Quote:Byron Leftwich was a backup player on a Super Bowl Champion.  

Jeremy Mincey couldn't get to meetings on time here.  What were the Jags supposed to do? 

Eugene Monroe was demanding a huge contract.  We weren't going to pay him what he was demanding.  I've heard that he's underplayed his contract in Baltimore. 

Mike Smith was not run out of here.  He was offered a head coaching job in Atlanta. 

Rashean Mathis was so old, the Jags correctly figured he would not last until the time we became a contender and would have to be replaced anyway. 

Why do you count Justin Forsett as "run out of Jacksonville?"  He was also run out of Seattle, wasn't he?

 

And besides, this happens to EVERY team.  Every successful free agent pickup, starter or backup, on every team in the NFL,  came from somewhere else.  What is your point here? 

 

Am I missing your point?  Because it sounds like you are saying we are unique in running successful players out of town. 

 

You absolutely got my point, ytraM.  Only, I won't say we are unique - as acknowledged, it happens to every team - but proficient, in getting rid of our own.

 

You make good points but some facts are just that, facts. 

 

Byron Leftwich, Superbowl Champion.  Truly contributed to the success that year and looked marvellous against Washington in Primetime during Big Ben's absence.

 

Mincey appears to be doing the right things in Dallas and is considered a leader there.  Go figure.  Perhaps just maturity over time, as all of us exhibit?

 

We still don't know the real story behind the scenes for Monroe, do we?  Or was it established that he was making such demands, in-season? He's battled injuries there, and been away briefly but come this weekend, should be the starting LT in the Divisional Round of the Playoffs.  Underplayed, overplayed, he's their fixture.

 

Mike Smith faced his share of criticisms during Jack's era, along with the entire JDR regime.  We seemed to appreciate him more once he left and we realized how much he patched up a unit that wasn't overflowing with talent.

 

Mathis is aged indeed, but he's our own.  Detroit, a presently more successful franchise find him valuable as the vet to calm their youth at DB.  I agree the timing of his depature from Jacksonville was about right, but again, he was vilified often, moreso in the latter stages here. Though outsiders continued to praise his output.

 

Forsett was added to boost the list seeing he looks pretty good in Baltimore, just after leaving da Ville.  He's not our boy anyway, as stated.

 

Look, nitpicking players' games is what we all do as fans.  Part of the game.  My point is that all these currest post-Jag successes show that there are sizeable fundamental flaws within the walls of 1 Alltel Place (they maintained that address?).  It's seen in our game day output, our draft acquisitions, FAs in recent past (not the latest corps), etc.  There's just some sort of dark cloud that's been hanging over the franchise since that fateful 2nd half vs. titans in 2000, in spite of solid efforts to seek improvement (JDR teased with those playoffs appearances later in the decade; we knew we hadn't really arrived).  We are still seeking some semblance of identity, of continuity, of belief.  Time is our ally.

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