Mathews busted after fight

[sandiego17]

I don't like it either. Who does? He's not the only example (as someone mentioned, Brees, you can throw MT in there too, Jackhole, there are probably others). And Jackhole gets a ton more love than hate around here. Guys like you, Beer, and Blaze are still crying in your beers of his loss it would appear.

Point taken on the two DUI's, its pretty idiotic, but that doesn't mean Jackhole didn't produce or was a bad team guy. Beer made the point that if the team were so hell bent on letting him go, why not trade him? Made no sense. Not crying over VJ, must have been the onions.

[Fleet]

AJ used to tell us that the compensation for some of these guys was in the form of comp picks. Thats fine if you get a 3rd or 4th for the players you let walk but you might want to make those draft selections work if your going to sell that theory to the fans.

[TTK]

Undeniably. So what?

It's the moves like this over the past 3-4 years that have turned this team from a contender into a pretender.

I used to be a big AJ Smith fan but his ego really destroyed this team in the end. VJ cleaned up his act the last two years here and in my eyes proved that he should have gotten a contract extension. And the worst part is that we didn't even get anything for him.

[Steve]

Indy had a pretty good track record of retaining it's star players didn't they?

They had positions where they let people walk. They lost of a lot of CB and a few S, because they knew that cover 2 protects the DB, and you can use slower players there. It is just a lot easier to find people who can play CB in that scheme, so there is no reason to pay extra for it. They also only spent money on Jeff Saturday and Tarrick Glenn on OL. The OG were cheap and they kept turning over all the time.

In the over/under cover 2 D, you have to create a lot of pressure or the zone D gets eaten alive, so they took the money they saved on DB, and used it to pay their DE and skill players. But in the end, that was probably why they struggled in the playoffs so much. Concentrating a lot of money in a few spots to have superstars, but then having too many so-so guys. Not sure where the balance between the two comes from.

Again, they prioritized the spots they could get by with and the positions that needed to have the best players at. And Indy stated to struggle when they missed on the replacements for the top players at various positions. They used a different scheme, so their choices would be different, but every team prioritizes to put the best players in the key spots.

As far as AJ goes, I imagine he was trying to reward the team first guys like Dielman and Rivers, and trying to punish the guys like VJ and Merriman, who didn't seem to be the consummate team guys. Like I said before, if you develop the guys fast enough and well enough, I don't think you need to worry about it. Look back to when we were dealing with Michael Turner. He was just one among many good players. It really didn't matter if we had gotten a draft pick for him. I think that AJ was trying hard not to force himself into making a bad deal and get everything he could possibly get. But it is kind of like people I know who do yard sales. They want to make a ton of money off the stuff, but then they always seem shocked at all the stuff they are forced to throw away/or get stuck with. AJ negotiating style is always going to limit how many players we resign, plus the fact that we don't throw funny money deals at players. But that means you are going to lose a lot of them, and you have to adjust the expectation on the compensation.

The other issue I have with AJ was the idea of comp picks. First, they wrote the rules around the idea that they only compensate teams that make a real effort to resign players. Not sure if you can ever win those, it always seems like we came out pretty bad. Second, even when we got the 3rd rounder for Brees, comp picks don't come till the end of the 3rd, after all the regular picks come. So, really it is a 4th round pick in terms of value. I always love the value in the 2nd and mid 3rd round, but by the end of the 3rd, the value is evaporating.

[pumpkinhead80]

Ryan Mathews is 25, legal to drink, and it's between the OTA's and the start of Training Camp.

If he can't go out, and get a little drunk at this point in time... He's never going to be able to.

I'm not sure whether Acee is hinting at other problems or not. If he is...come out and say it. If he isn't, then he's a complete idiot, because honestly, being involved in an altercation at a bar doesn't mean anything.

I was once grabbed, and pushed, and accused of giving some guy the finger in a bar...and I didn't do anything. Didn't know the guy, didn't know anything, had no clue what he was talking about. But he was drunk, (and so was I), and luckily cooler heads prevailed...

I find the amount of hatred on these guys for doing something as simple as going out for a few drinks with a few friends is just ridiculous.

Yes, bad stuff happens. The fact Ryan Mathews was in a bar and drunk, and "connected" with some sort of physical altercation only means he's human.

haven't read further to see if anyone else has responded yet but i think the entire point he was making was that while he concedes mathews is off of work and on break, of age, and single with money, he has been a broke dick and underperformed, not meeting even half of what has been expected of him on the field, so maybe he should be showing off his maturity and dedication to fixing the problems he's been having.

[QSmokey]

Point taken on the two DUI's, its pretty idiotic, but that doesn't mean Jackhole didn't produce or was a bad team guy. Beer made the point that if the team were so hell bent on letting him go, why not trade him? Made no sense. Not crying over VJ, must have been the onions.

They should have traded him to Minny when they had the chance (during his holdout year). I think they offered us a 2nd-round pick and a late-round pick...but I could be mistaken about that. Absolutely made no sense.

[QSmokey]

It's the moves like this over the past 3-4 years that have turned this team from a contender into a pretender.

I used to be a big AJ Smith fan but his ego really destroyed this team in the end. VJ cleaned up his act the last two years here and in my eyes proved that he should have gotten a contract extension. And the worst part is that we didn't even get anything for him.

I agree with that. It was one thing to lose talented guys. But to get nothing for them...NOTHING! WTF! While a team like the Patriots could trade a guy they didn't want (like Seymour) for a 1st-round pick. There are other examples. Cutler. Palmer. Makes me sick. Bress, MT, Sproles, Jackhole...just walk away (although we did get a comp 3rd for Brees, I believe. Which AJ wasted on Anthony Waters).

[Mister Hoarse]

And the pork chop icon?

Who's to say there's not a bit of gravy in those tears?

[oneinchpunch]

The UT question today on Facebook...

How many games will te Chargers get out of Ryan Mathews?

Messed up.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Do preseason games count?

[Mister Hoarse]

Do preseason games count?

should this question count?

[pumpkinhead80]

The UT question today on Facebook...

How many games will te Chargers get out of Ryan Mathews?

Messed up.

why's that messed up though? with his history of being a broke dick?