Eric Swann

[Russ Smith]

I used to get Pro Football Weekly ages ago. When Swann was a rookie they'd have these weekly team reports and in camp the stuff was all he has no idea what hes' doing yet but he's incredibly strong, the veterans on the team can't believe how strong he is. once he learns what he's doing he'll be special. His first year he had 4 sacks with no idea what he was doing, 2nd year they moved him to DE because he was so athletic, that ended after 1 year as his 3rd year he'd improved so much they realized he was unblockable and inside he was going to draw constant doubles.

If not for all the knee problems would have been a HOF level player

 

[Syracusecards]

I used to get Pro Football Weekly ages ago. When Swann was a rookie they'd have these weekly team reports and in camp the stuff was all he has no idea what hes' doing yet but he's incredibly strong, the veterans on the team can't believe how strong he is. once he learns what he's doing he'll be special. His first year he had 4 sacks with no idea what he was doing, 2nd year they moved him to DE because he was so athletic, that ended after 1 year as his 3rd year he'd improved so much they realized he was unblockable and inside he was going to draw constant doubles.

If not for all the knee problems would have been a HOF level player

Used to love going to the mailbox on Thursday’s to read the 47 words about the Cardinals. I still have a lot of issues stored somewhere, much to the chagrin of my wife…. lol.
I was so bummed when Joel Buscbaum died, loved his draft preview book.

 

[phillycard]

Bet you never wanted to play Thanksgiving football against him

What's crazy Stout is that we hadn't had interactions since we were kids. We're 3rd cousins so I only was ever around him when he was first learning football. He of course was the biggest cousin and could easily have body slammed any one of us should he be so inclined.

 

[phillycard]

Hell, even Mark Smith was good on that line.

Mark Smith!!! Wow, you went there.....

 

[Jetstream Green]

Mark Smith!!! Wow, you went there.....

Fun fact... Mark Smith is better than any other guy we currently have on the DL not named JJ lol

 

[eastcoastDave]

Swann was a BEAST. So big, fast and powerful. Reggie White type power, just manhandled OLinemen. Darn shame his knees blew out on him. He and Wadsworth could have been very special for a long time. But, alas, it was the Cardinals' bad karma that derailed that possibility, teasing the fans once again with "what might have been".

There’s been too much “what might have been” in Cardinals’ past. We seem to be one play or one player short in too many situations.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Mark Smith!!! Wow, you went there.....

Made most famous by a fathead comment by our fathead GM!

 

[Harry]

I used to get Pro Football Weekly ages ago. When Swann was a rookie they'd have these weekly team reports and in camp the stuff was all he has no idea what hes' doing yet but he's incredibly strong, the veterans on the team can't believe how strong he is. once he learns what he's doing he'll be special. His first year he had 4 sacks with no idea what he was doing, 2nd year they moved him to DE because he was so athletic, that ended after 1 year as his 3rd year he'd improved so much they realized he was unblockable and inside he was going to draw constant doubles.

If not for all the knee problems would have been a HOF level player

Keep in mind Swann was rare in that he never went to college. He played semipro football. No real coaching and no medical staff. Just play for chicken feed and hope someone would see how good you were. He would definitely have been in the HOF if healthy.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Yep Swann is top 3 all time for me.

Prob best cards dlineman in history of cards right? Or cambell ehhh

 

[Russ Smith]

Keep in mind Swann was rare in that he never went to college. He played semipro football. No real coaching and no medical staff. Just play for chicken feed and hope someone would see how good you were. He would definitely have been in the HOF if healthy.

Yeah the story was that he got paid to clean up at a gym or something and would sleep on a rubber mat on the floor and that's how he paid for things when he was playing Semi pro.

I know I told this before but years ago my gf's sister lived in a house in Elk Grove and their neighbor had a moving sale. Elk Grove in Sacramento. Her husband went there and said they had this big autographed pic of Eric Swann, he knew I was a Cards fan but I guess they weren't selling that so he asked why and the woman said that's my husband. He'd lived in the same general area as Swann for a couple of years and never knew that Eric was his neighbor.

 

[jf-08]

Yeah the story was that he got paid to clean up at a gym or something and would sleep on a rubber mat on the floor and that's how he paid for things when he was playing Semi pro.

I know I told this before but years ago my gf's sister lived in a house in Elk Grove and their neighbor had a moving sale. Elk Grove in Sacramento. Her husband went there and said they had this big autographed pic of Eric Swann, he knew I was a Cards fan but I guess they weren't selling that so he asked why and the woman said that's my husband. He'd lived in the same general area as Swann for a couple of years and never knew that Eric was his neighbor.

My x-wife used to live next door to Karlos Dansby. She used to yell at him for having weeds in his yard. He finally said "Lady, quit bustin' my chops. If you don't like it, come pick 'em yourself."

 

[Russ Smith]

My x-wife used to live next door to Karlos Dansby. She used to yell at him for having weeds in his yard. He finally said "Lady, quit bustin' my chops. If you don't like it, come pick 'em yourself."

