216 - Trey Smack - K - Florida

[run pMc]

An actual, real life example of someone not succumbing to the sunk cost fallacy.

Yes. Also, agree the $1M was a hedge against not getting better competition at K. It's a little weird giving him the $1M but it's not my money and nobody seems to like McManus anyway, so I'm not sad about it. McManus is in his mid 30's and neither likely to get more accurate nor suddenly grow a booming leg. I have to wonder if Smack looked good during rookie camp and that was enough to make the decision. K is a high leverage spot - you either win or lose the game - so if they have a chance to get better, younger and cheaper it's fine in the long run.

I tend to agree with the thinking that between Achord's push for the kid and Gute giving up picks, McManus probably saw the writing on the wall and wanted to get a head start on finding a new gig.

I'll only be mad about it if he sucks, because then you downgraded from "maybe average" to "terrible".

[MadScientist]

The other factor was that if the Packers didn't pay the bonus to McManus, it would have been a huge flashing sign to all other teams that the Packers want to get a new kicker in the draft. They might have had to really overdraft Smack to be sure of getting him.

[Patler]

Have read a lot I like about Smack, including a connection to Mason Crosby:

Crosby trained with Pro Bowl and Super Bowl champion kicker Matt Stover, who played 19 NFL seasons from 1991-2009 and helped train Crosby during his adolescent years, according to Sports Illustrated. Stover did the same with Smack. Stover's son, Joe, was a lacrosse and football teammate of Smack's at Severna Park High School in Maryland, and after seeing Smack kick, he connected him with his former NFL kicker father.

Stover told SI he helped Smack solidify his kicking fundamentals, and the now-Packers rookie took that guidance and ran with it.

"What I do with them is I teach them the fundamentals, the absolutes, the things you have to do with kicking, and when you miss left and when you miss right, it's a deviation from those particular things," Stover told SI. "So, you know what to do and you know why you missed left or right, just like golf, but it's a lot less technical than golf because you don't have a club and you're just dealing with your body.

"What Trey did is he got with me and he listened to me. He really did, and he worked. He listened not only from a technique perspective but how to manage yourself with the number of kicks, how to get ready for competition -- all the things that are necessary so you don't get hurt, so that you manage the weight room properly, so you manage the coaches properly."

[Anti-Polar Bear]

The $1M paid to McManus is not a lot more than the minimum wage for a first-year player. Sure, as things turned out it would have been better to have not paid it, but it doesn't have a significant impact on the overall salary cap situation.

The two decisions: first to pay the bonus, now to release McManus; are not and should not be related. They were made at different times under different conditions. Both can be good decisions at the time they were made.

I doubt Gutekunst wants to invest three roster spots in kickers at this time. It came down to the much younger Havrisik or McManus who may not have that many years left in his career. It would have been wrong to keep McManus just because the bonus had been paid.

If you think a vet has little chance to make your roster and there is concern about the chance of reinjury, you have to consider the possibility of being stuck with his contract if he is injured in team activities. Perhaps there is some concern with his injuries from last year, and with two other decent prospects they can eliminate the risk by letting him go.

Recall also that McManus' signing was somewhat controversial because he had been suspended by the NFL and released by Washington following a lawsuit filed by two flight attendants alleging sexual harassment on a team flight. He settled with the plaintiffs to gain reinstatement from the league so he could sign with GB. May or may not have been an indicator of his character/personality.

If I recall correctly, you once posted something about paying a shitload of frogskins to have a fucking tree transplanted to your crib. A fucking tree! Coulda planted one for free, I reckon.

No wonder pissing away a million bucks on a kicker whose head shoulda been on a pike immediately after the Chicago playoff debacle ain’t a big deal to you.

[Fritz]

"He listened not only from a technique perspective but how to manage yourself with the number of kicks, how to get ready for competition -- all the things that are necessary so you don't get hurt, so that you manage the weight room properly, so you manage the coaches properly."

This I've never understood about kickers and ST coaches - you read more comments about how kickers are not understood/listened to by ST coaches than any other position. You don't often read about, say, defensive tackles having to "manage" their coaches. Clearly there's a disconnect there in the NFL, and it would be a smart team that figured out how to reconnect kickers to their coaches. Don't kickers have enough to "manage" already?

As for McAnus, when they paid him out the bonus they didn't have Smack and didn't know they'd be able to get him. So it made sense to pay what is in NFL terms in infinitestimal amount of the cap, as a kind of safety measure. Sure, they could've rolled the dice, but as someone else pointed out, that would've driven up the price to get Smack. Or they wouldn't have gotten him at all. He was the #1 ranked kicker, after all.

[pbmax]

"He listened not only from a technique perspective but how to manage yourself with the number of kicks, how to get ready for competition -- all the things that are necessary so you don't get hurt, so that you manage the weight room properly, so you manage the coaches properly."

This I've never understood about kickers and ST coaches - you read more comments about how kickers are not understood/listened to by ST coaches than any other position. You don't often read about, say, defensive tackles having to "manage" their coaches. Clearly there's a disconnect there in the NFL, and it would be a smart team that figured out how to reconnect kickers to their coaches. Don't kickers have enough to "manage" already?

As for McAnus, when they paid him out the bonus they didn't have Smack and didn't know they'd be able to get him. So it made sense to pay what is in NFL terms in infinitestimal amount of the cap, as a kind of safety measure. Sure, they could've rolled the dice, but as someone else pointed out, that would've driven up the price to get Smack. Or they wouldn't have gotten him at all. He was the #1 ranked kicker, after all.

Someone pointed out a while back that many athletes, even in team sports but especially kickers, have their own private coaches now. So that is likely a thing that needs to be managed to some degree.

However, it could be as simple as understanding how to communicate what distances you are going to be able to hit from after warmups before a game. I could see that information getting bollixed up once Pete Carrol is on his third pack of gum.

[bobblehead]

Why are you making such a big deal about 1/3 of 1% of the salary cap? I get you don't like Gute, but this is really a non-issue.

Because its the off season. I'd make a big deal out of it if I heard that Policy himself insisted we cut him. The big deal is WHY? He is signed. We paid a ROSTER bonus for him to be on the ROSTER through camp. There is exactly ZERO rational reason to release him. I hear "its a business" every time a player won't give a discount to the team that developed them....and I'm ok with that. Buts its a business and cutting bait on an asset for no reason at all is a bad move.

If the kid balls out and is the next 10 year kicker on the tundra great. No harm. If he flounders and we have no kicker going into the season and lose 2 of the first 5 games because of it and miss the playoffs by a game.....well, then its an issue.

[Patler]

If I recall correctly, you once posted something about paying a shitload of frogskins to have a fucking tree transplanted to your crib. A fucking tree! Coulda planted one for free, I reckon.

What the hell are you talking about???? Me???? Don't recall ever spending much for any tree.

[Patler]

Because its the off season. I'd make a big deal out of it if I heard that Policy himself insisted we cut him. The big deal is WHY? He is signed. We paid a ROSTER bonus for him to be on the ROSTER through camp. There is exactly ZERO rational reason to release him. I hear "its a business" every time a player won't give a discount to the team that developed them....and I'm ok with that. Buts its a business and cutting bait on an asset for no reason at all is a bad move.

If the kid balls out and is the next 10 year kicker on the tundra great. No harm. If he flounders and we have no kicker going into the season and lose 2 of the first 5 games because of it and miss the playoffs by a game.....well, then its an issue.

I think it was based on numbers, as in roster spots. They didn't want to carry three kickers, and they picked Havrisik over McManus.