When Isaiah Stanback was selected in the fourth round of the 2007 draft by the Cowboys, the team wasn't sure exactly what it had. But they were excited.
After two years of injuries and virtually no production from the former Washington quarterback-turned-receiver, the Cowboys quietly cut him Saturday in favor of undrafted rookie Kevin Ogletree.
Now he's got a new team and a new position.
The Patriots picked up Stanback for their practice squad, and they will let him exclusively focus at the quarterback position. For now, he's essentially the team's third quarterback behind Tom Brady and undrafted rookie Brian Hoyer.
There is a lot of speculation the Patriots will add a veteran arm to help out the situation, but New England has us guessing at this point. Which is just how they like it.
Stanback is a logical candidate for some Wildcat formation fun, but Patriots owner Robert Kraft didn't sound too enamored with the idea when the Michael Vick rumors reached his ears last month.
"We've got the No. 1 player at that position in the world as far as I'm
concerned," Kraft said. "Why would we ever want to do anything that would take him
off the field for one play?"
Stanback join Patriots as quarterback
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 6, 2009 11:26 PM ET
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C'mon Greg - Florio deserves a snide comment or two for his big FAIL on predicting Feely to the Patriots.
Show some sack.
Quote: "We've got the No. 1 player at that position in the world as far as I'm concerned," Kraft said. "Why would we ever want to do anything that would take him off the field for one play?"
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What this really means is "We know that the team won't win the Super Bowl unless Brady is the QB. It doesn't matter who the backup QB is if Brady gets hurt so we will save some money on salaries (big surprise, huh?) by having low cost backup QBs".
Why do you think they just traded Richard Seymour? It is because they knew he would leave after this season anyways when the Patsys refused to pay him true market value. So they decided to sucker the Raiders out of a first rounder and bring in a guy to replace Seymour at a much cheaper salary.
This is how the Patsys work. They have a reputation of being cheap when it comes to paying players. Even Tom Brady is underpaid compared to the other "elite" QBs in the NFL.
They get rid of most guys when the time comes to pay them the really BIG money...
@steeler-hater says:
"This is how the Patsys work. They have a reputation of being cheap when it comes to paying players. Even Tom Brady is underpaid compared to the other "elite" QBs in the NFL.
They get rid of most guys when the time comes to pay them the really BIG money..."
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That is a brilliant evaluation. You just made me fully realize why the Patriots have been a non-competing terrible team the last 9 years. If they just paid every player the really BIG money they would finally get a chance to compete with the best in the NFL, and possibly (hopefully) win a Lombardi. I can't believe they haven't thought of this strategy. You're a genius. By the way, in you're fantasy league (where I'm sure you are the Commish), is there a strategy called "working 53 players + a practice squad within a league mandated salary cap"?
^^ nah man. pats made a good move. Brady, Wilfork, and Seymour all need new contracts and Seymour happens to be the odd man out. Besides, pats have been runnin more of a 4-3 D this year anyway. Thats why they got rid of Lenon, no need for as many MLBs. Oakland's goin to use Seymour as a DT, so his numbers will be down. and my dude Ron Brace is a monsta to help the new 4-3. And they're not done lookin for a back up QB
Hey steeler_hater ... if we are judging by success, it is hard to knock the Pats' formula.
If Brady gets hurt, they will find a way to go 11-5.
RE: Seymoour ... They got a 1st rdr this year instead of a headache and nothin' more next.
Stanback *JOINS* Patriots as quarterback!
Bad form!
Raiders fans are jumping for joy, proving they truly are first class idiots.
Seymour was a legitimate Pro Bowler .... WAS. He's still pretty darn good, but one thing the Patriots have proven time after time is that they are the best at knowing when to walk away from a player. Name one "discard" New England has let go that has really made an impact elsewhere? Branch? Law? Milloy? McGinest? Washington? I can go on and on.
The sad truth here is that Bill B knew Seymour was starting to decline, knew he'd command huge bucks after this year, and knew they'd have to let him walk while getting zero for him. Instead they turned him into a first round pick.
The Raiders think he's going to shore up a sad pathetic defense. Seymour was awesome in New England because his great talents were supplemented by so many other solid players in a solid defensive system. In Oakland, wherever Seymour goes, the opposition will simply play to the weak side. In New England, there WAS no "weaker side".
Not only will this move prove fruitless this season, but the Raiders have traded away a first round pick that they'll badly need to rebuild their team, IF Al Davis ever gets his head out of his a$$ and gets people in there that know how to rebuild a team. And the worst part is that they gave this pick up for a one year rental on Seymour.
His contract will be up in a year, he'll command hefty money none the less from a team that does have more talent to surround him with, and he sure as hell won't want to stick around a dysfunctional team like Oakland one more day than he has to. Lock him up to a long-term deal? Would YOU sign that deal to stay there if you were Seymour?
This deal was a beauty for New England, and another train wreck for the Raiders.
It's easy for a WR to play QB when he knows that play the defense is going to use before the snap.
I don't think the transition will hurt him much, he's got the most brilliant coach in the history of football cheating for him.
@ Richm2256:
You couldn't have said it any better than that. I think it's amazing that you can use a 1st round pick on a player, use him while he is at his peak and then trade him for that same round pick. That's just genius for NE and stupidity for Raiders (See Randy Moss for 4th round pick trade).
Being a Cowboys fan, I watched Stanback and hoped for him to develop during his tenure in Dallas. Unfortunately, injuries kept him off the field for a lot of the time, but when he was on the field he was hardly special.
I find it very hard to believe that his QB skills are sufficient for the NFL level. He was a running QB in college, and his running skills at the pro level weren't all that wonderful, either. He seems like a nice, fairly bright guy... but nice, fairly bright guys are cut every day.
This deal makes me scratch my head and go "huh?".
@restore the roar:
Considering Belicheat's history of shady moves and outright cheating, I can't help but wonder what kind of new unhanded tricks he has been pulling since the NFL took his video cameras away.
@ralphie:
Sure it looks like a great formula... especially when the team dupes its star player into taking a lot less money than his market value.
Name even one great player they have that is getting paid his fair market value. Brady obviously isn't.
The Patsys philosophy seems to be: "If you wanna play for us, you'll take whatever we decide to give you and not one cent more. Even if you are the best player in the NFL, don't expect to get paid like it if you wanna stay here".
Since Brady isn't the highest paid player in the NFL (despite Patsy fans claiming he is the NFL's best player) then that means either he is a dumbbell or they played hardball even with their best player just so they could be cheap...
Hey Steeler-hater:
Brady IS the best QB in the league - hands down, no arguement. Does he get paid that way?
No he doesn't. Is it done in spite of him by the Pats? No, it isn't. What you and a lot of other haters don't realize is part of the WINNING formula the Pats have is that the players don't view themselves better than the team, they are part of it. That being said, Brady has taken pay cuts (yes plural) that he himself asked for in order for the money to be spent in obtaining players around him to make him better. That's what WINNERS do, think about what it will take for the TEAM to win and be part of that, NOT the "how much can I make and screw the team if we don't win because of it" mentality most of these greedy idiots have in this day and age.