Bulluck is a Giant

NFL agents across the country.

 

Huh? The comments you are referencing were sarcasm. Sorry it wasn't clear.

And you are a damn nurse (?). Of course we both understand the ACL injury. Cutting him is not as much of the issue as in the manner in how he was released. (Although I do think he could have been retained at little "cost" to the organization) He has appeared strong in his rehab thus far impressing not only on workout days, but days after with little apparent inflammation.

I don't have a problem with signing Witherspoon we need even more depth at LB. We also need more leadership on the defense.

 

If Witherspoon had stayed with one defensive scheme, he'd be up there with the bigger LB names. Just a few seasons ago Witherspoon had over 100 tackles and 7 sacks.

 

Ok, I haven't spent any time really thinking about this, but I want to throw it out there anyway...

How is how we got rid of McNair different than how the Packers got rid of Favre?

I have a hard time listening to anyone who uses the phrase "locking him out" to add emotional leverage to their argument. It's been explained many, many, many times on the board about how the "lockout" was a promotional tool used by Bus Cook far more than anything else that the Titans did. Poor Steve wasn't just looking to get a workout in and be with his teammates.

 

You already know this.

Favre acted like he was going to retire year in and year out for what, 3 or 4 seasons? Finally a decision has to be made.

Could obviously elaborate more on the differences but why bother.

:bsflag:


Why couldn't Bud or the GM or anyone in the executive portion of the Titans get on a cell phone and say "step outside and hand this to Steve" then speak to him about the situation directly? There are infinite ways this could've been handled better than sending some janitor rushing to the door with a key to lock it before Steve could open it.


I know we are all Titans fans so we want to think the best, but I don't buy it was all on mean ole bus cook. Don't be naive. We share some responsibility for even getting to that point.

 

Wait, wait... where are you conjuring up this image of the janitor rushing to the door with a key to lock it before he gets to it? He was told that he couldn't work out at the facility, because of his contract. The reason it wasn't told to him by the front office is because they were on the west coast. Why didn't someone call one of them and have them explain it to him on a cell phone? Because this wasn't some dramatic scene where Steve the 8th grader just wants to hang out with his friends, it was a contract issue that Steve either already knew about or should have already had explained to him by his agent. We've heard it happen multiple other times since with other teams, it just doesn't get blown up because it isn't a big name and it doesn't get made into a publicity stunt.

No, I'm not naive, and neither are the Titans. They did, in fact, take the stance that Steve couldn't work out at the facility until they worked out his contract, which they lost on an arbitration ruling. However, the image of "poor steve getting locked out" by a cold uncaring Titans team that couldn't even bother to talk to him face to face is just a brilliant media ploy that may be the most successful thing that Bus Cook ever did.

It's not a mean thing, it's a business thing, and a strategy thing, on BOTH sides. When people make it sound so dramatic, as you did, they are forgetting that.

 

The team still made a decision to move on from a player that at that time was probably more identified with his team than any other player in NFL history.

The Titans were in contract discussions/negotiations with Steve, and he forced the issue by trying to work out, potentially putting them on the hook for the balloon end of the contract. They wanted to keep him around, but he forced the issue, so a decision had to be made.

I was pissed that we lost Steve. However, I won't pretend that it was some terrible thing that no other NFL team has done anything like before or since. It's business, in the same way that EVERY NFL team makes hard and sometimes ugly business decisions on a regular basis. It wasn't handled very well by the team, and Steve and his agent took advantage of it to get him what he wanted in a longer more expensive contract in his move to the Ravens. Farve did the same thing in a different way, and then did it again when he wanted to play for the Vikings.

 

I would've dumped Steve too after his last few seasons. He was bad when he was healthy, and he wasn't for most of those seasons. He was done by 2004 or so. He rode the coattails of the Ravens running game and defense to the playoffs, but he was a spent force by that time.

I would've rather seen a nice, clean exit too, but they did what they had to do either way.

 

Even I can't really agree with this... Co-MVP in 2003, and his first season with the Ravens was perfectly decent. It was a hard decision with Steve, because it was a prediction about how much more an old, banged up player had left in him. However, he forced the move and ended the discussions early, so I can't blame the team for making the hard decision and letting him go.

 

What is there to discuss?

What the Titans did was wrong. You just said it. Yet you want to put 100% of the blame on Bus Cook?

We should have handled the contract situation BEFORE we made one of the worst PR moves in Titans history. The dispute should NEVER have been allowed to reach that point.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/9369762

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2464731

Titans tried to force his hand because of his high cap number. Not a very classy way of handling the situation on our part.