Retirements
As expected, the NFL rushing leader Emmitt Smith called it quits. He may not have had a great season in his one year with us, but I am proud to have had him on the team and to have been a part of his final 1000-yard season.
At the same time, I am quite happy to move on. Aging vets aren't what this team needs right now.
Here are the retirements:
Code:
Name Team Pos Last Year
Smith, Emmitt ARI RB 1049 rush yd, 2 td, 43 rec, 328 rec yd
Gash, Sam BUF FB 137 rush yd, 1 td, 41 rec, 296 rec yd
Proehl, Ricky CAR WR 55 rec, 565 yd, 1 td
Chandler, Chris CHI QB 380 yd, 60%, 2 td, 2 int, 75.6 QBR
Traylor, Keith CHI DT 66 tkl, 4 sacks, 5 blk, 15 hurries
Brown, Ray DET G 24 KRB, 30 KRB%, 5 sacks all, 0.8 sack%
Walls, Wesley GBY TE 18 rec, 220 yd, 3 td
Andersen, Morten KCY K 27-31 FG, 33-33 PAT, 114 points
Centers, Larry NED FB 113 rush yd, 28 rec, 125 yd, 2 rec td
Testaverde, Vinny NYJ QB 91 yd, 53%, 0 td, 3 int, 26.2 QBR
Jones, Tebucky* NOS S 105 tkl, 1 sack, 3 int, 13 defn
Levens, Dorsey NYG RB 2 rush yd, 1 rec, 2 yd
Mitchell, Brian NYG RB 8 rush yd, 1 rec, 7 yd
Armstrong, Trace OAK DE 23 tkl, 4 sacks, 4 hurries
Brown, Tim OAK WR 64 rec, 875 yd, 2 td
Gannon, Rich OAK QB 4303 yd, 67%, 23 td, 11 int, 95.8 QBR
Romanowski, Bill OAK LB 97 tkl, 1 sack, 6 hurries, 2 int, 1 int td, 12 defn
Woodson, Rod* OAK S 89 tkl, 1 sack, 6 int, 1 int td, 17 defn
Anderson, Gary* TEN K 36-44, FG, 34-34 PAT, 152 points
Smith, Bruce WAS DE 14 tkl, 4.5 sacks, 10 hurries
*- All-Pro Second Team, 2003
As you can see a number of decent to good profile players retired this season, although I am not sure how many will have a real impact on their teams. For instance, the Giants lose two running backs but they aren't going to have to worry about replacing five total carries between the two.
Of course, it looks like Oakland got tagged (as you would expect). It lost its #1 QB, #2 TE, #1 LB, #1 S and #2 DE. Ouch. And that doesn't even include Jerry Rice--he's staying on for another year apparently.
The list above, as noted, also includes three all-league players, including both second team safeties.
Legend of the Game
It was with some disappointment that I noted that Tim Brown won the Legend of the Game. I, of course, thought a player like Emmitt Smith deserved it.
Of course, according to the award description, it is supposed to go to the guy who exemplifies dedication and to one team. I suppose Emmitt's one year with Arizona spoiled that for him.
Nothing wrong with Brown winning, though. He was a great competitor in this league.
Other Retirements
Emmitt Smith wasn't the only person of Cardinal employ to hit the retirement road. Our highly-rated (but venerable) scout Vincent Caldwell also called it quits, so we will have to replace him.
In addition to our scout, a head coach and an offensive coordinator for other teams retired. But it seems to be very hard to pin down where they coached without going back into past save files (which I don't think is important enough to do).
We hired Grant Scott as our new scout. Scott is just 31, but he required a $350K annual salary, the equal of Caldwell's. The scary thing is that Caldwell was the highest paid scout in the league, and Scott wasn't my first choice. I actually missed out on another guy who got over $500K (and he was pretty good, too).
Scott is almost completely Averages and Goods, with a lone Fair in Defensive Linemen. Basically, he's about as mediocre as you can get.
CR