As I popped a bottle of Andre yesterday afternoon relishing the notion of Jammal Brown and Trent Williams as the bookend Tackles (I could care less who plays which side), I emailed David Cariello over at SB Nation's Saints' blog, Canal Street Chronicles, to get his take on the deal and if at age 29 Jammal resembles more a 1981 Ford Mustang or 1981 Ford Escort. (He chose the latter). The only red flag raised on Jammal is how many penalties he has racked up, which is a flag I quickly lowered (stats after the jump).
It appears from your poll that 60% of the fans think you got hosed in the trade. Do you feel so and if so why?
CSC: Personally, I don't think so. It's about what I expected. Getting a third rounder would certainly be better than a fourth so now we're all forced to root for Donovan McNabb. I'm not sure why some people might think Brown would be worth a first or second round pick. If that were true, he would probably be valuable enough to keep on the team.
With Brown spending last year on IR, some 'experts' think Jammal has lost athleticism and won't fit into Shanahan's zone blocking scheme. Do you think that's the case?
I'm not much of an x's and o's kinda guy but I do think Brown has lost some athleticism. I think, sadly, his best days are behind him. The fact that the Skins want him to move to RT, even though Brown doesn't really want to, says a lot. As long as he recovers from his recent injuries, he should be able to contribute productively. But I'm not sure about Pro-Bowl caliber anymore.
A lot of your CSC readers seem to have a 'good riddance' tone to their comments. Was he as inefficient and prone to penalties as it seems?
It just didn't end well. He didn't sign his tender, show up to voluntary workouts or attend the Super Bowl ring ceremony this summer. With the Saints winning a Super Bowl without him and Jermon Bushrod filling in just fine, Brown became viewed as expendable. It just seemed like he had a bad attitude and it was obvious he wanted out. And yes, it did seem like he was our most penalized offensive lineman.
Everyone in DC remembers Jason Taylor as a bust, but ironically, he had one of his best games as a Redskin against Jammal Brown and the Saints totaling 1 sack, 2 QB pressures, 1 batted pass, 1 tackle, and 2 stops. As Saints fans are quick to point out, Jammal is quite the penalty-prone Tackle racking up 10 in 2008. That's actually not a big deal figuring the 2 NFC Pro-Bowl LTs last year, Jason Peters and David Diehl, each had 8.
Certainly, moving to RT, which carries all the complexity of sliding a different angle, balance, etc could lend itself to more holding, but at the LT position, he was on par with the elite. Looking at that face though, I'm glad to have a guy like that on the Oline. How often does one acquire a Pro-Bowl Tackle under the age of 30 for less than a 2nd round pick? With the addition of Brown, this greatly reduces the odds Stephon Heyer ever sees the field, which is a reason alone to pop my second bottle.
Image via www.thestrengthcenter.com
