Jerry's GM mistake with Miami

[Hostile]

We traded Fasano on April 25. The draft didn't start until April 26.

As I said earlier, we turned that pick into Tashard Choice. Here's the road map from the 2008 Draft Day Zone.

So if we had kept Fasano we wouldn't have ended up with Choice.

4th round pick #100... Dallas trades LB Akin Ayodele and TE Anthony Fasano to the Dolphins.

Traded pick #100 to Raiders for picks #104 and 7th Round #213

4th Round pick #104 From Raiders
Traded to Cleveland for picks #122 and 5th round #155


4th round pick #111... From Detriot Lions

Trade pick to Cleveland for Clevelands 2009 3rd Round Pick

4th Round Pick #122... From Cleveland

Tashard Choice RB Georgia Tech

Tashard Choice Video

Overview

Tashard Choice proved to be the unquestioned leader of the Georgia Tech offense and one of the toughest players in college football.

Well on his way to another banner campaign in 2007, he suffered a right knee injury on Oct. 20 vs. Army and underwent surgery three days later. After sitting out the Virginia Tech game, Choice was back on the field, recording a trio of 100-yard performances over his final four contests.

Choice led the Atlantic Coast Conference in rushing in 2006 and '07 seasons, becoming the first player to accomplish that feat since Thomas Jones of Virginia (1998-99). He also became the first Tech player to produce back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing campaigns, totaling 1,473 yards as a junior and 1,379 yards in his final season.

The talented running back finished his career as the school's record-holder with 18 100-yard rushing performances. He ranks third in Tech annals with 28 touchdowns on the ground and fourth with 3,465 yards rushing. His 3,646 all-purpose yards rank seventh in Yellow Jacket annals.

Choice's stellar career at Lovejoy High School led to the school retiring his jersey. He was a first-team All-State pick and rated the 14th-best player in the state of Georgia by Super Prep. He also ranked as the 22nd-best running back in the nation by Rivals.com. He rushed for 1,200 yards on 129 carries as a senior and also had 600 yards receiving while scoring 17 touchdowns.

The tailback enrolled at the University of Oklahoma in 2003, spending the season performing on the scout team. He played in eight games behind All-American Adrian Peterson in 2004, gaining 100 yards on 22 carries (wore jersey #2 for the Sooners), as he earned Academic All-Big Twelve Conference honors.

Sensing the continuation of a limited role behind Peterson, Choice was granted his scholarship release, transferring from Oklahoma to Georgia Tech in 2005, where his cousin, Joe Burns (ex-Buffalo Bills) was a standout tailback for the Yellow Jackets (1998-2001). He played behind P.J. Daniels that season, garnering Academic All-Atlantic Coast Conference accolades. He totaled 513 yards with six touchdowns on 117 attempts (4.4-yard average), as he also made 14 catches for 76 yards (5.4 avg).

Despite leading the conference and ranking 13th in the nation in rushing, Choice was only a second-team All-ACC pick in 2006, as he took over tailback chores. He was again named Academic All-ACC, powering his way for a career-high 1,473 yards on 297 rushes (5.0-yard average) with 12 touchdowns. His 1,473 yards rank second on the school's season rushing list. He also gained 98 yards on 12 catches, totaling 1,571 all-purpose yards as a junior.

The league coaches acknowledged Choice with a first-team All-ACC berth in 2007. Despite missing one game and a half of another, he still led the league in rushing, picking up 1,379 yards with 10 scores on 261 attempts (5.3-yard average). He snared 14 passes for 107 yards and also completed a 17-yard pass for a touchdown. His 1,486 all-purpose yards placed him sixth on the ACC leader boards.

In 38 games at Georgia Tech, Choice started 27 contests. He rushed 675 times for 3,365 yards (5.0-yard average) and 28 touchdowns, adding 281 yards on 40 receptions (7.0 avg). He hit on his only pass attempt for a 17-yard touchdown, recorded two solo tackles and scored 168 points while amassing 3,646 all-purpose yards.

Including eight games at Oklahoma, Choice's college career encompassed 46 contests. He registered 3,465 yards on 697 carries (5.0-yard average), scoring 28 times. He had 41 receptions for 288 yards (7.0 avg) and registered 3,753 all-purpose yards.
Analysis

Positives: Has a thick, strong lower body, but needs additional development in his upper body and will need to put in extra hours in the weight room adding bulk and getting stronger to compete at the next level … Meat-and-potatoes type of downhill runner who might lack the strength to consistently move the pile, but gets by on instincts, feel for pressure and patience following his blocks past the line of scrimmage … Has a quick initial step to scoot past slower defenders and keeps his pads down in order to slip through tight areas … Has very good leadership qualities and no known off-field issues … Smart player with a good feel for blocking schemes and shows the vision to pick and slide through the rush lanes … Very creative on the move, but lacks the second gear to separate past the second level … Shows good urgency getting through the hole, but lacks that same burst when attacking the edge to cut upfield … Has the foot quickness and balance, along with good body lean, to fall forward for extra yardage … Picks up yards on the move due to his feel for the crease and vision to locate tacklers … Patient runner with the ability to lift his feet and drop his pads to pick and slide between the tackles … Might lack the strength to move the pile, but is a tough runner who won't go down without a fight (keeps his feet moving after initial contact) … Adequate in attempts to plant and cut upfield, but has the balance to bounce away from tacklers … Has a quick initial burst, but won't sustain it for long (more of a one-cut, one-speed runner) … Seems to protect the ball better when he has room to operate rather than in tight quarters … Better as a cut blocker than when working on the line, as he has a good concept for taking angles, staying in control while attacking the linebackers … Has enough hand punch to stall the pass rusher (but not for long).

