Leon Washington Looks Good for Seattle
by John B on Aug 22, 2010 8:42 AM EDT
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PrintLeon Washington had a nice night (4 carries, 19 yards) for his new team in his preseason debut.
And while that's not going to set any records, the 11-yard touchdown run Washington got off in the second quarter to pull Seattle into a 14-all tie with the Packers was a nice piece of running through a tough Green Bay defense that still had the first-teamers on the field.
SB Nation's Field Gulls offers its take:
Four rushes do not typically mean a whole heap of a lot, but Washington is undoubtedly the fastest Seahawks rusher through the hole and that is why Gibbs zone-blocking system seems to work when he gets the ball.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of the season. If either LaDainian Tomlinson or Joe McKnight is productive as the second back, there will be no story. Tomlinson looks good early in preseason. McKnight has been shaky but has shown flashes.
If both struggle, and Washington has a big year, the Jets will look bad. They at the very least allowed the perception to exist that the trade was about the prognosis for recovery from his injury being bad just as much as it was about money. We will find out whether that was accurate. It doesn't look that way early.
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Well thats what happen when teams make trades
One team wins while the other loses. Every now and then some teams push. I hope we push because I’m a Leon Washington fan. However,even if we push, we lose because we gave him away for a cup of coffee. Thanks for the update. I’m not a fantasy league player, but if I was, I sure would draft Leon.
Pre-season, and 4 carries for 19 yards is hardly lighting it up. Doesn’t make a difference. Jets made the right choice at the time and that’s all we can ask. What Leon does in Seattle is irrelevant IMO.
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It’s not irrelevant in the least. It’s a case study as to whether the FO is making the right calls.
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Using hindsight. The FA made the right move at the time. It was something that needed to be done. You can’t criticize the front office using hindsight a year after a deal that was logical at the time.
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Just to expand, I think there is more merit in looking at moves that didn’t have to be made, and were made just based on player personnel. Like the Faneca move, perhaps the Rhodes trade, the Feely switch etc.
Just seeing too many people (not here) compare Leon’s 2010 output (5th in the league) to McKnights rookie output. That’s unfair on the Jets and McKnight,. .
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by David_Wyatt on Aug 22, 2010 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions
That’s the issue at hand, though. The Jets are trying to win the Super Bowl this year and made the conscious switch from that fifth year back to Tomlinson and the rookie. They at least did nothing to discourage the idea health played into it. We’ll see how accurate their medical prognostications are (or whether they were being totally honest and it was purely a financial move).
There are certain moves that only somebody would question with hindsight (giving Kerry Rhodes the extension a few years ago followed by an unforseen decline). I’m not sure the Leon thing was one of them.
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Actually let me use the Favre trade as a better example. I still can’t get over people being critical in hindsight. That move was a slam dunk have to do it.
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I personally think it is most definitely is a move that people will question with hindsight. I just don’t want us looking over our shoulder all year at what Leon is doing and comparing it to the guys we have in year one. It was a host of factors that played into the decision to move Leon on, and I find it hard to argue with those reasoning at the time. Which is why I think we can’t put too much stock in what Leon does in Seattle because it was the right move for the franchise at the time.
Agreed with Favre move, we did need to make that move.
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by David_Wyatt on Aug 22, 2010 10:18 AM EDT up reply actions
The thing is,
the Jets offered Leon over 5 million before he got hurt, which, IMO, was WAY too much money for a scatback/return man anyway. He wouldn’t take the money that he shouldn’t have been offered in the first place, then he destroys his leg and then he still won’t take the money we’re offering him? Whether it was financial or injury related, it was the right move. McKnight is younger, cheaper, healthier, and will prove to be able to do what Leon did for us.
I don’t agree that this was the right move at the time. And here’s why: there was always a higher probability that Leon would be a more effective back, even post-injury, than anyone we took with similar draft status. Leon could even be better than many 2nd or 3rd rounders we could’ve drafted this year. He was that productive when healthy, and we won the freakin’ lottery getting that guy in the 4th round. The FO made a reach in the 4th round this year trying to replace what they could’ve just held on to. And that experiment is going to fail miserably as many late round picks do.
The only sense I can see in the move was contract related; like if Leon was still demanding a huge deal even after the injury, when there’s no way you can pay franchise RB money to a guy coming off that injury.
by nationalist88 on Aug 22, 2010 9:54 PM EDT up reply actions
+1 Dave.
They at the very least allowed the perception to exist that the trade was about the prognosis for recovery from his injury being bad just as much as it was about money. We will find out whether that was accurate. It doesn’t look that way early.
Yes, I know I would feel extremely comfortable that a guy who had a gruesome leg injury is completely back healthy and totally durable again, based on 4 preseason carries. What?
Dave is spot on, you can only make a trade for where you are in that moment. Hindsight always is 20/20. I will not second guess this move at all, because I believe that McKnight is Leon Washington, maybe younger and less mature, but also faster and without a broken leg.
Very happy for Leon. Starting to wish we kept him. lol
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by dvdvil on Aug 22, 2010 9:33 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Leon
I’m happy for Leon too, but the Jets almost had no choice unless they took a gamble after that devestating injury. I would not have taken a chance him coming back 100% and him even thinking about what if he reinjures it again, is the edge still there?
Leon now has the motivation just like LT has and that might get him over the top. If he stayed with the jets and little things went arong he might not be as motivated. But after being trade and given up on like he was, he wants badly to prove the jets made a mistake. If he does well, good for him and seattle.
He looks good in that Seahawks uniform
I’ve always been a fan of those unis actually.
I dunno, I didn’t like the trade when it happened and I still don’t like it, but I guess we couldn’t have known whether or not he’d be the same guy coming back and we still don’t. I still have that gut feeling that we’re gonna feel pretty silly about it come the end of the season.
I guess all we can do is hope—C’MON JOE MCKNIGHT DON’T MAKE US LOOK STUPID!!!!
I think we are mainly looking for LT this year to take over from Leon, and McKnight more long term.
I think we drafted The Terminator with the pick we got from Seattle for Leon as well.
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True on all counts, but the way I see it is that essentially we got McKnight with essentially the same pick we drafted Leon with, and that pick wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t move Leon. So in essence, it was Leon for Joe. Getting JOHN CONNAH was an awesome unforeseen side-effect of that so I guess in the end I’m not going to say it was a bad trade, but I still can’t say I like it. Plus a part of me still thinks that there’s a pretty damn good chance that Conner would have been available as a UDFA. Was there ever any indication that anyone was thinking about actually drafting him besides the Jets?
I disagree,
I think LT is a better player then Leon, in terms of getting carries and catching the ball out of the backfield. He can’t return like Leon can, but McKnight can. Problem solved. Leon is being made into a martyr. He was offered a good amount of money and greedily turned it down, he made his bed, he could still be a Jet right now if he had really wanted to be.
I don’t know what you guys see in McKnight that would make anyone forget about Leon. In three years the guy won’t even be on the team anymore.
by nationalist88 on Aug 22, 2010 9:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Still will root for Leon's recovery from a horrible injury.I believe he was one of the most
exciting players to ever wear a jet’s uniform any and every time he had the ball in his hands.
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