Where is the business decision on AE then.
they said early on that this was a 3 year project because they were changing positions.
year one didn't work out at all the way the FO wanted it to, not because of AE, but because of fox too busy being a lame duck.
they are, at least for the moment, holding true to that plan. that's the business part of it. following through on the plan.
was there a double standard in how they dealt with mcclain? sure...maybe. it all depends on what they were expecting long term and short term. it's not exactly the same situation. they weren't turning a CB into a DT. they were taking someone that they thought was ready to play their position on the pro level or at least thought that they were capable of doing it and he just didn't translate like they had hoped as quickly as they were hoping. he got replaced because he was the weakest member at that position.
AE is a different situation so it shouldn't be handled the same way.
now don't take this to mean i agree with what they did at the beginning. i'm not a fan of just about anything they did in acquiring him or the whole position change thing. i think it was a mistake. i think a lot of that draft was a mistake. i didn't like that pick or the trade that was involved. i hated the jimmy pick. i don't like that they tried picking the team for the next coach to build on without his input and while the old coach was still there. i don't like that they held on to fox for that last year, in fact i was calling for his head a couple years before that. i pretty much thought that whole situation was one big clusterf@ck...but i understand the business side of what they did. it's not what i would have done, but i understand what they were doing.
with AE...as i've said before, i'm not a believer that he can be much more than he is or that he will reach what the FO saw as his potential. i can, though, understand what they are doing. while i wouldn't have put the team in that situation to begin with...if that was the situation that i was put in as a coach i'd probably handle it very much the same.
some people you see potential in that you don't in others. some of those people are bigger projects than others. you know this going into any type of management/leadership situation. when you report to bosses you have to understand that those bosses, right or wrong, may have higher goals and expectations for certain projects (or players in this situation) than you might otherwise have, but it's your duty to see that you follow through with that. that won't be the case for every project(player) but it is for some. we might call that a "pet" project. rivera was handed a situation where he has to try and develop AE into a legit WR. if it works out, great. if not...at least you followed through. the issue is that you give it the time and energy needed to make it happen if it can happen at all.
AE has shown some progress, and while it's not the progress that i might have wanted to see, it's still there. it's reasonable to expect that there is a time limit on this project, but it's also reasonable to expect that they will try and follow through.
now jimmy is a different case all together and honestly i don't feel like putting my .02 into this because this is already likely a case of tl;dr for those just not interested in having their PoV challenged or broadened...so i'm not going to do it.
