Clinton Portis To Announce Retirement

[HailGreen28]

Originally Posted by imaskin4life

Although I would have preferred to keep Champ Bailey, Clinton Portis played well for us during his career as a Redskin.

I don't think we would have made the playoffs in 05 and 07, with Champ Bailey on the team instead of Clinton Portis.

[imaskin4life]

Originally Posted by HailGreen28

I don't think we would have made the playoffs in 05 and 07, with Champ Bailey on the team instead of Clinton Portis.

You could be right. There is no way to prove or disprove it though. I liked Clinton Portis, its just that Champ Bailey is a better DB than Clinton Portis is a RB - and to me, the trade was lopsided. I'm not trading a shutdown down corner for a RB.

[DCtoAZ]

He was one hell of a Redskin .. best blocking RB I've ever seen by FAR .. always likable and kept things up beat even when times were tough .. I always think back to ST21 and how Portis, Moss, Taylor were like brothers. He played his ass of for that team through the playoffs .. Much love to Professor I Don't Know .. HTTR

[los panda]

he'll always be loved by our fan base. definitely one of the better rbs of his era, thankful for all the plays he made as a redskins.

best of luck to him in retirement, HTTR!

[skinsfaninok]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Nice career for #26, definitely one of the best backs we've had

9923 yards rushing
80 TDs

Best blocking back

[BleedBurgundy]

In no way is he a hall of famer, but he was an above average back who sacrificed a lot in order to buy into Gibbs' scheme. Went from a small, shifty back to more of a grinder... and did it without bitching.

[skinsfaninok]

Champ is a HOF cp is not. But he was damn good in his prime

[SolidSnake84]

If CP had taken care of his body and did the offseason conditioning and stuff, he'd still be here with us playing. By the time Shanahan put him on notice, Portis was already WAY past it on wear and tear.

Heck he could have stayed here at a reduced salary but in his mind he was still the # 1 running back in the NFL, and what he found out was that not one team wanted him after we cut him loose.

It shouldn't have ended this way for CP, he should have had a reduced role over the years and retire after spending a season or 2 as a backup/mentor type player.

I will be the first to admit that his act wore thin on me beginning around 2008 when everybody was the problem but him. I've been over it before, i won't argue it again on a thread about what is supposed to be his happy day.

I will say that even as a non-Portis fan, he deserved better than this and I bet that if he had the ability to take it back, he would have accepted a reduced contract so that he could stay here. Long live CP.

[44 goes 50 gut]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

Heck he could have stayed here at a reduced salary but in his mind he was still the # 1 running back in the NFL, and what he found out was that not one team wanted him after we cut him loose.

I will be the first to admit that his act wore thin on me beginning around 2008 when everybody was the problem but him. I've been over it before, i won't argue it again on a thread about what is supposed to be his happy day

Aint that always the way with RB's? They all think they're the next Larry Brown, they all think they can go on to another team, and they rarely manage it.

Damn rare... IMO one of the reasons Curtis Martin made it into the Hall is that he managed to be great on multiple teams, over an impressive span.

Unfortunately RB is the most "disposable" position in the game. They use you up and throw you away, smart players choose other positions, but confident cement heads want to tote the rock. It's too bad really.

[44 goes 50 gut]

Portis was a fine RB in his prime, but that was a terrible deal in an of itself... They should have been sending a COUPLE picks our way, instead Danny was so excited by the "big name" RB and so ignorant about the actual value and rarity of a true shutdown corner that he got smoked by Shanahan...

It's a little like going to a dealership to buy a car, gleefully jabbering about how excited you are and how you just love this one Car over here in the rare Red color while loudly proclaiming you hope your credit is good enough. So of course you pay full MSRP, get the 17% interest loan, and get less than wholesale auction value for your trade in and then "negotiating" to always take the car back to the dealer for full price $49 dollar oil changes...

It doesn't matter how good the car turned out to be; you got bent over the barrel...

[HailGreen28]

Originally Posted by 44 goes 50 gut

Portis was a fine RB in his prime, but that was a terrible deal in an of itself... They should have been sending a COUPLE picks our way, instead Danny was so excited by the "big name" RB and so ignorant about the actual value and rarity of a true shutdown corner that he got smoked by Shanahan...

champ bailey was leaving dc no matter what. and the whole league knew it. this is 1 time the front office got the best deal possible.

at that time it looks like denver got the best of us. champ is special, and shanahan zbs was churning out 1000 yard backs with ease. and denver got our second round pick they used on clinton replacement tatum bell.

but since bell really didnt do much in denver, bailey did well but denver never really went anywhere, meanwhile portis carried our offense for a few years....

