Willie Reid

[jcharding]

I fear (more than any other cut in my Steeler lifetime of over 30+ years) that this is going to come back and bite us in the ass.

I am not a "Reid needs cut now" guy but I can't help but think this is the most overly dramatic statement I have read in long time.

Remember, this is coming from a person who doesn't make dramatic statements.

In any event, you all are missing my point.  I, jcharding, do hereby agree that Willie Reed has profoundly sucked during his entire Steeler career.  He has shown us absolutely nothing as a receiver or a returner.  I am also completely serious about this paragraph.  I am not sarcastic at all.  Willie Reed has honestly and truly been bad.

My point isn't whether Reed is good or bad.  My point is that we are way to focused on the travails of young players out of college.  We are making their life much much harder than it needs to be.  My one and only point is that we need to calm down and back off with respect to the return game and fumbles.  Thats it.  That is all I am saying.  Let the young players learn without ripping their heads off.

My overly dramatic point regarding Reid is that we have not given him (or just about any other returner in several years) a chance to fail and learn from those failures.  Due to this I fear that Reid is going to explode somewhere else.  And my overly dramatic point from above is that I cannot recall, ever, feeling this strongly when we were about to cut someone.   I always toe the team line on cuts.  I always understand when the cut is made.  I wasn't overly concerned when Fred Gibson went away.  I wasn't overly concerned when Danny Farmer went away.  Etc... I am this time.

[SCacalaki]

A few comments:

1)  I don't think fans complaining is so comparable to a boss looking over the shoulder of a subordinate as much as fans complaining compare to customers complaining about whatever product or service they pay for.  It happens everywhere.  Employees who can't take it or don't want to take it go elsewhere, voluntarily or involuntarily.  

2)  Whether it's Pittsburgh or elsewhere, a poor performing player will hear about it.  Though the volume can change, depending on which side of PA the guy plays.  

3)  I'm not sure I want to wait 3 years for a 3rd round player to develop into a returner.  Moreso due to a 3rd rounder's contract being up after the 4th year...how much am I willing to pay for a returner?  Low paid guys like Michael Lewis, Chad Morton and now Andra Davis, do well enough to earn year-to-year contracts.  Vet min. stuff.  I'm not interested in investing a lot of money into a returner.  

I'm also not asking the returner to be Hester or Dante Hall (back when).  Nor was I expecting such of Colclough or even Holmes last year.  My minimum expectation is protecting the football.  Reid has had 6 ops this year, and has put the ball on the ground twice (one ruled a fumble, the other used a challenge to overturn).  Reid isn't Colclough bad but he isn't instilling a lot of faith.  And I think that's a statement that goes beyond fandom due to the signing of an injury-waiting-to-happen Jeremy Bloom to the PS.  

It was wet.  It was cold.  Those are the likely conditions come playoff time.  The successful players adjust.  

Now, I think Reid is a decent WR.  Not a lot of real time experience but I think he can make a greater, more immediate impact at WR than as a returner.  If he can fulfill that role, then I can impatiently wait for his progression as a returner....though I don't see how protecting the football is something that changes from college to the pros.  

[Finnegans Wake]

Oh, it's Mr. Scacalaki and his fancy voice of reason...  :rolleyes:  

[LambertsFrontTeeth]

I fear (more than any other cut in my Steeler lifetime of over 30+ years) that this is going to come back and bite us in the ass.

I am not a "Reid needs cut now" guy but I can't help but think this is the most overly dramatic statement I have read in long time.

I think it's fair to have that level of paranoia.

See " Vrabel, Cocksu....er Mike."

[leighclay]

I may be wrong, but wasn't Devon Hester, the best returner in the league (maybe in the history of the league), a rookie last year? And as a rookie, I believe he set the record for most returns for touchdowns, which he again broke this year.

First off, it's DevIn.

Second, he went to the U.  Thus he's immensely more physically gifted than mere dudes who went to Florida State.   :rolleyes: As if....