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18 May 2010

Patriots Release Shawn Springs

The Patriots have released corner Shawn Springs. Adam Schefter suggests that the Patriots could end up re-signing the veteran later on in the offseason.

Posted by: Bill Barnwell on 18 May 2010

22 comments, Last at 23 May 2010, 7:48pm by Jercules

Comments

1
by Karl Cuba :: Tue, 05/18/2010 - 4:13pm

I other news, I took a dump earlier, which will have a similar impact on the upcoming NFL season. . . and was about as inevitable.

The NFL should be forced to play two seasons a year, I can't stand the long offseason.

2
by KarlFA :: Tue, 05/18/2010 - 4:38pm

Actually, I'm pretty sure the Pats releasing Shawn Springs will have a bigger impact on the upcoming season than your bowel movements. Especially when The Marshall Plan shows up to town and the Pats have no idea how to cover Brandon, Brian, Davone, Ronnie and Ricky all at once. Boom!

With heart, faith and steel. In the end there can be only one.

Karl, Miami

4
by Karl Cuba :: Tue, 05/18/2010 - 5:39pm

How exactly is Springs going to assist with any of the tasks you have listed? The guy used to be really good, if a little injury prone. Now he's washed up, happens to everyone, even the good ones.

5
by James-London :: Tue, 05/18/2010 - 6:01pm

"Brandon, Brian, Davone, Ronnie and Ricky"

Did Miami sign Bell Biv DeVoe while I wasn't looking?

Phil Simms is a Cretin.

8
by Dean :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 10:17am

No. New Edition.

7
by MJK :: Tue, 05/18/2010 - 8:11pm

First of all, please, do not call him the Marshall Plan. His ego is big enough as it is.

Second of all, you're right. As a Pats fan, all the skill position talent the Dolphins have, along with a decent O-line, do scare me.

(However, I highly doubt the particular formation you outline would be used much...and if it was, it's not particularly scary. If it's a "Wildcat" formation, with a TE but no QB on the field, then it's a particularly ineffective one...the three WR's don't scare anyone if a RB is throwing the ball, and don't block anyone particularly well if the RB is running the ball. On the other hand, if it's a standard 3WR-2RB set, then it's also not the best use of talent. The Pats ILB's are now reasonably young and speedy, and are perfectly capable of covering either Williams or Brown out of the backfield, and that leaves their entire secondary free to cover 3WR's, while they have 5 pass rushers against a no-TE line).

All that aside, I don't see how Springs was going to help against Marshall. I'm not even sure he would have made the final roster without some injuries or serious disappointments. Consider that Bodden and Butler were already ahead of him on the depth chart, and that Wilhite was at least on par with him (and was ahead of him for most of last year). Plus, if Wilhite = Springs talent wise, the team probably keeps Wilhite because he's younger, cheaper, and has more upside. Then consider that 1st round pick Devin McCourty probably has a roster spot locked up for at least a year given that he was a highly touted first round pick, that means that Springs would have been competing for the #5 CB slot...even assuming the team decides to carry 5 CB's.

I think this was a courtesy release...let him look to see if there is a hot market for his skills, and if so, great for him. If not, then he'll be a good fall-back option for the Pats should one of their other CB's get injured or fail to pan out.

9
by Rich Conley (not verified) :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 10:22am

Shawn Springs was about 5th on the depth chart, so probably not.

16
by RickD :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 12:30pm

5th and dropping...

Springs certainly didn't deserve the money he was going to be paid from the contract signed last year.

3
by Theo :: Tue, 05/18/2010 - 5:02pm

Come on, there is Arena ball, college ball and the UFL.
Ok. May should be official no-football month.

18
by ABW (not verified) :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 1:46pm

It does feel like we are about two days away from an XP that says "Head coach takes dump, thinks about cornerback depth chart while doing so".

6
by Theo :: Tue, 05/18/2010 - 6:13pm

In other cornerback news, this is pretty funny (worst cornerback ever):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT9BmG7_PJ4&feature=fvw

10
by Joe T. :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 10:41am

In the first Ocho Cinco clip, Thomas puts this piddly jam on Chad, and Chad just effortlessly trots away from him (not even full speed).

He's pretty lousy, but what in hell were the Saint's thinking putting him in man coverage?

11
by Theo :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 11:19am

I can't see the video here, but they played a lot of cover 2 that season.
Or did everybody play man coverage, but did the corner play cover 2. That would explain the video.

14
by Joe T. :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 12:08pm

He looked to me like he was playing man, but it could have been cover 2 w/o competent safety help (which wouldn't be surprising on those Saints teams).

12
by Jimmy :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 11:46am

Yeah that is pretty bad. Awful in fact. I could easily beleive that he was drunk playing on those clips.

15
by Joe T. :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 12:09pm

is croner durnk?

19
by milo :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 4:08pm

There's now an antidote to that video.

20
by Sophandros :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 4:25pm

First off, I hate you. I thought that I had expunged the Fred Thomas memories from my memory. Sadly, before I clicked the link, I knew it was Fred Thomas. BTW, he played really well in 2002 or so. After that, not so much. Hell, the Saints replaced him with Jason David, looking for an upgrade.

Sadly, David may have been an upgrade...

-------------
Sports talk radio and sports message boards are the killing fields of intellectual discourse.

13
by the cat in the box is dead (not verified) :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 12:03pm

I found myself thinking 'hmm, he's supposed to have at least some safety help on some of these, these things aren't always the Corner's fault' at first, but by the end I found myself wondering how this guy had a job in the NFL.

21
by Sophandros :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 4:28pm

In his defense, Fred Thomas was a top flight corner earlier in his career, when Haslett was the Saints coach.

Check this out: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/dr_z/news/2002/12/26/drz_in...

-------------
Sports talk radio and sports message boards are the killing fields of intellectual discourse.

17
by Nathan :: Wed, 05/19/2010 - 1:00pm

I've seen that clip before, it's funny and he does have ZERO BALL SKILLS but in a bunch of them he's playing Cover 2 and it looks like he's getting run past when he's really just releasing the WR to a nonexistent safety

22
by Jercules (not verified) :: Sun, 05/23/2010 - 7:48pm

The only thing I got from that set of clips is what a great receiver Steve Smith is. Seriously, talk about a hatchet job.

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