You know what is sad? If you asked the Chargers' front office if they regret dumping Brees, I would lay 10-1 odds they would say "no". How can you avoid repeating a mistake, if you refuse to admit it was a mistake? Sports teams and politicos both suffer from this problem.
What do you think they should have done, though? They felt Rivers was a high-level prospect and were absolutely right, as he's been one of the top quarterbacks in the game also. IMO, it's akin to the Colts "dumping" Marshall Faulk. They had Edgerrin James and couldn't have kept and used both. That Faulk and Brees went on to have even more sterling careers I don't think makes it a mistake. Just a tough situation where you have to give up on one of two redundant, talented players.
Doesn't Rivers have the 2nd best winning% among active QB's? I'm not sure I'd say they made a mistake in the QB change, in as much as their game plan. They had no running game this year, and that hindered them.
Not to mention that Roethlisberger has won two, and he was drafted after Rivers that same year. So, the Chargers have had, or could have had, the QBs who won four of the past five Super Bowls.
Well, they could of drafted Fitzgerald instead of having the Giants pick Rivers. However Brees was coming off a bad year (in only his 2nd season as a starter) and they decided that was enough to give up on him. Brees only really started over Rivers because Rivers held out his rookie season.
As a Redskins fan, I find the bitching from a Charger fan to be a bit unappreciative. Wanna trade teams? Yeah, I didn't think so. Be grateful for what you have.
Brees wasn't impressive @ all until Rivers became his competition. The Chargers' didn't make the wrong move, their failure this year can't be put on Rivers. Rivers' has been an elite QB two years in a row and is only now entering his prime as are the Chargers (don't mix them up with LT, who is done as a Charger). Their window of opportunity is still wide open and with a few minimal adjustments (a respectable run game...they'll address that this off-season) will be in the Super Bowl running for awhile. Hell, Brees had 11 shoulder surgeries the off-season they let him go. Only two teams were interested in him, Miami and New Orleans. I mean shit, not even the Lions (who needed a QB and had some money to spend I believe) were interested in him. Brees chances of coming back and being successful were very minimal. it is damn impressive what he's done. I don't think you'll find one bitter Chargers' fan. All the ones I know are happy with the way our team is developing and extremely happy for Brees. A better guy could not have won the Super Bowl.
I have a hard time attributing Brees success in San Diego to Rivers. You don't think Brees struggled a bit because he was a young player on a god-awful team just coming off his second season as a starter? Rivers was a modest quarterback his first three seasons as well. I never said the Chargers made the wrong decision in letting Brees walk, the bad decision is when they decided they needed to replace him and (essentially) drafted Rivers when they had other wholes to fill and good players available at those wholes. I'm glad you aren't bitter, but that doesn't change the fact that they made a bad decision. I won't even get into Michael Turner, or are you going to tell me that you had no idea he would be this good as well?
Ah, but there is one part of the equation you are overlooking. The GM who drafted Brees was fired, and Rivers was the first big acquisition of the new guy. This was reverse "John Nash" syndrome. Nash wouldn't draft Paul or Williams, because it would mean he might have been wrong about Telfair. The new Chargers' GM wasn't going to keep Brees, because it would mean admitting Beatherd might have been right. Put it this way: can you imagine KP demanding that Outlaw/Webster shouldn't play (or trading them) solely because he didn't draft them?
That is a fair point if Rivers would have turned out to be Ryan Leaf 2.0. Rivers isn't a bust. His career isn't even close to being over, so how can you judge the move already?
Obviously, the talent gap between Brees and Rivers isn't nearly as big as the gap in the Paul/Williams vs Telfair example. My point is simply that "office politics" played a big part in the decision. You must admit, there was a degree of scapegoating going on.
That might be true, but you're also overlooking the extensive damage to Brees' arm at the time. You can say it was a bad decision in hindsight, in the same way that you can say not hitting on a 20 was a bad move if the next card is revealed to be an ace...but was it really a bad move based on the information at the time? They (correctly) evaluated Rivers as a top-tier talent. Brees' arm had been shredded and repaired...the Dolphins had him checked out by a number of specialists (since they were interested in signing him) and those specialists were unanimous that Brees was unlikely to recover fully. That he beat the odds is great for him. But do you really think the Chargers made the wrong decision at the time by not investing heavily in a quarterback of questionable short-term and long-term health and going with their young, talented quarterback instead? If you think so, are you then in favour of giving Oden a big contract this off-season? You seem to be very willing to abandon Oden's future, due to major health concerns, yet are criticizing San Diego for not having faith in a major health risk. That doesn't seem very consistent.
I see your point, but I think the state of Brees' arm was exagerated. I wouldn't compare Batum's injury to Oden's, and I wouldn't compare Brees' injury to Culpeppers bad knees. The other factor to consider here is timing. NFL QBs frequently struggle mightily their first few seasons. NBA lotto picks usually establish themselves within 2 years. Brees' development curve was fairly typical for a QB, and didn't really raise any red flags. If the choice of Rivers/Culpepper over Brees had been financial (like James over Faulk) or based on age disparity (like Rogers over Favre), that would be a different matter. If they had decided to keep Rivers and trade Brees to fill a hole elsewhere, that would have been perfectly reasonable. Losing Brees for nothing? It doesn't take hindsight to question that.
Well would you admit that drafting Rivers in the first place was the mistake? Brees' shoulder injury happened after Rivers second season.
I was just about to point that out. Rivers was drafted after Brees had a subpar season and was supplanted at starter by Doug Flutie. The Chargers essentially gave up on a 25-year-old first-round quarterback (Brees was the 32nd pick, 1st of the second round) after 1 1/2 years of starting. There was no question about his durability then, just his talent.
No. Brees showed nothing spectacular before Rivers was drafted. He made horrible decision and there was a lot of question about his height and ability to see over offensive/defensive lines.
