocation of his shoulder. Awarded an extra year of eligibilty, his very first start came in as what we would now call a "redshirt" junior year and did not occur until the 4th game.

He was there 5 years and started a total of 19 regular season games, all in his 4th and 5th years (people are ripping Mark Sanchez and his 16 starts). And yes, the scouts (no combine then) downgraded him because of a history of injury and average arm strength.

Partly because of researching this, I'm not going to bag on Beanie Wells any more.

 

[Rockstar23]

Who wanted to play for the Cards until recently? I mean they had to throw large amounts of money to even get someone to consider us. I am happy they are.