Cutting Carroll A Good Move

Ted Thompson cut Ahmad Carroll on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after he let Eagle receivers run up, around and over him on Monday Night Football. Carroll has been a complete disaster since being taken by Mike Sherman in the first round of the 2004 draft. If I remember right, Carroll didn't have many interceptions at Arkansas but everyone always talked about his athleticability and potential. I remember sitting at the Packer headquarters when Carroll was taken. Many a eyebrow was raised when the selection was made. First off this guy was five-foot-nothing. Remember Terrell Buckley?? That's what people said. Ron Wolf said after he drafted T-Buck that he would never draft another corner under 6-feet tall. I guess Mike Sherman wasn't listening and the little guy became a Packers.

I think Carroll had a flag thrown at him when he walked off the plane during his first trip to Green Bay after the draft. It became apparent in a hurry that Carroll wasn't that good. He has been abused by offenses more than any other defensive back I can remember since I've been covering the team. People would always say that he was young and would get better, but he never did. It was the same thing, day after day, game after game. Holding, pass interference, or just plain getting his butt burned.

Cutting Carroll was a good move by Ted Thompson in a couple of respects. First off it rids you of a guy that has shown signs of getting better. It also rids you of a guy that didn't have too many friends in the locker room or in the media. Remeber the fight he and Joey Thomas got into? How about kicking Rod Gardner during training camp? Or Mike Flannigan calling him out in the lockerroom for being a punk and not a team player. If you are going to stink, if you're a nice guy, you can at least feel a bit bad for a guy...example, Brady Poppinga has struggled this season, but he's a great guy and you can pull for a guy like him to get better and succeed.

I think this cut also sent a message to the team that if you don't do your job, you'll be gone. It reminds me of Mike Holmgren cutting Kitrick Taylor during Brett Favre's first year in Green Bay. Taylor caught the game winning score in Brett's frist game as a Packer against the Bengals. He dropped a key pass either the next week or a few weeks later and he was gone! Holmgren made a statement cut. I think the Carroll cut could be Ted Thompson's statement cut.

Plus if Ted Thompson is going to fail in Green Bay he'd probably feel better doing it with his players and not Mike Shermans. By the way, how many guys that Sherman drafted are even still on the team? And of those guys that have been cut, how many are currently on other teams? Not too many....but that is a whole different story.