The Cleveland Browns made their first major move under new general manager Ray Farmer as the team decided to not pay linebacker D'Qwell Jackson a four million dollar roster bonus and as a result give him his release.The 30 year old former Maryland Terrapin was a second round pick in the 2006 draft and led the Browns in tackles several times over his Browns tenure.
Jackson was a solid performer in both the 3-4 and 4-3 setups defensively,but performed far better as the middle linebacker in the 4-3 than as one of the two insider backers in the 3-4.
I've looked at Jackson differently than many Browns fans through the years as a player and it is shown today as I am not going to rip the Browns at all for the decision.
I've always thought Jackson was the type of player that fantasy football owner love,but that did not always bring that effectiveness to the field.
Jackson's effort was never in question as he always worked hard and gave the proverbial 100 percent,but I never saw the impact player that made big plays.
Jackson made lots of tackles five,six,seven yards down the field,which is something that fantasy players love,but doesn't change games.
When you take the issue of the Mike Pettine defense, the large roster bonus and the full court press to attempt to re-sign center Alex Mack before free agency begins,all of these things add up to making the decision to let Jackson go the right one.
I would not have been against keeping Jackson,if he had been willing to restructure his contract (and he said that he was willing to consider that),but he might not have been what Mike Pettine is looking in a linebacker and having watched the lack of big plays from Jackson,I could not blame him very much.
I think this is smart and getting even more cap space to try to sign Alex Mack (which seemed to be very unlikely before the booting of Joe Banner) makes even more sense.
Sorry to see D'Qwell Jackson go,but it is the right move for the Cleveland Browns....
No comments:
Post a Comment