Could cutting AB be comparable to cutting Jimmy Smith?

[BlueStar22]

Cutting Jimmy Smith amidst his substance abuse problems sure has come back to haunt us. We haven't had a decent #2 since Alvin Harper and a decent #1 since Irvin retired. We cut Jimmy Smith and the guy developed into a Pro Bowl receiver. I don't expect AB to be cut, for now. However, it would suck to see this guy develop into a Pro Bowler somewhere else.

[Dale]

Cutting Jimmy Smith amidst his substance abuse problems sure has come back to haunt us. We haven't had a decent #2 since Alvin Harper and a decent #1 since Irvin retired. We cut Jimmy Smith and the guy developed into a Pro Bowl receiver. I don't expect AB to be cut, for now. However, it would suck to see this guy develop into a Pro Bowler somewhere else.

Wasn't Smith cut more because of his inability to stay healthy than anything else?

The two situations are comparable if Bryant goes on to NFL stardom elsewhere in that we cut two talented wideouts, but I think the circumstances are quite different.

[TheHustler]

Wasn't Smith cut more because of his inability to stay healthy than anything else?

The two situations are comparable if Bryant goes on to NFL stardom elsewhere in that we cut two talented wideouts, but I think the circumstances are quite different.

yeah he kept having stomache surgeries or something.

[BlueStar22]

yeah he kept having stomache surgeries or something.
I thought it was something like that but earlier on sportstalk here in Dallas, they mentioned substance abuse.

[Meat-O-Rama]

Revisionist history by ESPN to link just one more Dallas athlete to drugs.

[Smith22]

Jimmy Smith info:

1994: Was waived by the Dallas Cowboys on July 11 and signed by Philadelphia on July 19 … Spent preseason with the Eagles, catching five passes for 68 yards and returning 13 kickoffs for 265 yards (20.4 average) … Waived by the Eagles Aug. 29, one day after the final cuts … Out of football rest of the year …


1993: In the preseason, was Dallas Cowboys’ receiving leader with 13 catches for 197 yards until undergoing an emergency appendectomy prior to the final preseason game … Was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list on Sept. 2 for the entire season …

1992: Suffered a broken right leg in training camp July 19 and spent the first five weeks of the regular season on injured reserve … Returned to practice Sept. 28 and was placed on team’s active roster on Oct. 7 … Played in seven of the last 12 regular-season contests and three in the playoffs, including Super Bowl XXVII … Had no receptions but made one tackle on special teams … Drafted in the second round, the 36th player overall and third wide receiver behind Desmond Howard and Carl Pickens

[jobberone]

Substance abuse and personality disorders or whatever the problem AB has are totally different even though they often hand out with one another. It would be easier to treat SA or a mild mood disorder than a personality disorder. AB seems to be a kid in real trouble. They don't compare IMO but that's just an educated guess. Besides cutting Smith was a large part business since he just didn't stay healthy although you can't blame him for getting appendicitis.

[MichaelWinicki]

Cutting Bryant would be worse than cutting Smith because just as AdamJT13 has pointed out in a previous thread you look at the numbers AB has posted in his first two years in the NFL and they are very comparable if not right much better than many current Pro-Bowlers.

[dmq]

If you mean cutting a guy that could eventually land on the NFL substance abuse list. Yeah, I believe that could happen.

[Chuck 54]

Cutting Jimmy Smith amidst his substance abuse problems sure has come back to haunt us. We haven't had a decent #2 since Alvin Harper and a decent #1 since Irvin retired. We cut Jimmy Smith and the guy developed into a Pro Bowl receiver. I don't expect AB to be cut, for now. However, it would suck to see this guy develop into a Pro Bowler somewhere else.

Totally different situations, and I don't recall any substance abuse problems with Smith...however, the end results could be the same if AB becomes a star elsewhere.

The other difference is that AB has actually produced a bit for us...Jimmy Smith never got on the field.

[Double Trouble]

Cutting Bryant would be worse than cutting Smith because just as AdamJT13 has pointed out in a previous thread you look at the numbers AB has posted in his first two years in the NFL and they are very comparable if not right much better than many current Pro-Bowlers.
On the front end it might appear worse than Jimmy Smith, but in the long run, it's doubtful AB will ever be the player Smith used to be.

I still think they have to do something with AB, whether it's through a trade or releasing him. Given that some teams have apparently shown interest, I would guess it will be the former.

I just don't think BP can continue to maintain the leadership and respect he currently commands if AB remains on the team, receiving just a slap on the wrist. Keeping him sets a precedent that basically a player can get away with anything. If a mid-level player like AB can get away with this, what could RW get away with? Slap around BP and spit in his face? A bad attitude like AB rubs off on to other people, period.

I think we've heard so little from the Cowboys' brass about this because they're not sure what to do. I believe they know BP can't stand a challenge to his authority, but fear exactly the scenario proposed here: another Jimmy Smith.

[Doomsday101]

Jimmy Smith was let go because of appendicitis, He was just coming off one inury when his appendics ruptured which of course lead to his surgery and the Cowboys ended up releasing him.

[hipfake08]

Wasn't Smith cut more because of his inability to stay healthy than anything else?

The two situations are comparable if Bryant goes on to NFL stardom elsewhere in that we cut two talented wideouts, but I think the circumstances are quite different.

Yes. Smith spent some time on the IR.
And this was just the start of the Salary CAP time and could not afford to pay him.

