He’s a transcendent player at top form (which for him starts about game 5 or 6), and we don’t have an adequate replacement. I actually like the guy in a way, and feel like he’d be a cool friend. But part if what makes him seem like able is his extremely laid back, happy go lucky mentality, which just keeps getting him into trouble. It’s constant! He’s an elite athlete, no doubt, but he doesn’t have elite (perhaps not even average) focus, drive, or hunger for winning. He might not get suspended for this “faded” thing, but he is in the news for something mildly or severely negative all the time, the threat of suspension is constantly over him, he’s already been suspended—which hurt the team a lot— and I think he’s likely to be suspended again at some point for something. He’s also only getting older, and the only way to mitigate the pace of Father Time at his demanding position is to have elite conditioning and elite training... which by now he clearly is not interested in doing.
At RB, a cheaper player only one or two tiers below him could be found. McCarthy’s scheme will not truly need or utilize his strengths as a ground and pound player anyway. I think the trade return we get for him and the cap savings would add up to a net benefit over the talent drop off at RB, especially given the relatively low importance of this position in modern NFL. The biggest benefit to the team, however, would be in removing the chaos, disruptions, and reliance on an unreliable player who’s out of shape for a quarter of the season even when he’s not suspended or potentially suspended.
