(10-18-2019, 10:27 AM)D-Money Wrote:

(10-18-2019, 07:38 AM)Bullseye Wrote: (emphasis added)

Here's an idea:  Retain the very best players...the ones who had the most to do with the winning.

The team first mindset is meaningless if you don't have players on the team that can translate that mindset into wins.

I'm pretty sure nobody on that 1995 team was accused to being a me first player.  I'm fairly certain, players were doing everything they could to improve the fortunes of that team.  Yet there is no way that team was going to come close to contending in 1995.  Why?

They didn't have the talent to do so.

Conversely, all of the teams in the league saw, to some degree, the things Ramsey did to potentially alienate himself from the team.  Yet virtually every team made preliminary inquiries, and several were reported to be serious suitors, including the Eagles, who just won the Super Bowl two years ago, and the Rams, who were just in the Super Bowl last year.  I readily admit I have never worked in an NFL front office, but I tend to think teams that reach Super Bowls value talent and teamwork.  Yet those teams did not hesitate to pursue Ramsey. 

How do you explain that?  Why is it that franchises that know how to reach the pinnacle stage of the NFL so aggressively pursued such a noxious individual?  Even if they weren't in the locker room, they had to suspect that maybe Ramsey wasn't a team first player.  He's the guy who plays zone only when he wants to, right?  He's the guy who quit on his teammates, right?  So why was he pursued by so many teams?  Why were the Rams willing to trade so much for him?

It's funny that so many of his detractors call Ramsey "soft" when arguing either expressly or tacitly he isn't worth the headache.

But history has repeatedly shown that while those less successful franchises tend to somehow be prone to headaches, the successful franchises are willing to take an aspirin, take a chance on exceptional talent, and reap the benefits.  The trrade market for Ramsey is indisputable proof of that.

On point. Thank you. I feel sometimes it doesn't make sense to explain it to some of fans who can't get past the emotional part of it but when you really look at everything it is all there. 

Then it also crazy, because it seems like our front office has been trying to do the opposite for years. At one point we kept trying to get diamonds in the rough from smaller schools. Now its like if someone is confident and kind of flashy they call that being a diva and a locker room cancer. 

If the players is doing what he is supposed to do on the field and doesn't have a domestic issues off field why not keep him to help win?

Everyone always references the Patriots but they have completely different situation with arguably the GOAT at QB and a very good coach but they pretty much always take chance on risky players. It really doesn't seem as hard as the gms make it seem