Negatives: Has a compact frame, but lacks ideal muscle development … More of a one-cut runner who lacks flashy moves in attempts to elude (prefers to power through blocks, leading to his rash of injuries) … Tough athlete, but has had right knee, left knee, left hamstring and right shoulder problems (most come from his preference to gain tough yardage up the middle of the field) … Lacks elusiveness when getting into the second level … Does not show great change-of-direction agility or hip wiggle when trying to redirect to the cutback lane … Not really a powerful runner, but prefers that style, even though it is evident that he does not have the raw strength to move the pile … Not the type that can consistently run through or break tackles … Shows just a marginal burst when attempting to turn the corner (better running between the tackles) … Fumbling is not much of a problem, but will put the ball on the ground when defenders attack it (needs to do a better job of distributing the ball away from the defenders) … Marginal route runner with poor route-recognition ability … Not thrown the ball much and absorbs it into his body rather than extending for it … Willing blocker, but lacks the power or strength to explode behind his hits during initial contact … Defenders have good success slipping past his blocks at the line, as he tends to duck his head, overextend and leave his feet rather than anchor and show proper hand placement.

Compares To: MARCEL SHIPP-Arizona … Like Shipp, Choice is an effective downhill runner, but not a physical one who can consistently push the pile. He has good suddenness out of his stance and a good feel for the rush lanes, showing good patience following his blockers. He can pick and slide inside, but is more of a north-south runner with adequate change of direction and marginal hip wiggle to elude turning the corner. He is a liability as a receiver due to marginal hands, poor extension and limited experience or a good feel for running routes. Still, he manages to get good yardage up the middle, but his deficiencies are glaring enough to keep him out of the draft's first day.

 

[Rack]

Are you calling this football season, last season? Because I am referring to our 13-3 year. This season may be over for us, but it's still this season. Tank showed a few things in a few games last year, had a couple sacks even though he only played maybe a half season. He didn't set the league on fire, but he was passable.

Yeah I was referring to the season that jsut ended. To me, that season is over so I refer to that one as "last season".

Yeah he played ok in 07'. But he talked a lot about being a "Beast" in 08' and came nowhere close to it.

I wasn't the first person to bring up the stats.

I wasn't referring to you bringing up stats. It's the "Going strictly by" part I was referring to. Bringing up stats is fine, but there's more to playing NG then the stats.

How much of a market is there for a $4 million 33-year-old who doesn't make big plays and is coming off an injury that cost him almost an entire season?

If Parcells wouldn't take him, we probably would have had to cut him, because we weren't going to pay him $4 million to be a backup, and probably only Parcells would pay him that much to start.

Here's the thing, if we'd kept Ferguson he would have been (or rather should have been) the starter. This would have allowed us to put Ratliff at a position better suited for him (DE).

I agree, no way do you pay a back up 4 million a year. But IMO he should have been the starter, with Ratliff starting at DE.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

As I said earlier, we turned that pick into Tashard Choice. Here's the road map from the 2008 Draft Day Zone.

So if we had kept Fasano we wouldn't have ended up with Choice.

So who needs him................. oh wait.

 

[AdamJT13]

I agree, no way do you pay a back up 4 million a year. But IMO he should have been the starter, with Ratliff starting at DE.

But would that have been any better, especially for all of the extra cost? You'd likely gain some production at end, but you'd have a huge dropoff in production at nose tackle. And Ratliff might not produce as much at end as he does at nose tackle.

 

[Hostile]

But would that have been any better, especially for all of the extra cost? You'd likely gain some production at end, but you'd have a huge dropoff in production at nose tackle. And Ratliff might not produce as much at end as he does at nose tackle.

Out of curiosity Adam, can you calculate the cap we have now versus what it would be if we had traded Carpenter instead of Fergy in that deal?

How much money would we have versus what we have now?

 

[HanD]

But would that have been any better, especially for all of the extra cost? You'd likely gain some production at end, but you'd have a huge dropoff in production at nose tackle. And Ratliff might not produce as much at end as he does at nose tackle.

we'll never know but i don't look at production in terms of numbers for the NT and DE. i just think our DL is much better against the run with JR, JF and MS/CC as opposed to MS, JR, CC. on passing downs, you could easily move JR back to NT to rest JF.

 

[HanD]

You never save cap room "for nothing," because at some point, you're going to need it. What if that $4 million is the difference between having the cap room to re-sign Ware and needing to cut someone better than Ferguson (or several players) in order to re-sign Ware? .

it would be for essentially nothing if you are just looking at this past season. we had somewhere in the range of 6.5 million unused cap space (?). the article linked below says that we saved 2.4 million in cap space for the move. we didn't need the space we cleared. in fact, we already paid the majority of his contract and bonuses if i read the second link correctly (and it's possible i didn't ). so the money we saved this year from cutting him wasn't used and his hit could be less if we had cut him or traded him after this season since most of his money was up front? what would be the difference in our cap space had we cut ties after this season as opposed to before it? is it really enough to make the difference between signing ware and not?

if we saved 2.4 mil and tank cost 825k, the net difference between keeping tank and trading ferg was a 6th round pick and 1.5 mil. i'd rather have ferg.


http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2008/mar/01/dallas-cowboys-trade-defensive-tackle-jason-fergus/

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2003511

i guess it doesn't matter, what's done is done and maybe we should concentrate on what would make us better from where we are now. and i think tank wanting to leave is a good start both based on his play and talks about his locker room presence.