what if we did not release stephen davis
 

no offense to portis
but if we don;t release davis las two seasons then

cb - bailey and springs
fs- bowen and taylor
lb-washington, barrow, and arrington
dt- noble,............and co


we have unbelievable backfield
hard fitting lb's
and just ave line

:confused: [QUOTE=bertoskins]no offense to portis
but if we don;t release davis las two seasons then

cb - bailey and springs
fs- bowen and taylor
lb-washington, barrow, and arrington
dt- noble,............and co


we have unbelievable backfield
hard fitting lb's
and just ave line[/QUOTE]

:confused:

Bailey would still not be here. He didnt want to be a Redskin anymore. We would have just traded for a different player, and I cnat name to many other players that id rather have then CP. Bailey was tired of how things worked here and wanted out, so we got a great back in return. If we kept Bailey we wouldnt have gone after Springs, we would still have Smoot. Im not sure whawt Noble has to do with anything, he had a near career threating injury, I was at the game and I dont remember that happening because stephen davis wasnt there. and the linebackers would be the same either way.

Skins hit the nail on the head, Bailey wanted out. He wouldn't still be around.

As far as Stephen Davis, WHO CARES? He lacks the big play ability that's exciting to watch. I think Carolina should be running DeShaun and tossing Davis's ass on the bench.

i think watching the Panthers in the superbowl summed things up to me . Davis has some amazing career stats but he doesn't turn games he gets most of his yards in third and forth quaters against worn out defences. He can seal a game for you put it away through ball control offence but he is not the back you need to win close gems or come back from deficits. In the superbowl injury not withstanding Foster played a much bigger part of the Pantehrs offence.

I cannot see Davis would have remained here as his sal cap hit was far too harsh and his was at odds with the front office.

I agree with Skins Bailey would still not have been here but if you want to continue the arguement Bailey and Davis would be eating up serious cap so ther is no way we could have Springs, Arrington, Coles and Washington as well unless we were filling out the rest of the roaster with scrubs.

Stephen Davis is a very good back on the downside of his career. Clinton Portis is a great back with years left in the tank. Ask yourself this: would Carolina trade Davis for Portis? You bet your ass they would.
I'm sorry Davis left the way he did, but he's not without blame in the departure. He's happy and we're happy.

The cap room consumed by Davis' contract would likely have prevented the 2003 acquisitions of Coles, Thomas and Morton. It also would have hindered any effort to retain Bailey-- not that it would have mattered-- Bailey was weary of the constant change throughout the organization and wanted a change of scenery. As others have said, Davis is on the downside of his career, and is not a game-changing back at this point. This team is going to be far better with Portis and the other acquisitions made in 2003 and 2004, than it would have been if Davis were still here.

Davis is still a quality back, the problem I see with him is he wears down by the end of the season. If the Panthers are smart this year, they'll try to work Foster into the mix more to keep Davis fresh later into the season and into the postseason. Alot of people like to bash on Davis a bit, perhaps to make themselves feel a little better about us letting him go, but the truth is he's still a top back that can shred a defense. Davis was a huge reason for the Panthers' turnaround last year.

But like I said, the only problem is because of his power running style he gets dinged up and runs out of gas by the end of the year. If they can get Foster 5-10 carries per game and keep Davis fresh, he'll be much more dangerous come January.

Portis will make us all forget about Davis.

If I had Davis and Foster I would get Foster 75% of the carries in the 1st half and Davis 75% of the carries in the 2nd half. Foster can get the defense run down then Davis excells in running over a worn defense.

Gibbs philosophy of offense Davis would have done fine with a good H Back, but I think Portis has more potential and upside at this point in his carreer than Davis does. I love Davis and watch Panther's games when I can to see him play, but I'm happy we have Portis.

[QUOTE=Mattyk72]Davis is still a quality back, the problem I see with him is he wears down by the end of the season. [/QUOTE]

Mattyk makes a good point about the type of runner Davis is - those guys who constantly pound the ball up the middle can start wearing down towards the end of the season (like Davis).

That being said, I'd like to mention that close games are normally won with a strong running back like Davis. If he was in his prime, I'd say it would be a close call between him and Portis, on account of the fact that he simply pounds a defense into submission - which I sort of like. I think that he is more of a Gibbs-style running back.

Now that I've said that, I will say that I'm thrilled to be looking forward to 80-yard TD runs by Portis this year.

[QUOTE=bertoskins]no offense to portis
but if we don;t release davis las two seasons then

cb - bailey and springs
fs- bowen and taylor
lb-washington, barrow, and arrington
dt- noble,............and co


we have unbelievable backfield
hard fitting lb's
and just ave line[/QUOTE]

By the way - this is a very strange thing to say.

Basically, you just mentioned our entire defense except for Bailey. What you should have probably said was that if we had found a way to renegotiate with Davis, lowering his cap number, we would have an extra third round pick (b/c we wouldn't trade for Canidate), an extra second round pick, and Bailey. Also, we wouldn't have signed Springs (we'd throw Smoot in there) and maybe we could have landed another d-lineman instead (in the Robaire Smith price-range).

