whether yer pro-thomas or anti-thomas, youve gotta admit the team is better when he plays, and 4 years/12 million is a bargain......

Vet minimum?

welp,I was wrong. Krewe de Crow this year will be lead by Sapper!

Not sure the word "commensurate" is part of Reggie Bush's vocabulary.

And I yours, we just differ on our opinion, thats not really so bad.


In a way yes, in a way no. RB's are the most brutalized people playing in the NFL. They make Ref calls to cover QB's, WR, but not the worst hits, and they are on RB's. I told my wife once, I have no sympathy for either, RB's are horrifically sacked every play. RB's endure 250-320 lbs guys hitting them at full speed in the knees, chest,etc. When I ran it became so common for me to get the wind knocked out of me I walked to the huddle normally and still could not breath. Defensive players commonly stand up by putting their knee on your chest, shoulder, or leg, to hurt you or because they are pissed.
The normal life of a RB in the NFL is 3 years, thats how bad it is. Research earl campbell, seriously. The price you pay for being a RB in the NFL is worse than any position. They are always going to be hurt at some point. They are sacked in the worst way every time they run. Then they have to endure the constant yapping of know it all fans, because they cant take the pounding week to week.
You do realize that most RB's send mondays in bed right? Your try taking 3 or more hits from 250-320 lbs guys on your frame every run for 4 yards, with no ref giving a hoot what they do to you. Every run, but they are weak or injury prone?
There isn't a single member on this board that could survive a single run that Thomas or Ivory does without being in a hospital.

Persecutive is important, every RB is in a car crash when they run, some get lucky, some not. Your just saying PT wasn't lucky, last year. I can guarantee you, you will never sign a RB that will not be hurt in the NFL.

If you put all your eggs in one basket and get a Walter Payton, you cant afford other talent. Same mistake Falcons are making. IF turner is out they die. Its better to spread the talent and have 3 guys that = WP. If you lose one you still have game. Thats what payton is doing.

Colston + moore = better than Randy moss in his prime, for 1/2 the money. Plus if you lose one you still have a dimension to your game left. The other team loses Moss there done.

Well guess he really was hurt, I was wrong. Good stuff

Again, you are sort of making my point in describing the beating RBs take. No one is doubting the punishment and I'm sure I would not handle a hit from an NFL quality player well (not sure where you pulled this from?). Luck surely has a lot to do with injuries.

But other things do too. Thomas is 5'11" 215 where as Stephen Jackson is 6'2 235. Who would you put your money on getting hurt if these two collided in one of those violent impacts you describe? I know my money is on PT. Physics backs me up on this. You can't control luck. So you may as well control the things you can. You can decide if you want your feature back to be PT's size or SJ's size. I'd prefer SJ's size. Apparently, you want PT's size or think it is not important.

Previous injuries have a lot to do with staying on the field as well. Speaking from the experience of three knee surgeries and two ankle casts, once a lower body part is injured, it does not come back stronger than it was. In fact, rarely does it come back as strong. Couple these things together and I think it likely that PT will see time on the injury list again if he leads the backs in touches next season.

If you use this logic, signing Josh Freeman + Jimmy Clausen = Better than Drew Brees because most NFL QBs get hurt at some point too, right? That must also be why Jerry Rice's teams never did anything and he never had any other good WRs on the team with him.

You may be right when you speculate on why Payton made this roster move. The signing obviously helps the backfield depth. I won't argue that. But I speculate that if you ask Payton or any other NFL head coach if they would rather have a RB corps of Thomas and Ivory vs Walter Payton (or Jackson, or Barry Sanders, etc) and an undrafted rookie (kind of like Ivory!) I'm betting Thomas isn't getting many nods.

Time will tell and I hope I'm dead wrong. But if the team doesn't address the position with something better than a 5th round pick, I foresee relying on a DeShawn Wynn type signing again to fill out the roster and try to get important yards in a cold weather game next season. Sorry if that prospect does not excite me!

This is one of the better discussions I've seen in a while. Solid points on all sides of this discussion.(That's one of the reasons I love this board)......we have discussions-not arguments! Great intelligent discussion gentlemen.
I do feel the need to comment on the fact that the more you play the tougher you get.......if you can avoid injuries. This is just a personal opinion but I do believe that veteran rugby players(especially flankers) take the same beating every Saturday without pads. I don't mean to brag, that is not the point, but we condition ourselves to take the physical abuse. Anyone seen 300? It's not that barbaric but it's very similar in that the body conditions itself to heal stronger. Although even rugby players spend time on the sidelines wearing a cast and don't always use good judgment. (I actually cut a cast off with a hacksaw one time because my team didn't have enough players.) I feel there is a correlation between toughness and conditioning.
I hope my rants about rugby doesn't get on anybody nerves. Who Dat!:bng:

Good discussion, all I know is that he threw an insane party last night so good to see he's putting that money to good use

Thanks Rug. I will admit, Pierre is mean on the screen.