I asked Lucy's brother in law how did you have a 6'5" 300 pound guy living in your neighborhood and not know it? sounds like Swann and the wife were separated or something so he wasn't there regularly.

 

[PACardsFan]

I remember us picking Swann like it was yesterday. I follow the draft more than I follow the SB, so I had heard all about his potential. Knowing how inept Bill Bidwill was, I had already told all my friends that we would pick this kid at 6. As much as I disliked Bidwill, I was fine with this pick. I remember my phone ringing off the hooks after that pick. And yes, phones then actually set on hooks! The Stauffer pick is the one that pissed me off the most. That, and the Duncan pick. Ok, there were SO MANY picks in those days that pissed me off. I guess that’s why I laugh at people on this board that criticize Keim’s picks. His picks are 1000x better than what I grew up watching.

 

[Jetstream Green]

 

[Snakester]

Most dominant DT I’ve ever seen. What a great line. What could’ve been if Wadsworth would have developed

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Used to love going to the mailbox on Thursday’s to read the 47 words about the Cardinals. I still have a lot of issues stored somewhere, much to the chagrin of my wife…. lol.
I was so bummed when Joel Buscbaum died, loved his draft preview book.

Got the draft preview book every year and read the entire thing prior to the draft. WTH was I thinking?

 

[Cheesebeef]

I always thought Swann was overrated by Cardinals fans...

 

[Syracusecards]

I always thought Swann was overrated by Cardinals fans...

them’r fightin’ words right thar

 

[Syracusecards]

There’s been too much “what might have been” in Cardinals’ past. We seem to be one play or one player short in too many situations.

well, yeah. That’s why probably 50% of this board could be declared clinically insane. Either from the result of following this team or the willingness to continue to follow this team.

 

[Syracusecards]

Got the draft preview book every year and read the entire thing prior to the draft. WTH was I thinking?

don’t be hard on yourself, that’s all we had back in the days before the “inter-web”.

 

[daves]

Used to love going to the mailbox on Thursday’s to read the 47 words about the Cardinals.

Haha, exactly as I remember it... Being a 10 year old Cardinals fan in Pennsylvania decades before Sunday Ticket, I would walk about a mile to a drug store that had Pro Football Weekly and loiter in the store to read the 47 words about how the Cards had lost again. Then I'd check the box score and stat rankings, and imagine that next week they'd surely turn their season around.

...dave

 

[Russ Smith]

I remember us picking Swann like it was yesterday. I follow the draft more than I follow the SB, so I had heard all about his potential. Knowing how inept Bill Bidwill was, I had already told all my friends that we would pick this kid at 6. As much as I disliked Bidwill, I was fine with this pick. I remember my phone ringing off the hooks after that pick. And yes, phones then actually set on hooks! The Stauffer pick is the one that pissed me off the most. That, and the Duncan pick. Ok, there were SO MANY picks in those days that pissed me off. I guess that’s why I laugh at people on this board that criticize Keim’s picks. His picks are 1000x better than what I grew up watching.

Stouffer was picked because of Lomax's hip injury, it's just that at the time, it wasn't public that Neil's injury was career threatening. Then to complicate matters the guy nobody expected to go that high, sat out the season because as always we expected him to take less money as a surprise pick, just like we did with Clyde duncan.

We never signed him traded him to Seattle(we did get a future #1 pick back no idea who we took).

But the reason that pick was so shocking to all of us was at the time none of us knew how bad Neil's hip was

 

[PACardsFan]

Stouffer was picked because of Lomax's hip injury, it's just that at the time, it wasn't public that Neil's injury was career threatening. Then to complicate matters the guy nobody expected to go that high, sat out the season because as always we expected him to take less money as a surprise pick, just like we did with Clyde duncan.

We never signed him traded him to Seattle(we did get a future #1 pick back no idea who we took).

But the reason that pick was so shocking to all of us was at the time none of us knew how bad Neil's hip was

Good post. I believe you’re correct in that no one quite realized that Lomax’s injury was a career ending one. We all thought that surgery would fix the issue. But, at 6, Stauffer was a huge reach. Not sure what other QB’s may have been available? Bidwill’s lowballing antics were just disgusting. We lost Namath that way also. The AFL could thank the Bidwill family. Not sure there would have been a merger if not for the bumbling Bidwills.

 

[DVontel]

I always thought Swann was overrated by Cardinals fans...

The “better than Aaron Donald if not for injuries” posts is just 1 of the reasons why.

 

[PACardsFan]

The “better than Aaron Donald if not for injuries” posts is just 1 of the reasons why.

Agree. It's ludicrous to compare Swann to Aaron Donald. Donald is IMO, the best DLineman I've seen since the 60's, and there were many, many studs during that era. I loved Swann, but his name doesn't belong in the same sentence with many of the truly great ones. He was a huge physical presence, but probably injured too much. He had too quick a temper & teams figured out how to use that against him. But no one could question just how powerful off the ball the dude was.