[LaTunaNostra]

I just don't think BP can continue to maintain the leadership and respect he currently commands if AB remains on the team, receiving just a slap on the wrist. Keeping him sets a precedent that basically a player can get away with anything. If a mid-level player like AB can get away with this, what could RW get away with? Slap around BP and spit in his face? A bad attitude like AB rubs off on to other people, period.


DT, I think Tuna CAN overcome this challenge to his authority. Very few head coaches could, but Bill can. Not that I look forward to the sight of a 62 year old future HOFer having to spend even one minute reinstilling, reconvincing, or even reminding his charges who is boss.

Bill, because of 40 years of being what he is, can do it. He can even turn it to his advantage.

But it isn't Parcells' situation that bothers me. It's the Cowboys' as a franchise's.

There are organizations where an AB style tantrum would be cause to bring him in. Al Davis in Oakland has made a decades long practice of bringing in every ne'er do well in sight. And he has thrived on it. God bless Al, he's a rebel himself and knows how to channel the energies of the inhabitants of his Black Hole. And usually picks coaches who can deal with the assortment of misfits. Picking up and drafting rejects is a part of his philosophy.

Other organizations work the buy top talent philosophy, like Dan Snyder, though he has a limit (showed that with Darryl Gardneer), and now that Gibbs is back, character is going to equal pure talent as a requisite in DC.

But the Cowboys have completely shrugged off the old Jerry Jones-Jimmy Johnson way of doing business. The buy high, double standard for stars one. The FO has chosen to refashion the team, and the building of it, in the New England mode. That has to be a consistent approach, without exception, because it relies on everyone, everyone, from the stars on down to the niche players, knowing his role, and not questioning it. It means plugging in UFAs or low round picks in packages where a Tedy Bruschi or a Willy McGinest will have to take the bench, and shut up about it. Where there really is NO true #@1, or 2 receiver. (Where a Coakley will have to accept a James in the field in certain situations, where a 3-4 might sit the better D linemen 30 percent of the time)

It means complex schemes and formations, and ever changing personnel packages where success depends upon everyone knowing exactly what his job is, and being willing to do the grunt work if asked. The NE way is the antithesis of ego and "stars" who question their roles. You might get a guy like Ty Law mouthing off on his salary, but he has been the epitome of the good soldier when asked to tweak his game.

If the Boys weren't going wiht this philosophy and approach, I'd say the AB thing was no big deal on the macro level, just a micro problem best worked out between indivduals involved. But what Jerry and Bill are trying to do, the big picture, the team building and talent level and coaching level they want to win with necessitates swallowing of ego and pride to a degree much greater than will be needed operating under different philosophies.

If AB goes, I do not think it is about "Bill". It is about the choice already made to put character before pure talent. Guys can be prior misfits like Glenn and Key, even have the off field past troubles of a Carson, but once they arrive in Big D they have to have "gotten it". They can't whine, cry, moan, throw hissy fits, or in general make demands. Keyshawn might tend up with zero TDs, Julius might be taken out on the goalline after driving it downfield. They all have to learn multiple roles and perfect their place in a unit, and sacrifice individual stats. There's just no place for chest thumping in that NE style model.

Why Derek Ross is gone said eveything. "He just didn't fit into our future" is how Bill put it. His individual potential or raw talent could not offset his refusal to get with the program. That's what it comes down to with AB, I think, how Jerry and Bill gauge not his "talent", but the possibilities of his ever really fitting in with the new philosophy and MO. In many places, his behaviour last week could be more easily overlooked. But not on a team which will be all about multiple (and some of them thankless) roles and shutting up about it.

My last word on AB..it's getting old. :D

[aikemirv]

od soldier when asked to tweak his game.

If the Boys weren't going wiht this philosophy and approach, I'd say the AB thing was no big deal on the macro level, just a micro problem best worked out between indivduals involved. But what Jerry and Bill are trying to do, the big picture, the team building and talent level and coaching level they want to win with necessitates swallowing of ego and pride to a degree much greater than will be needed operating under different philosophies.

If AB goes, I do not think it is about "Bill". It is about the choice already made to put character before pure talent. Guys can be prior misfits like Glenn and Key, even have the off field past troubles of a Carson, but once they arrive in Big D they have to have "gotten it". They can't whine, cry, moan, throw hissy fits, or in general make demands. Keyshawn might tend up with zero TDs, Julius might be taken out on the goalline after driving it downfield. They all have to learn multiple roles and perfect their place in a unit, and sacrifice individual stats. There's just no place for chest thumping in that NE style model.

Why Derek Ross is gone said eveything. "He just didn't fit into our future" is how Bill put it. His individual potential or raw talent could not offset his refusal to get with the program. That's what it comes down to with AB, I think, how Jerry and Bill gauge not his "talent", but the possibilities of his ever really fitting in with the new philosophy and MO. In many places, his behaviour last week could be more easily overlooked. But not on a team which will be all about multiple (and some of them thankless) roles and shutting up about it.

My last word on AB..it's getting old. :D

Nice post, and while I agree in theory that the approach is the one they are taking, I don't believe that BP will substitute talent over necessarily a good attitude. Keyshawn has not proven by any stretch that he has "gotten it", yet BP thinking that Keyshawn fit his offense better wanted him more than a no trouble guy like Galloway.

I don't think keeping AB puts a hole in this way of building a team (as long as he starightens out). Maybe this will be the thing that straightens him out.

From the sound of his agent, he seems to realize his situation and maybe he will learn from all of this, we can only hope so.