Then again, if Davis had stayed, we may have won a few more games and Spurrier might still be our coach.

Hmmmm - if we kept Davis, no way we would have been able to sign Coles. And as others pointed out, Bailey was gone one way or the other - did not want to work WITH the team to structure his contract so he could stay. AND, with or without Bailey, I believe you will se a GREATLY improved Redskin defense this year.

But most of all, I would much rather have Portis than Davis. Especially at this point in their respective careers. No contest.

I think Bugel and Gibbs would have resurrected Davis' career a bit. However, I have noticed that Davis seemed to become more injury prone...i.e...last year in the playoff when he had that big run and that was pretty much it for him! I think we're better off with Portis..but it would have been nice to have someone like Davis to come in and relieve Portis when he needed a breather.

[QUOTE=skinsguy]I think Bugel and Gibbs would have resurrected Davis' career a bit. However, I have noticed that Davis seemed to become more injury prone...i.e...last year in the playoff when he had that big run and that was pretty much it for him! I think we're better off with Portis..but it would have been nice to have someone like Davis to come in and relieve Portis when he needed a breather.[/QUOTE]
I don't know about "more injury prone". Davis has had ONE 16 game season lining up as a tailback in his career. There comes a time when a hamstring never fully heals. I think #48 hit that barrier about three years ago.

This is the butterfly effect. It's impossible to say how figuring out how to keep Dvais would have change this team currently. I imagine this team would look completely different now than it really does. Who knows...maybe Spurrier sees the light and runs Davis 30 times a game and we win 10 games and make the playoffs so Spurrier stays and Gibbs is off coaching the Falcons and....

If we had kept Davis, we would likely not have been in a position to draft Taylor.

I am just happy where we are now. I don't really care how we got here (the Past) I am looking to the future.

I disagree about Davis wearing down at the end of the season. I think he's a strong back all year long. Now I do wish that we had renegotiated Davis' contract down to a reasonable number, but we all knew that wasn't going to happen with SS running the show.

I think Stephen Davis is a premier back, you don't rush for the kind of yardage he puts up without being a factor all season long. Now Davis did have a high ankle sprain at the end of the year, but there's no sense in debating injuries because you cannot predict or prevent them! A running back is going to take hits, heck even Portis missed time last year with a bruised sternum.

I can tell that it's a lean news time because he we are talking about hypotheticals. When in fact, the current reality is much brighter than anything we could have hoped for 2 or 3 or 4 years ago.

i don't know about anyone else, but anytime i think about davis, i remember the gaffs he had when inside the 5 yard line and while trying to run out the clock. i know he didn't fumble a lot, but when he did they always seemed to have come at the worst possible time in the game. i liked davis' "i'm gonna knock the snot out of you" mentality, but i'd rather have the players we've gained since letting him and his way overpriced contract. instead of one pretty good, when healthy, running back in davis, we were able to aquire 5 players(coles, thomas, hall, morton, and portis) in the top 10 of their respective positions. i'd take take 5 really good players over any one pretty good player in football every time.

I agree, FRPLG (what does that stand for???).

What ifs are good for slow news times (as Memphis points out), but this one is pretty far from reality. There are too many variables.

I always liked SD, but those crucial fumbles and the injuries are what I remember most.

GO CLINTON PORTIS!!!!

Clinton Portis played in 12 games his first year and 12 or 13 in his second year. And still got over the 1500 yard mark. CP isnt the type of back that wears down a defense and gets his 100 yards everygame. Hes the type of back that breaks 20 yards runs in the first and fourth quarter, and gets atleast 150 everygame. Clinton Portis is going to shine as a Redskin next year. My guess is that he ends up with less rushing yards, but ends up a lot more receptions. Hes going to be a threat as a receiving HB. The only back in the league that I would give more credit to is LT. Granted, his the only player on that offense, but still, to have 1800 yards rushing and 100 receptions is damn impressive.

I agree with FRPLG, who knows what retaining Davis would have done.

Regardless of cap issues, and recognizing that Portis is an upgrade for a number of reasons, I was sorry to see Davis go. He struck me as both a quality player and quality guy. In his prime, he was my kind of back- he literally pounded defenses into submission and constantly gave his all. After one game under Marty, Tre Johnson and Jansen said they loved blocking for him b/c they could see fear in the defense's eyes when Davis got the ball; per Johnson "Davis is a BEAST". That's what I want my back to do to a defense.

I am glad he is with a team that seems to appreciate him and his abilities.

(BTW - Mrs. JoeRedskin never forgave the Spurrier for not finding a way to keep him. All last year, she would yell at the screen - "You're a dumbass Spurrier, don't you wish you had Stephen now???". I thought it was hilarious.)

If Carolina said we could have our pick between Foster and Davis, I'd be loading Deshaun onto Redskin One right now.