I think we got the better deal by sheer luck.

[44 goes 50 gut]

Originally Posted by HailGreen28

champ bailey was leaving dc no matter what. and the whole league knew it. this is 1 time the front office got the best deal possible.

at that time it looks like denver got the best of us. champ is special, and shanahan zbs was churning out 1000 yard backs with ease. and denver got our second round pick they used on clinton replacement tatum bell.

but since bell really didnt do much in denver, bailey did well but denver never really went anywhere, meanwhile portis carried our offense for a few years....

I think we got the better deal by sheer luck.

I can pretty much guarantee you Shanahan would have done the deal without Danny throwing the pick in. He took advantage of an Owner who was meddlesome and had an outsiders (a fan really who bought the team) inflated idea of RB value. Shanahan's tendency to rarely if ever draft RB's in the first round all the way back to TD, should be all the proof you need to draw that Conclusion. Shanahan's always been ahead of the curve in that regard...

So it's pretty easy to say he would have done the deal straight up, even given up a pick himself if push had come to shove.

Oh and one other thought, "leaving DC no matter what" sorry but lots of unhappy players go no where with trade demands, they really have zero leverage, unless the owner runs his team like a fantasy football manager. We've even seen a guy demand a trade, then "retire" only to be traded for 1st and 2nd round draft picks a few months later, and that was a older guy who was coming off two lackluster years who hasn't looked good since his knee injury... Champ was a shut down corner coming into his prime with the better part of his career ahead of him.

Caving in and getting desperate because a restricted free agent is demanding things isn't exactly what most teams do, and the idea that Champ was in charge and dictating things only holds merit because of the inexperienced owner who allowed that to work for Champ, and then got over excited by the thought of getting his very own Fantasy Football RB1... Like any fool who doesn't know what he has, he got taken by the guy who "saw him coming".

[HailGreen28]

Originally Posted by 44 goes 50 gut

I can pretty much guarantee you Shanahan would have done the deal without Danny throwing the pick in. He took advantage of an Owner who was meddlesome and had an outsiders (a fan really who bought the team) inflated idea of RB value. Shanahan's tendency to rarely if ever draft RB's in the first round all the way back to TD, should be all the proof you need to draw that Conclusion. Shanahan's always been ahead of the curve in that regard...

So it's pretty easy to say he would have done the deal straight up, even given up a pick himself if push had come to shove.

Oh and one other thought, "leaving DC no matter what" sorry but lots of unhappy players go no where with trade demands, they really have zero leverage, unless the owner runs his team like a fantasy football manager. We've even seen a guy demand a trade, then "retire" only to be traded for 1st and 2nd round draft picks a few months later, and that was a older guy who was coming off two lackluster years who hasn't looked good since his knee injury... Champ was a shut down corner coming into his prime with the better part of his career ahead of him.

Caving in and getting desperate because a restricted free agent is demanding things isn't exactly what most teams do, and the idea that Champ was in charge and dictating things only holds merit because of the inexperienced owner who allowed that to work for Champ, and then got over excited by the thought of getting his very own Fantasy Football RB1... Like any fool who doesn't know what he has, he got taken by the guy who "saw him coming".

Ordinarily you'd be right. But like SS alludes to, the Champ situation was different than the normal "demanding free agent". He wasn't resigning with us, probably through no fault of the Skins.

Agreed about Shanny being good at dealing with RBs, same way Andy Reid has recently done a brilliant job managing his QBs in trades. It's just in this case, we weren't in position to demand full value for Bailey. Love how we ended up with CP, though! Denver missed Portis since he left!

[ethat001]

Portis was a great RB and had some of the best blocks by an RB I've ever seen. Definitely one of the league's leading personalities with his crazy characters / costumes. I still have a Portis jersey.



BUT -- No way he's a Hall of Famer without a Super Bowl. Too bad, if we won him some rings he would have been considered for it.

Also, as the years went on, I felt like his reputation became tarnished a bit by his antics.
1) He didn't like to practice or play in the preseason (and complained about it)
2) Created unnecessary drama by not being a team player
--> made fun of Zorn, didn't listen to him & went above his head to Snyder at times
--> talked out about other players, McNabb, etc
3) Was Snyder's pet


Regardless, best wishes to Clinton. Had great times watching him over the past decade.

[Evilgrin]

Mixed bag, great player but never afraid of starting drama through the media. Coach Janky Spanky prevented himself from reaching his full potential.