I agree. This sounds like a Lazor decision and he just said "enough". Maybe Quinn's just a Camp Arm, but maybe it also sends a message to some other players to lift your game, maybe it also sends a message to QB Coach, Zack Taylor, who spent the past 3 seasons developing Devlin as the #3. Memo to Zack - Lazor had your position in Philly. He knows what a good QB Coach does in the job. BTW - Mike left the bubble 7 months ago.
I said some time ago I suspected a few surprise cuts this year. This team has too much young promising talent from this year's class to simply cut and watch someone else develop. The whole "only keep 2 QB" posts has now been validated in my eyes. I don't think Hickey is finished manufacturing roster spots.
Guys like Terrence Fede, Chris McCain, Jordan Tripp, A.J. Francis, Anthony Johnson, Tyler Larsen, Gator Hoskins, Arthur Lynch, Damien Williams, Armon Binns, Matt Hazel, Damian Williams and Kyle Miller make it hard enough to keep only 2 or 3. But when you have a glut of mediocre performers chewing up rosters spots who have maximized their talent and are chewing up larger chunks of salary cap.... it's time to rethink the benefit of keeping Pat Devlin, Daniel Thomas, Philip Wheeler and Dannell Ellerbe for yet another year.
I'm glad we are finally at a point where these types of decisions can be made due to depth. When you have the bottom side of your roster forcing you to turn over the middle of your roster, you've got some promising talent being drafted and acquired.
I can't help but think Shelley Smith is fighting for a roster spot. And I can't say he is on the winning side right now. It seems to me "The Experiment" and his constant movement around the line says more about the guys beating him out of those spots than is does his versatility. I still think Tyler Larsen is quietly being developed as a long term solution. And I believe his lack of opportunities with the 1's and 2's is merely due to the staff's contentment of his role this year and getting a vet to patch the roster hole in front of him to allow him to develop.
Hickey has created a problem for himself, he did too well finding talent in the draft and UDFA. Now he's got some hard choices to make. But I foresee most of the names I listed above to be on the 53.
I think it can't be overstated that losing the last 2 games last year will be answered with surprise cuts to keep rookies and send a message that 8 - 8 is not good enough. And the staff is not okay with it. I think there is a message being sent that continuing to settle for average is not good enough.
We've got some big contracts coming up in the next year or two. With such a bumper crop of promising young talent and a few dead weight contracts, I think Hickey is about to cut a few more guys most will be pleasantly surprised to see go. Wheeler, Ellerbe and Smith are on the radar IMO.
