Goodbye Wille.....

This is a man that deserved better. Willie Anderson was cut in what can only be described as a surprise move by the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday. All of the other cuts I understood, hell I practically predicted them two blogs ago. Rudi was a surprise cut, I was really hoping that they could trade him, but since they couldn't a release makes sense. But to lose a man like Willie makes no sense to me. This is a man that has been here through all the crap and has never complained and has played through pain. He is a four time pro-bowler even amidst some of the worst team Cincinnati ever put on the field and is arguably the second best offensive lineman that this franchise has ever seen.

I argue all the time that players need to respect the contracts that they sign, but on the flip side teams and management needs to respect those same contracts. It would appear that Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis ask Willie to re-negotiate his contract, mainly due to the fact that they franchise tagged Stacy Andrews this off season and are starting him over Willie, and Willie said no. Willie feels that he perform at a high level, and maybe he can and maybe he can't. I am on the line of thinking that he may have lost a step, he was hurt for the first time significantly last year and missed some time on the field. I am sure that he is not at his prime now, but I am sure he is better than 50% of the starting tackles in the league. Plus the Bengals should have known the risk of something like this happening when they signed him to three more years when he was 30-31. I know this is a business, but it is shit like this that drives me crazy, there is nothing good that came out of this.

The most intriguing part of this, however, is what Willie said in a quote yesterday.
"And I've got too much respect for the Blackburns and Mike Brown. They came to me, I turned it down. That's it. I'm going to be a stand-up guy about it."

I find that quote interesting because he is saying that he respects Mike Brown and never mentions Marvin Lewis and was even angry about what Marvin said at the press conference that the team did not see enough from Willie in camp to keep him. I know Mike is not a good owner, but it is interesting that a stand-up guy like Willie has his back and not the coaches. Perhaps again I was correct and there is more blame to put on Marvin for the state of this team.

In any case, good bye Willie you deserved better. You deserved every bit of what Rich Brahm got when he left and more. You will be missed by me and all of Bungledom I am sure.