Shawn Springs Placed on injured reserve, Mike Rumph Released

I'm engaging in a little hyperbole, of course, but no more than those who call Betts a fumble machine.

Just FYI, though, those numbers are not as great as you'd like to think. Over his 10-year career, he averages 12.5 games played a season. You don't have too many starting NFL corners who have that kind of injury proclivity. I just did some rudimentary sifting on Yahoo and couldn't find any "big name" CB's who have that kind of injury record. I mean, think about what you're saying here -- he's had one full season in the last 4 years. Two in the last six years (and I'm counting 15 game seasons as "full" here). If you want to get technical, he hasn't played a complete season since 2000 (!).

CB's should be among the most durable and resilient guys on your team, shouldn't they? Other than ligament tears, you just don't hear of too many injuries to corners. Certainly not all the crazy, improbable stuff that Springs seems to be a magnet for.

He's obviously very needed around here and unquestionably still has talent, but tough is not a word I would use to describe the guy.

Fair enough, he does get his share of injuries. I just take issue with those who equate Springs to the likes of Fragile Freddy Taylor. Not that you were doing so, I just wanted to throw the facts out there on Springs. I would agree, he's not the most durable guy in the world. But I wouldn't call him injury prone either.

can someone explain to me why the skins want springs to play safety? he is easily our best corner, and most people around here think that carlos rogers has regressed, so why would you want to go into next season needing 2 corners? one good quality corner is hard enough to come by. i would try to get michael lewis from the eagles, good safety for some reason the eagles are really down on him
Good point Dmek . I would be concerned about the additional tackling he would be asked to do , wouldn't a move to S match him up with Fb's & TE's blocking him opposed to a WR ? If he moves to free safety , does Taylor move to SS ?

Good point Dmek . I would be concerned about the additional tackling he would be asked to do , wouldn't a move to S match him up with Fb's & TE's blocking him opposed to a WR ? If he moves to free safety , does Taylor move to SS ?

That was my concern as well. One would think there's more of an injury risk at safety than there is a corner.

I think so, based on what Gibbs said about their plans to evaluate every position this offseason. I think upon further review he'll realize that the secondary needs a lot of work. There should be much better communication between the safeties and corners. I see an early (should be one of the first), more disciplined, hot and nasty pre-season camp in 2007. Anyone who shows up not willing to put in the extra work will take example from AA, you won't play regardless of your salary.


Part of this should include firing safeties coach Steve Jackson and making Jerry Gray coach of the complete secondary - get rid of the split coaching in the backfield and I bet you the communication improves - plus Jerry Gray is a better coach than Jackson anyway.

Springs already has the cover ability and is a decent tackler, it makes him an ideal safety. Think among the lines of Troy Vincent and Rod Woodson. Moving to Safety extended both careers. And it seems that Nate Clements is on his way here...since Matty's spies saw him looking at houses in the area.

Guess this means AA will continue to be the highest paid special teamer in NFL history.

Maybe it's just perception, but it seems to me that safeties dole out a lot more punishment than corners do (and by extension take a lot more contact), and again, totally anecdotally, it sure seems like safeties get injured more than corners do, on the whole. Anyone actually play competitive football on defense and have a perspective on this?

Fair enough, he does get his share of injuries. I just take issue with those who equate Springs to the likes of Fragile Freddy Taylor. Not that you were doing so, I just wanted to throw the facts out there on Springs. I would agree, he's not the most durable guy in the world. But I wouldn't call him injury prone either.

No doubt -- and I was thinking of Taylor when I wrote it actually -- Taylor's been labeled fragile but in the last 5 years, he's only missed 8 games. (and who would have guessed dude would have close to 1200 on the ground with a 5.0 ypc average? Crazy!)

So yeah, perception is a big part of it for sure.

Springs is going to be an injury concern wherever he plays. The possible move to safety doesn't have anything to do with protecting him from injury.

As he gets older he's going to lose a step, if he hasn't already just a bit. At safety you don't need the speed that you do at corner. Plus the move will give us some nice flexibility since he could easily fill in and start at corner when needed. I just like the fact we can shore up the safety spot and keep a quality veteran like him around.

If we do not already have the most expensive safeties in history, then allocating springs cap number to that position would certainly make it so.

I think that in those packages we wouldn't have to put Springs at safety. Assuming we pick up Clements, we could have Vincent and Taylor at Safety, while Springs, Clements, and Rodgers play corner. I think that having Springs at safety will help prevent the deep ball, and hopefully Carlos Rodgers can pick up his play and make a decent number two corner next year. I think that in general Springs is a good player for us, remember how he D'd up Steve Smith in the Carolina game. The only thing that scares me is that he's getting a little old, so that's why having him a safety seems like a good idea to me. Also, I hope next year that Springs and Vincent can assume the roles of the leaders on defense. We need veterans with that kind of experience to direct the defense, especially the secondary.
i, for one, am not comfortable with vincent at safety. other than the blocked kick, he hasnt done anything but get torched like everyone else. hopefully preilou will come back healthy. to me he seemed like he was always around the ball

I heard Nate Clements is already house shopping in the area.

Did you really hear that?