Marshall tabbed to replace Pierce

What really sucks about losing Pierce is it needn't have happened if somebody had spotted his ability and we had given him more than a 1 year contract last year.

I remember Marty Schottenheimer saying he loved him from day one, shame nobody on the current staff felt the same way.

Problem is nobody saw this coming from Pierce. If Barrow didn't get hurt Pierce wouldn't have had the same opportunity. You can't lock up your reserves long term, you need that money for your stars.

I don't really think we lost out as much as every says by Pierce going to the Giants. I think he is a good player with mediocre talent, but excellent instinct. He always seems to be in the right place, but I just don't see him being worth 25 mil over 6 or whatever they gave him. He only had one good year and it was a contract year. He did play well when he was a rookie, though, right before we picked up Jesse Armstead. I think we'll be fine without him, though. I don't think he's particularly impressive.

There's some sentiment around the league that the cornerback market is overvalued now, due to the impact of the new rules enforcements that were effected last season, which have essentially made "shut-down" corners a thing of the past. The current market value has been inflated by contracts signed by upper-echelon cornerbacks over the past 3 or 4 years, when players such as Ty Law and Champ Bailey-- corners who truly fit the rare "shut-down" label when it was applicable-- signed huge contracts with enormous signing bonuses. While talented cornerbacks are certainly still a valuable commodity, there is a feeling they are no longer as valuable as the "fair market value" would suggest.

Given the way Bailey was burned repeatedly last season, perhaps there is some credence to that theory.


Took the word's out of my mouth JC, I do think some of the team's are out thinking themselves believing that they really need a better CB to compete with the new rules, when in actuality no CB can really do that anymore, but they are overpaying for player's who are really not going to make a big difference, as you said there are very few legitimate shutdown CB's, to overpay for a CB who will get burned as much as a lesser talented CB because of the new rules may not be to smart.

I personally am not as high on Marshall as a lot of other's I think we can do better either in the draft or another venue, I do believe if any player on our defense was made to look better than he really is because of William's it was Marshall, I could be wrong but I just think we shouldn't put all our egg's in 1 basket on this guy, I believe we can do much better.

Getting back-ups to step up when needed and promoting from within.....not being afraid to let "star" players go if they become too expensive. Hmmm....that reminds me of someone....oh yeah, the 3-time SB champion Patriots!!! As much as wanted Pierce and Smoot to stay, I really like how Gibbs is managing things.

As for Marshall, it is March! A LOT can happen before the season starts! I see an intense training camp competition between Barrow (if healthy), Marshall, and whoever else could be a good fit at MLB (Barnes, Smith, new rookie, etc). Maybe it will be Marshall, maybe not....I have complete confidence in Coach Williams.

What does this say about Smoot and his asking price if teams like Dallas and Carolina are passing him up? I mean Carolina gave Lucus(SP) almost a small mint and I dont think that he is as good as Smoot is. Even KC is supposed to look at Smoot, but from what I have ben reading you can tell that they really want Rolle.

I thought the same thing Redskin8588 about how strange that Dallas didn't even make a nibble toward Smoot........'course Parcell seems to be partial to signing OLDER guys :) But now with Carolina signing Lucus,Smoot seems to be ahead at the bargaining table......................

Problem is nobody saw this coming from Pierce. If Barrow didn't get hurt Pierce wouldn't have had the same opportunity. You can't lock up your reserves long term, you need that money for your stars.

Couldn't agree more. Ohh, the experts love to hate us.

well michael barrow should retire. i wouldn't want a 35 year old playing middle linebacker. he's missed a full season. we should release him. i guess we're just gonna have to experiment with lemar marshall.

If we release him we take the cap hit all at once, I believe. This could cause problems. Just a year ago Barrow could play - let's give him that chance again. If his knee isn't healthy we'll be fine. Marshall played great at OLB. If he can't do the job we'll get someone in the draft (Brooks would be nice, but may command a really high pick and will be expensive.)