Bam Childress activated, Smith waived

[tedster822]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/

ted

 

[mavfan2390]

well....that was pointless (i'm sure thats the first thing 99% of you thought after reading this thread)

 

[desi-patsfan]

Hmm Smith being waived confuses me. Are they hoping to just sign him to the PS or something?

 

[RPCity]

Welcome back welcome back welcome baaaack......


I know Im overrating Bam Bam and I dont care....but I love the fact that he's going to be on the roster for opening night.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Welcome back welcome back welcome baaaack......


I know Im overrating Bam Bam and I dont care....but I love the fact that he's going to be on the roster for opening night.

On the roster but will the brutha be active?
Inquiring minds gots ta KNOW!!!

 

[RPCity]

On the roster but will the brutha be active?
Inquiring minds gots ta KNOW!!!

Game 1 WRs:

Bingo Brown
Jackson
Gabriel
Reche


He'd be our fifth obviously. He did out perform Caldwell in the preseason by the numbers but I wasn't able to watch any of those games. I'm still not the most informed football fan out there....what's the active roster size the NFL allows? Obviously 53 for the season, but on game day how many can be active and dressed?

With Jackson healthy I'd say it hurts Bam's chances of being active a little more obviously. We'll see soon enough though.

 

[SVN]

probably signed smith to get any of the bills gameplan and then released him.

 

[JustWinBrady]

This may be a sign that jackson may not play this sunday. Bam probably knows the offense better that all the WRs but brown.

 

[lobster]

This is a big move for Bam because I believe he will have his salary guaranteed for being on the roster for the Bills game. So congratulations to Bam!

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

This is a big move for Bam because I believe he will have his salary guaranteed for being on the roster for the Bills game. So congratulations to Bam!

You well may be correct, but I thought that rule only applied to vets of N years not rookies. I'd bet on it.

Anybody KNOW?

 

[Ceresco]

I very happy to see Bam back on the roster I think he has a lot of potential!

 

[lobster]

You are correct and I was wrong.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Termination Pay benefit provides a guarantee of 100% of a player's "paragraph 5 [base] salary" IF HE HAS COMPLETED FOUR OR MORE CREDITED SEASONS. A player must be released after the club's first regular season game to get the benefit, and he must have made the active/inactive list at some point in the season.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source:
http://www.nflpa.org/Faqs/NFLPA_Faqs.aspx#6

 

[JoeSixPat]

You well may be correct, but I thought that rule only applied to vets of N years not rookies. I'd bet on it.

Anybody KNOW?

Well, Bam's not still a rookie, is he? I don't know the answer for sure but I think one's contract (and Bam was cut before being re-signed so I don't assume to know what his contract currently is) is in fact guaranteed if they are on the roster as of game one.

If not, your pay can be pro-rated.

In this case, if they wanted to re-sign Smith on Monday they would not be on the hook for his full 2006 salary - and that might have been a factor here as well...

Perhaps a situation where neither Childress nor Smith were going to be active tomorrow - and if the team needed to make a decision on which had shown the most upside and worthy of guranteeing a salary - it'd be Bam.

Besides - no reason to tempt fate. With all the games tomorrow, a few WR injuries and they lose Bam to another team that would sign him off the practice squad.

 

[BillsFan4Life]

Wow, I always respected the Pats and thought they were above that kind of stuff. Signing a player for a day to get the opposing team's playbook, then waiving him. I didn't think the Pats would stoop to that level.

Now I realize I am going to get flamed for that response, but try to think of things rationally. I guess this is what happens in the modern nfl...

 

[patchick]

Wow, I always respected the Pats and thought they were above that kind of stuff. Signing a player for a day to get the opposing team's playbook, then waiving him. I didn't think the Pats would stoop to that level.

Now I realize I am going to get flamed for that response, but try to think of things rationally. I guess this is what happens in the modern nfl...

No flame, but another Bills fan came and said the same thing (more violently) in this thread:
http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=41076
To summarize, it's much more likely that his signing and release had to do with the health of the Patriots' return men. Both of the top KRs were injured and out of the last exhibition game, but both have recently returned to practice.

 

[kolbitr]

And why would they not want to keep him around for the Buffalo game itself? How many players play extra hard against the team that just cut them (see Heath Evans performance last year against Miami, e.g.)? I agree with the posters who think BB had wanted to bolster special teams, but perhaps it didn't work out.

My personal thought is that these suspicions are a bit paranoid. Has any player ever claimed that Team X brought him in just to siphon off his knowledge before the next game? Share the story if you have heard it.

 

[Robdude]

I think the reason for this change is a little more straight forward then what I have seen here. One of the reasons (in my opinion) that Belichick is so successful is that he is willing to try things out and then scape the experiments that do not pan out. I don;t think he is happy with our WRs (and who is) so he figured he would give Smith a look. After looking at him for the week and did not see what he wanted to see soooo scrape Smith and move on.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Smith has had a normal week of preperation to try and learn a role for this game. We had the report that he dropped a couple passes in the one practice observed by the media. He was cut by Buffalo, which meant he was unable to crack their WR line-up with more experience. It will be interesting to see if he does wind up on the Practice Squad, but Bam is clearly the better prepared WR for this game.

Smith may have been waived because other KRs had returned to health (per patchick's analysis), but the question foremost in my mind with a shaky group of WRs, are they ready for some football? It would seem that Bam is insurance with Gabriel a newbie, Reche questionable, and Jackson a complete unknown who as a rookie is probably limited to situational play if he is activated. Bam is on the roster to play would be my guess.

 

[kolbitr]

One other thing I'd add: Jonathan Smith was one of twenty-one players that Buffalo released on Sept. 2. Some of these guys were picked up by other teams, most weren't, including a few with greater experience in Buffalo than Smith. So why was Smith signed instead of anyone else? I suspect BB liked his speed for special teams. Why he was cut, I don't know. I'm sure that the coaches asked him about Buffalo, but it seems a bit far-fetched to think he was signed solely for that purpose.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Wow, I always respected the Pats and thought they were above that kind of stuff. Signing a player for a day to get the opposing team's playbook, then waiving him. I didn't think the Pats would stoop to that level.

Now I realize I am going to get flamed for that response, but try to think of things rationally. I guess this is what happens in the modern nfl...

Anything's possible - including the fact that BB, in need of additional returners and WRs, actually liked Smith

Didn't Smith burn the Patriots and bring back a return for TD not so long ago? I think BB genuinely thought the guy was worth a look - but likely wasn't good enough to break into the active WRs for tomorrow.

Why guarantee his annual salary if you don't need to then?

Cut him, protect Bam from being snatched up by another team, re-sign Smith on a week by week basis if you need him later.