Axing the Ax Man

Comments and reactions from friends on the stunning departure of Jeremiah Trotter:

 

JG: Can't really go against Reid and personnel decisions too much.  I thought Trotter looked bad against Ravens.  Still slow.

I can't believe he's not better than Tank Daniels, but maybe the "emotional talk" they had dealt w/ backup role and Trotter still wants to start.  I've been going with that in my head.  That's why they cut him now so he can catch on w/ another team.  I hope that's not it because if it is then I say screw him - make him backup and give us depth.  I hope he really is done.

 

 

PK: Personally, I know it's tough to see a beloved vet go but this is part of the reason we're considered such a top notch organization, making those calls correctly. If Trotter was too old to play on anything other than 1st down or really short yardage situations, we couldn't afford to pay him the big $$$$. And also, this defense has been led physically and emotionally for 3 or 4 yrs by BDawk, clearly. Trotter was a leader on D, but Dawkins is The Leader.
That said, what's our plan to stuff the run this year? Do we have one? Crossing our fingers and hoping we're better? It's been the Achilles of Johnson's D since '04 (when Trotter got reinserted as a starter solely to stuff the run in the final 8 games). The Saints exploited this in reg season and in NFC playoffs last year - ending our season with clock killing precision against our helpless defense. (Only a Brees miscue gave us the ball back late in the 4th in playoffs.)
Is Omar Gaither ready to become the Trotter of '99-'00-'01?  Not sure.

 

MB: It was totally to save money.  Why else do you cut Trot and keep McCoy?   Trot's already been contacted by NYG.  So, up the middle on defense we have, Bunkley(essentially a rookie who's been a bum to date), Patterson(undersized), Gaither (never played the middle before, undersized), Dawkins (aging, has hardly practiced or played in preseason due to injury) and Considine(white guy, undersized). Our linebackers are Spikes (15 games in last 2 years), Gaither (see above), Gocong (never played linebacker in his life, NFL rookie).  They generally do make good decisions regarding older players (Vincent, Taylor), but they better be right, because their judgment on linebackers has been horrendous.  Outside of Trot, our other MLB's have been Gardner, Kirkland and Simoneaux.  They were only paying Trot $2.6 this year.  Not a ton, but a lot for a backup.  Why not ask him to restructure and see if he takes the offer?   Seems like quite a gamble for a team in the hunt in a WIDE open NFC.  In the interviews with Dawkins, he said all the right things about letting Trot go, but his attitude was, "I hope they're right."