draft week reflection..wadsworth..

[pinnacle]

things must have changed over the past few seasons.. How on earth did a #3 pick never run a 40 yard dash prior to the draft? The draft class this season is being picked apart thoroughly..leftwich had a broken leg at the end of the season and still ran a 40...

At the time (wadsworth)..I do not recall alot of red flags about him really never getting timed...I think today everyone would be all over it...I was on the internet at the time...but information was way harder to get..

 

[Ed B]

I do not recall anyone ever saying one disparaging thing about Wadsworth. That's why I get pissed when people mock the cardinals for that pick......the media, pundits, and front office people of the league were 100% unanimous that Wadsworth was a lock, a steal, the best ever, blah blah blah.

Any team sitting in the #3 slot would have made that pick, and the same Kipers and Bermans and Thiesmanns who make fun of the pick now were applauding it then. In fact, several teams were trying to trade in front of us to grab him, not Ryan Leaf.

I was heavily on the Charles Woodson bandwagon at the time on the old Rivals board, but I have to say that everyone was pretty universally thrilled with Andre. No one even remotely suspected that he would be anything but great.

In his defense, he did have a very promising rookie year (7 sacks if you include the playoffs, with no training camp behind him) but injuries just wrecked the guy. Had he remained healthy and continued to develop, he would be a 15 sack per year guy right now.

I see him as a "bust" only in the sense that Steve Emtmann or Trev Alberts were busts......they just got devastating injuries and their careers were over almost immediately.

 

[pinnacle]

Ed..I agree with what you are saying..I was commenting more on the current process vs. what is was a short 5 years ago.. I think if a player today refused to run or workout - you would hear alot more concern about it...

 

[Ed B]

I know what you were saying, I was just going off on Wadsworth in general

 

[ChiCard]

Wadsworth was a sad case more then anything else. Those injuries stopped him in his tracks. While it's easy to be critical from the sidelines, I always figured Swann for a "baby" in the rough and tumble world of the NFL. Always moaning and bitching about injuries, etc. Wadsworth always struck me as someone who "took it like a man" if you know what I mean. It was a great pick, it just didn't work out.

 

[ajcardfan]

Ron Wolf said he would've given up his entire draft that year to get Wadsworth, and no one criticized us for turning him down. Wadsworth is "Exhibit A" in any argument favoring a Cardinals curse.

The only person I remember being critical of Wadsworth back then was Skkorp, but there were dang few against him.

 

[Ed B]

When you watch the tapes of Andre his rookie season and take into account the fact that he signed his contract the <b>day before the opening game</b>, I think he really would have been a special player by now.

He was exciting and disruptive as a rookie and he basically had no coaching or grasp of the defense at all. He just went out there and freelanced and he still made plays. What he did is the equivalent of if Wendell Bryant came in and got 5 sacks after signing his contract in week 4. Imagine how excited we'd be about Bryant.

I am utterly convinced that injuries, and only injuries, made him a bust. A healthy Andre Wasdsworth would have been a Pro Bowl caliber end.

If anything, the Cardinals medical staff should be faulted for not picking up on the cartilege problem in his knee.....but then again, 30 other teams said he was A-OK too, so I don't even think that's fair.

The cardinals didn't do anything wrong in picking Andre. It was just plain, simple bad luck.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Originally posted by Ed B
When you watch the tapes of Andre his rookie season and take into account the fact that he signed his contract the <b>day before the opening game</b>, I think he really would have been a special player by now.

He was exciting and disruptive as a rookie and he basically had no coaching or grasp of the defense at all. He just went out there and freelanced and he still made plays. What he did is the equivalent of if Wendell Bryant came in and got 5 sacks after signing his contract in week 4. Imagine how excited we'd be about Bryant.

I am utterly convinced that injuries, and only injuries, made him a bust. A healthy Andre Wasdsworth would have been a Pro Bowl caliber end.

If anything, the Cardinals medical staff should be faulted for not picking up on the cartilege problem in his knee.....but then again, 30 other teams said he was A-OK too, so I don't even think that's fair.

The cardinals didn't do anything wrong in picking Andre. It was just plain, simple bad luck.

agreed. Wads was gonna be atsud - 15 sacks a year - maybe not - be he was gonna be one of those guys that made big plays everywhere on the field - both QBs and RBS would have feared him. Too bad he was drafted by us and caught the curse.

You know what, I've been arguing against Suggs lately - even though I am impresed by him because I want Leftwhich so bad - but in reality - I think we all know that either way - no matter who we draft, he's either gonna be the biggest bust in the draft, or he's gonna be a stud and then will leave after his rookie contract is up (either by fault of management or something else - but that seems to be par for the course so far - when's Big's contract up by the way - i hope not for a long time)