What happened to Ryan Claridge?

[Johninvt]

thought this guy was suppose to be the next coming of Ted Johnson.

 

[Patriotic]

thought this guy was suppose to be the next coming of Ted Johnson.

A John wants to know about a coming of a Johnson?

 

[Bertil]

Wasn't Claridge re-signed?

 

[pats1]

Wasn't Claridge re-signed?

No.

 

[jczxohn1]

BB said cryptically it was in the best interest of the team to move on. He was too far behind others on the roster on a competitive basis, or something to that effect. I thought it was curious myself. The only TC note last yr that I picked up on was Mrs. B saying he didn't seem to have too many moves in blitz drills. It's hard to understand why so many on this board had such high hopes for him as there really was no evidence that he could play at this level. IMO, re-habbing at home in Vegas was a really big mistake.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I thought it was pretty much assumed that it has something to do with the death of his brother and potentially other personal issues that have caused football to no longer be the top priority in his life.

There's nothing wrong with that, but BB's not going to save a spot on the roster for a guy who can't give 100%. I wish him the best.

For those who weren't aware of Claridge's non-football life here's a link to a story from this spring

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/May-14-Sun-2006/sports/7386004.html

 

[spacecrime]

It's hard to understand why so many on this board had such high hopes for him as there really was no evidence that he could play at this level.

Actually, there is no "evidence" that any rookie can play at this level. All you can go in is how they played in college, and intangibles. Claridge played pretty wll in college, both ILB and OLB. You have to assume that anyone BB/SP selects in round 5 has intangibles.

 

[Flying Fungi]

perhaps shadow roster

perhaps not

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Apparently he was given to understand it was his choice whether to stay with the team to rehab all last season and this off season. It was, and he made the wrong choice. Belichick wants self motivated players, not ones you necessarily have to push or drag along almost against their will. His decision came well before his brother passed. Belichick always tell them you don't assume you automatically get to red shirt if you aren't ready in this league. Some don't believe him.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Apparently he was given to understand it was his choice whether to stay with the team to rehab all last season and this off season. It was, and he made the wrong choice. Belichick wants self motivated players, not ones you necessarily have to push or drag along almost against their will. His decision came well before his brother passed. Belichick always tell them you don't assume you automatically get to red shirt if you aren't ready in this league. Some don't believe him.

I think there's probably other players who have been injured and haven't been expected to stay in Foxboro year round, who have followed physical therapy regiments required by the training staff and have bounced back quite well.

I know that Travis Claridge died on 2/28 and after that remember reading that BB had given him permission to remain with his family after that.

Likely Ryan didn't necessarilly report back in the best of shape, or with his focus solely on football. BB wouldn't need much more reason than that to send him packing.

 

[Pats67]

Here's my guess - the guy can't play.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

I think it might have been in 'Patriot Reign' where I read that Belichick likes to test his players by setting them up to make the right choices or the wrong choices. He then lets the player decide their own path. It gives Belichick insight into the player's motives. I assume that Claridge just put himself ahead of the team one too many times for a rookie. Nothing personal, but Bill wants dedicated players. Bill's dad died and he coached that weekend. It's just how it goes in the life of Belichick.

I think Asante did himself a disservice this offseason to some degree as well, by staying home.

And the only thing I ever read about him on the field was that he was not impressive in one on one drills. He wasn't bringing it.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Exactly my point. I also don't think he went home when the season ended, I think he went home before it started - at least that's the impression I got when I read his comments in the local AZ paper about his release and thought back to the beginning of last season when he was placed on IR. And then he apparently stayed away during the off season program which did follow his brothers death though by a few weeks possibly feeling he would just start over with his NFL career once the mandatory camps started. In deciding to stay away for over 10 months he lost out on valuable time when while not practicing he could have still been attending meetings and observing the defense he needed to learn in action and getting his head wrapped around a complex system and building relationships with his teamates. It has to have been a cumulative level of committment and gets it thing or BB wouldn't have tossed a LB who projected well enough talent wise to get drafted by this FO before his second TC even commenced.

 

[dhamz]

Here's my guess - the guy can't play.

Come on, it has to be more complex.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Exactly my point. I also don't think he went home when the season ended, I think he went home before it started - at least that's the impression I got when I read his comments in the local AZ paper about his release and thought back to the beginning of last season when he was placed on IR. And then he apparently stayed away during the off season program which did follow his brothers death though by a few weeks possibly feeling he would just start over with his NFL career once the mandatory camps started. In deciding to stay away for over 10 months he lost out on valuable time when while not practicing he could have still been attending meetings and observing the defense he needed to learn in action and getting his head wrapped around a complex system and building relationships with his teamates. It has to have been a cumulative level of committment and gets it thing or BB wouldn't have tossed a LB who projected well enough talent wise to get drafted by this FO before his second TC even commenced.

Yes, as you and 5 Rings say, BB is on publicly record as insisting on a dedication to football as a necessary top criteria in player selection. Apparently Claridge repeatedly sent signals that playing football was not a high priority in his life. After cuting lose another unmotivated multi- year project in Bethel, BB probably figured that he and his staff had enough coaching challenges without wasting valuable effort on a poorly motivated questionable talent at LB. Spend the effort on players worth investing the time.