That's assuming you'd want a 6th WR like Quentin Sims who's not going to dress on any given week unless two guys in front of him get hurt rather than a guy like Matt Slater who is going to dress every week and contribute in an important and underrated phase of the game. And it's assuming that a guy like Quentin Sims is a better player than some guy you can sign off the street if your starter does go down (he's not; if one of the starters went down, they'd be on the phone with Donte Stallworth).
The truth is that there's a ton of marginal NFL players and most of them aren't worth the room to develop. It's not worth jettisoning contributors (or, in Slater's case, an All-Pro level contributor) for marginal developmental players who wouldn't be called upon even in the case of injury.
With respect, I laid out what I see as the issue -- how you balance different considerations. Your response is to attack me by taking a view about the particular balance. Personally, I was extremely impressed with Sims, for what it's worth, but can well see that he'd lose out in a numbers game. It's one thing to keep a whole slew of special-teams-specialists -- the Sergio Browns, James Ihedigbos etc., etc -- and another not to have even one: Slater. I'd be astonished if the idea of cutting Slater was even entertained for a minute by the Patriots.
Brady6 said:
First off let me say, excellent post, it was direct and polite at the same time. Secondly I agree with you completely and I have no issue with special teams players being on the roster, I even have spent much of my time advocating for a player like Cole to be on the 53 man roster, I guess my concern is when is it to many players, and most importantly with all these players how are we holding them accountable, like we would hold a QB, RB, DE, DB accountable for their contributions.
On the strength of what I saw last night, I have completely changed my tune about Marquice Cole. A Patriots' defensive back trailing his man, turning round when the ball is in the air and making a perfectly timed one-handed leap to bat the ball away? How often have the back-up cornerbacks done that? In fact, how many times have starting cornerbacks failed to? I don't know what he did in the off-season, but this looked like a different player to me -- and he was active in other good plays too. I'm delighted that he's on the field; fully worth his place, to what I can tell, and the special teams a bonus.
Nunchucks said:
Sims is a poor man's Bam Childress...seriuosly..wtf are people thinking.
I strongly disagree. Of course, the evidence of one game is minimal, but here's how I see it.
Everyone who gets to this level as a wide receiver (fringes of the NFL) has the ability to make a catch that's breathtakingly athletic and makes you shake your head. The difference is consistency and reliability -- being in the right place at the right time, making plays again and again, under pressure, when they're needed.
Sims made not one but two outstanding plays last night, catching the ball when it was closely contested by the DB in what were (by the standards of a pre-season game) pressure situations. I don't remember Taylor Price, Mr Hi-Top Fade (sorry buddy, senior moment there), Brandon Tate or even Bam Childress doing that.
But yes, I realize he's behind a load of other young wide receivers. Thompson has looked very, very strong. Boyce had a great touchdown and they're not going to give up on Dobson this soon. So he probably won't make it and will get taken by a wide-receiver-needy team (not the Jets, I hope). Still, to call him a "poor man's Bam Childress" needs a response.
