Cedric Benson arrested (and now released)

Mattyk

Even if he was involved with the decision making regarding Benson who cares?

Everyone who makes personnel decisions is going to have a dud every now and then. It's part of the business.

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skinsfan69

Monk = better class. Rice = the best wr of all time.

GTripp0012

I am of the opinion that Jerry Rice is the greatest WR of all time who is not currently active. I realize I share that opinion with pretty much everyone else.

I really think that there should be more controversy regarding the greatest WR ever. I mean, Rice's numbers are unmatched, but he played in San Francisco with two of the three (IMO) greatest QBs ever, and then got to play with Jeff Garcia for a season, before moving on to Oakland and playing with the guy who, during the two year span he was there, was the best QB in the game (Gannon). So Rice's numbers, as unobtainable as they are, have to be taken in context of playing with the great passers throughout a 20 year career.

I think Marvin Harrison might have been a more dangerous weapon in his time, and certainly Randy Moss' 3 top seasons were as good if not better than Rice's best three. Moss is totally inconsistent from one year to the next, and not really worthy of a greatest ever discussion, but I think his career shows my point well that Rice, perhaps the greatest WR ever, is probably overrated when people say he's the greatest of all time bar none, because it's not looking at his career in context.

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GTripp0012

From a personnel standpoint, Benson was far from a Bust.

In 2006, he was worth more value per play than Thomas Jones. That allowed the Bears to deal TJ, who has yet to have a season in NY as good as his weakest in his 3 yrs in Chicago.

I think everyone would have struggled behind the Bears OL in 2007. Benson was exceptionally bad, and I'm not excusing his level of poorness just in the same way I don't excuse Portis' level of poorness last year. Of course, if you asked anyone, Bears fans even, who is better: Portis or Benson -- the answer would be Portis 10 out of 10 times. Though both struggled in 2007 after a similar amount of carries in 2006 and a similar level of success.

The point here is this: Benson is not a Bear anymore for purely character reasons, and even though his most recent season sucked, it's safe to say he would have rebounded. Cedric Benson is not a particularly intelligent person, and that may have led to multiple arrests in the same city within a month of each other.

That's certainly not a black mark on Morrocco Brown, especially considering that Jerry Angelo is a horrible evaluator of offensive skill.

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Shanahan: “The bad thing is he's [Sav Rocca] probably our best offensive weapon and that’s not good.”

Mattyk

Benson isn't a bust yet, just a dud. Though I don't see him ever becoming a top back in this league.

I still don't agree with your take on Portis having poor production last year. He and Benson don't even belong in the same discussion.

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SmootSmack

I don't understand this statement. It makes no sense to me. Portis played half a season in 2006

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GMScud

I'm reading it as Portis struggled a bit on 07 (his ypc were lower than normal, but 1600+ total yds and 11tds is damn good), and he and Benson had similar numbers in 06- similar # of carries, yards, and both had a 4.1ypc avg).

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SmootSmack

Ok, but shouldn't you factor in number of games played in 2006?

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GMScud

I suppose. Benson played in 7 more games, but as Thomas Jones' backup. Benson had 30 more carries than CP in '06, of course due to injury.

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Mattyk

I would say so since one would have to believe if Portis had played a full season he would have easily topped Benson's numbers.

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GMScud

Oh for sure. But I think the comparison is flawed since Benson was a backup.

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GTripp0012

Yeah, and he was a lot more valuable per play in 2006 than in 2007.

I'm assuming that if he had not broke his hand in 2006, his season would look a lot better than this past season on paper.

Anyway, the point is that if instead of being the character guy he is, if he had gotten arrested twice this offseason, we might have released CP instead of given him an extension. That is to say that Benson's character issues derailed his career way faster than his poor play did.

It wasn't a particually strong comparison, just a "what if Benson was on the Redskins" sort of thing.

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Shanahan: “The bad thing is he's [Sav Rocca] probably our best offensive weapon and that’s not good.”

GTripp0012

Right...except that's missing the point.

The reasons their 06 seasons were comprable is because Benson and Portis had a similar amount of carries. Portis did miss 7 games, but he still saw nearly as many carries as Benson and they were both rather effective in those carries.

Both carried the load significantly more the following year, with much less success.

The point I was trying to make here is that CP is the better player, though their running stats are similar. The reason that everyone knows CP is better and will bounce back from 2007's high fumble/low YPC is because he's a hard worker, and he's done it before.

I can't comment on CedBens work ethic, but his arrests suggest a player that doesn't learn from his mistakes, and frankly isn't very bright. Meanwhile, the Redskins like Portis enough to give him a massive extension.

I don't know if I was making a point, but if it was, it's that character directly translates to millions of dollars in the NFL.

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Shanahan: “The bad thing is he's [Sav Rocca] probably our best offensive weapon and that’s not good.”