Quote:
Originally Posted by NC_Skins
So here is a question. What we've seen from Robert in a normal pro-style offense has been from mediocre to downright bad.
Providing a new coach comes in, how long are you willing to give him before competition comes into play? This isn't going to be his rookie year, this will be going on his 3rd year. So how long are you willing to invest time into him before you say enough? What if we start out the season pretty much like we did this past?
That said, do you really want to trade Kirk? Why not keep him around until after year 3 so if Griff doesn't click next year, we have a possible solution at the QB spot.
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Gruden was talking about Luck, Wilson, Robert and Colin two Mondays ago on MNF and I think he was right: he said Luck and Wilson are great QBs who are getting better, while Colin and Robert are great athletes trying to become great quarterbacks.
In hindsight, I think Robert probably should have been on IR at the start of the season and not brought back until after the BYE (and I put the blame for that not being done squarely on Shanahan's shoulders), but what's done is done and we have to move on. It was insane for Robert, but ESPECIALLY Shanahan 'cause he should KNOW better, to think he could just come back into the NFL with zero playing time without any issues.
That said, no one here or in the media has demonstrated anything concrete to make me believe Robert is not willing to put in the effort and time to become better. All we have is innuendo, character assassination and the dispirited BS that's come from him and the team having such an awful season, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing.
You give Robert his offseason. You give Robert time to learn and grow. You give him time to work on his mechanics and his rapport with his receivers and his pocket presence and all the things he didn't get to work on for the last two years. You keep Captain Kirk because it's a rare thing to have a solid backup QB. You fix the line and the secondary and get a gotdamn new inside linebacker (because I'm sick and tired of seeing the back of Fletcher's jersey) since we'll finally have the money free to do so. You let him play the full preseason.
And then you start Robert in 2014. You give it eight games. And if there isn't measurable improvement, you pull the trigger and start Captain Kirk and go from there. You don't trade EITHER until after the 2014 season.
But you don't damn him for the
chutzpah all great athletes have and throw him under a figurative bus because he's had a bad season following a major knee injury where he spent the entire offseason just trying to be able to play at all. Not after he broke his body for the Washington Redskins. Not after he set NFL records and won RotY his first season. Not after we spent a fortune to get him. You wait and see and you give him his fair chance to get better.
And not for nothing - the same thing happened to him at Baylor the year after he hurt himself. He had a terrible 2010 season following his knee injury. And then the next year ... well, he was the eventual Heisman winner.