Fred Davis... again.

[Kel Varnsen]

I feel bad for Fred Davis, but it's mostly because he has thrown away so much. We are the result of our choices. If we do stupid stuff, stupid results will follow. I can't pretend to know what goes through his mind or why he does what he does. But I do know that one dumb mistake after another has derailed the career of a talented athlete.

He needs help.

 

[SC_RedskinsFan]

He musta been high thinking he would would not get a DUI while hammered in the afternoon, wait maybe he was

I don't feel bad for him, he has done this to himself over and over again in one way or another. And done nothing to help this team.

 

[SkinsFTW]

He will be another player broke within 5 years of leaving the game.

5 years?

I bet its closer to 5 minutes than 5 years.

 

[tshile]

At one point in my life I had the pleasure of sitting down with a guy that worked with bobby beathard during the '80s. I worked for this gentleman, and shared acquaintances, so I got to talk to him a bunch.

According to this guy - Beathard was a successful GM because he could sit down with a person and tell within 30 seconds whether he was the type of person he wanted on the team or not. Talk about the importance of first impressions - if you were meeting with Beathard for a chance to join the Washington Redskins first impressions lasted 30 seconds and you didn't get a second try.

That may sound a bit extreme, but I'm sure most of you have known someone that could instantly judge a person's character and be right far more often than he/she was wrong. It's a skill not a lot of people have (by that I mean one not a lot of people are significantly good at), but for the the ones that do it is an invaluable skill for navigating through life.

Anyways - Fred Davis would have never been picked by Beathard. Because Beathard believed in assembling a team that was smart, focused on the ask at hand, and willing to put it all out there when it mattered most. The result was 3 super bowl teams and a slew of hall of famers during a small stretch of time that outnumbers some franchises' total representation in the hall.

Too many GM's acquire talent based on film. Based off potential. Based on athletic ability.

Not enough acquire talent based on whether or not the person is a "Football Player."

It's almost like it's just a ridiculously false sense of arrogance: "He's not a football guy... but he's a hell of an athlete... we'll make him a football guy"

Except you can't just make someone a football guy. They either are, or they aren't. There are exceptions, but they're exceptions not the rule.

"Football guy" - not a term you'll find in the dictionary. Those that know what it means know what it means - those that don't, don't.

I hope Allen knows what he's doing. Cerrato screwed this franchise up royally and it's taken a long time to purge this franchise of scum and non football people.

 

[Boone]

Love, love, love that post tshile. I have been in leadership positions most of my adult life. When I was a Director of 6 or 7 hospital units, my units had top 1% patient satisfactions scores nationally, almost zero turnover, in stark contrast to many of the other hospital units where people were trying to find an escape plan, where there was zero teamwork, and where patients rated them below average. Was it because I was a 'great leader'? I don't really think so.

The main difference between myself and the other leaders of those failing units was that I was extremely particular in who I allowed to be a part of my teams. They had to be self-motivated, positive, hard workers, team players, who cared a LOT about their performance and our patients... I didn't just stop at that. I also purged my units of folks who simply didn't have those qualities. I got rid of some folks who'd been on my units for 15+ years and who should've been gone long ago. I removed some folks in leadership positions for the same reason.

Character and 'who folks are' isn't just an important thing, it's damn near the ONLY thing that ultimately matters when it comes to long-term success. Now - in the NFL, obviously, talent is another factor. But I'm willing to bet that even in the NFL, talent never trumps all the rest of it. There's no debating that, comparing Fred Davis and Logan Paulsen side by side, the talent comparison is not even close. Davis could be and should be a Pro Bowler. He's got all the physical talent in the world. Paulsen is a big, slow white guy. But which one is a productive dependable player?

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Great post, t!

Let's hope Doug Williams has a bit of that Beathard magic in him, and can read players like has been reported. And if so, let's hope Allen listens to his advice.

 

[Ax]

I'm sure most of you have known someone that could instantly judge a person's character and be right far more often than he/she was wrong. It's a skill not a lot of people have (by that I mean one not a lot of people are significantly good at), but for the the ones that do it is an invaluable skill for navigating through life.

Thanks. It does come in quite handy. It's also a nuisance at times. Those close to you are always wanting you to "assess" someone for them.

And, like Beathard, apparently, you're not always gonna be right. But you've been right far too often to go against your instincts.