(This Blog Post is from M.K. Welch, a Sports Talk Radio Show Host at ESPN Aberdeen)

Alright, this post was going to be all about Chad Greenway signing his 5-year contract extension and what that means. In short, it means that Rick Spielman has chosen Chad Greenway over Adrian Peterson. It’s the right move. In the spring of 2008, Chiefs GM Carl Peterson had the same choice. He paid the RB Larry Johnson and traded the DE Jared Allen. How did that work out for Carl Peterson? Well, he’s no longer the Chiefs GM. Moral of the story: Don’t pay aging running backs.

 

What derailed that riveting blog post is the Jacksonville Jaguars releasing David Garrard yesterday with less than a week until the beginning of the season. That does bother me, but I wasn’t that upset until I saw what everybody else was saying about the move. I see guys like Jon Gruden and others (I mention Gruden because I actually expected better from him, I see Gruden as one of the few around him with some integrity) nonchalantly reminding everyone that, “This is a business.”

 

Where is that mentality every time a player holds out for more money? It’s nonexistent, all people talk about is how the player signed a contract and he should honor his contract. What about the organization honoring anything? David Garrard just had $8 million ripped from him. If the Jags waited to release Garrard just a few more days, then they would have to pay him the $8 million.

 

Was it a good business decision? Probably, I don’t think anybody is going to make the argument that David Garrard is in the top half of NFL quarterbacks. That said, why does his organization get to yank money out of his hands? It’s sad for David Garrard, and it’s a sad reality check for every player in the NFL. From this point forward, if a player feels underpaid, he will holdout and he damn well should.

 

Could this move be freeing up money while the Jags attempt to make a move to Los Angeles? Maybe… I could speculate, but I don’t have any valid information to back up that claim. The bottom line is that the Jacksonville Jaguars screwed David Garrard. If they didn’t want Garrard, they needed to release him a month ago. This is cruel, unethical, and a complete snow job. I wish national media would acknowledge that fact, but then again, the same thing that happened to Garrard could happen to them.