Jeremiah Trotter cut

Well, it's official. The Redskins cut Jeremiah Trotter, two years after signing him to a seven year, $36 million deal which included a $7 million signing bonus.

I don't mean to gloat over Trotter's misfortune, but it seems pretty clear that his career took a nosedive after leaving the Eagles, and which was just compounded by tearing up his knee in the Thanksgiving 2002 game vs. the Cowboys.

In retrospect, it's laughable now to think that Trotter was demanding "Ray Lewis-type" money from the Eagles when he became a free agent after the 2001 season. In fact, the high point of his career probably came during the divisional playoff game vs. Chicago when he was being favorably compared to Brian Urlacher and was considered, at worst, the second best LB in the NFC. Nine months after that game, you could have made the case that he wasn't even the second best LB on his own team (LaVar Arrington and Jesse Armstead).

Having watched him play in DC, Trotter confirmed all of the negative knocks against him the Eagles whispered to the media when the franchise tag was removed (ie, the Eagles defensive schemes played to his strengths, he was weak in pass coverage, and that he was undisciplined (particularly frustrating to Skins D-coord Marvin Lewis)).

The saddest thing about the Trotter situation is that it didn't have to be this way. His agent should be sued for malpractice. Had he accepted the Eagles' extension offer way back when he was a restricted free agent (the 2000 season I believe) he would not have gotten the gaudy signing bonus that was so obviously important to him, but would instead have earned the equivalent in annual salaries that he eventually wound up getting from the Skins. Plus, he would have been putting in the years to fulfill the contract's length (and not risked a career ending injury before getting the big signing bonus) and still been in a position to sign another deal while still in his prime. From the Eagles perspective and for all his faults, Trotter would have stayed an Eagle and was clearly a superior talent to the situtational run stopper Leviathan, er Levon, Kirkland or the second stringer Barry Gardner.

Finally, maybe the best thing that can be said about the entire situation is that it sticks the Skins with $5 million in dead cap money next year as they retire the Trotter signing bonus pro-rated portion.