Shaun Alexander Looking to Tiptoe His Way Onto Redskins...Again?

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by SBXVII

Well, I never said he was or is or ever will be a Hall of Famer.....however, if we don't develope any young talent for the future we will be hurting later. All I'm pointing out is the fact that he is a good, fast runner that would be good to keep around for development reasons. Now to be honest I do believe he's a better runner then Rock, but again like you have said he can't be one dimensional. I find it funny though that Rock can't run his way out of a wet paper bag which makes him one dimensional, even worse he's only utilized on KR's. He sucks as a RB and sucks as a PR. If we are throwing players off cause they are one dimensional then he definitly should be on the cut list. Unfortunatly Mason was not that great at KR and the team already had one pro bowl RB (Portis) and a half decent back up (Betts). So yes he was placed on the PS. Baltimore only had 3 RB's and one got injured so they seemed to like what they saw in Mason and pulled him over to learn on their PS in case they had another injury. The Jets suffered a similar problem and pulled him to their team but kept him on the active roster.

I have no reason to know why teams let players go, perhaps he sucks, but then why would the Skins waist their time with challenging San Diego for his rights and win them? If he sucks let him go to the west coast. Let him be San Diego's problem. but instead he's here.

and to be honest I (in all my Mason bandwagonish) have not crowned Mason. Honestly I liked what I saw last yr. He did more then simply run the ball he caught the ball out of the back field rather well also. He got positive yards (unlike Rock who loses yrds until he breaks one big one to even it all up). Crown Mason....no. Portis wears the crown right now, but I would like to see us with a young back for Portis to help develope in order to pass the crown off to. No harm in wishing to see young talent waiting in the wings. No different then the Colt fans, atleast at that position we do have young talent being developed.

I agree with your post...
want to point out that I have been a vocal advocate to drop Rock. He's a fan favorite, and he works hard (think Rudy), but he will never develope into someone we need...so why waste the space? I'd drop Rock for Mason in a heartbeat FYI.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by jsarno

I agree with your post...
want to point out that I have been a vocal advocate to drop Rock. He's a fan favorite, and he works hard (think Rudy), but he will never develope into someone we need...so why waste the space? I'd drop Rock for Mason in a heartbeat FYI.

Rock may be gone soon, but let's not undervalue his ST play on both sides, as a KR and as the "qb" on coverage schemes. His value was repeatedly pointed out by coaches this last year. I think as KR he is steady, but does on occasion break one off.
Really curious how the NFL's ban on the wedge formation messes with ST's play this year.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

Rock may be gone soon, but let's not undervalue his ST play on both sides, as a KR and as the "qb" on coverage schemes. His value was repeatedly pointed out by coaches this last year. I think as KR he is steady, but does on occasion break one off.
Really curious how the NFL's ban on the wedge formation messes with ST's play this year.

I am one that doesn't think highly of his running skills in special teams play. Yes, he does rank up there fairly highly in return yards, and I give him total props for his north / south approach. What he lacks in talent, he makes up for it in intelligence. ARE should pay more attention to Rock. However, if we could find someone else that could go north / south like Rock does, he'd get even MORE yards. We have good blocking on ST, Rock doesn't make his own holes with moves. I just think we can do better. He has 0 breakaway speed meaning anyone could have done what he did if they just move forward instead of side to side.

[SBXVII]

Originally Posted by jsarno

I am one that doesn't think highly of his running skills in special teams play. Yes, he does rank up there fairly highly in return yards, and I give him total props for his north / south approach. What he lacks in talent, he makes up for it in intelligence. ARE should pay more attention to Rock. However, if we could find someone else that could go north / south like Rock does, he'd get even MORE yards. We have good blocking on ST, Rock doesn't make his own holes with moves. I just think we can do better. He has 0 breakaway speed meaning anyone could have done what he did if they just move forward instead of side to side.

Jsarno, I am beside you on this brother. People say he is a great special teamer. All he does is run the ball. I don't understand this "He's a QB" issue. He's not a QB. Not even a QB for special teams. All the players know their assignments. You never see him moving players around. You never see him pointing and readjusting assignments. He stands back and counts to make sure they don't have too many players and when the ball gets to him he runs it to the 30 yrd line. consistantly.

He is not even a half decent RB. So he's one demensional. If the team ever gets someone who can KR/PR he's gone. Alridge may be the person. I'm excited to see what he brings also. In college he atleast was used several different ways. He was the KR/PR, he was the RB, and he acted as a WR sometimes. Due to his speed I could see us putting Moss, Thomas, and Alridge in as WR's to create mismatches.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by SBXVII

Jsarno, I am beside you on this brother. People say he is a great special teamer. All he does is run the ball. I don't understand this "He's a QB" issue. He's not a QB. Not even a QB for special teams. All the players know their assignments. You never see him moving players around. You never see him pointing and readjusting assignments. He stands back and counts to make sure they don't have too many players and when the ball gets to him he runs it to the 30 yrd line. consistantly.

He is not even a half decent RB. So he's one demensional. If the team ever gets someone who can KR/PR he's gone. Alridge may be the person. I'm excited to see what he brings also. In college he atleast was used several different ways. He was the KR/PR, he was the RB, and he acted as a WR sometimes. Due to his speed I could see us putting Moss, Thomas, and Alridge in as WR's to create mismatches.

I'm all for trying something new in the ST returners department. Getting ARE away from punt returns is a priority. Letting someone else do the KR duties will be good for us to make the change, but we will always have Rock lurking to give us that 30 yard line consistency.
I am really looking forward to the possibility of ST getting us excellent field position for a change.