the Wells/Long "bad signings?" debate

Herzog wrote:

To me calling Wells and Long bad signings is pure hindsight.

I’m gonna disagree with this. They were both coming off injuries (if memory serves correctly)

I love Kendricks though. I think he COULD be a great recieving threat, but he’s just too damn good in other areas and they have Cook. I actually hate Cook. I wish they’d have more plays for Kendricks, the dude can catch the football.

Long was coming off of ARM injuries and the question was whether he could still play at a high level after those surgeries. If people had concerns it was the arms. No one anticipated other injuries. No one saw 2 freak knee problems coming. In fact neither knee was from contact. They were just the dreaded hyperextensions.

Wells had a SCOPE which he called routine. A scope is not reconstructive knee surgery. He then got ill in Africa, and starting with that there were a series of bizarre injuries and accidents. But other than having a scope, Wells was an injury-free all-pro center and a good signing.

Long did not play well initially as a pass-blocking LOT, but once they switched to a play-action offense, he turned out to be a top run blocking tackle and a pretty good play-action pass-blocking tackle.

Until 2014, Wells played well when he was on the field. But the injuries kept mounting up, and they were bizarre. Last summer he got a rare infection from a tick bite and ended up hospitalized. He lost 40 pounds. He then had to sit out most of the summer to get back in playing shape, and when he finally did play, he then injured both his elbow and his back.

None of that was anticipated. They just caught the Rams OL injury bug.

Herzog wrote:

None of that was anticipated. They just caught the Rams OL injury bug.

I still respectfully disagree. Guys that have been hurt, tend to get hurt again. Even if it isn’t the same part of the body.

People say that and never prove it. Did Brady get hurt again? Did Adrian Peterson? Did Kendricks get hurt again, after his surgery?

Wells had one routine scope. He wasn’t hurt in the way you mean that.

Long had arm surgeries—why would that mean he would rip up his knee. The issue was entirely whether he could still function at a high level after the arm injuries. No one said “he will get hurt again, in a different way” when he was signed.

I think the “guys get hurt again” thing is myth. Until someone gives me percentages, I just will always continue to think it is myth.

They CAN get both old and beat up and find it hard to come back. That would describe Wells NOW. Not when he signed.

Now there are guys like Saffold whose luck is so bad, if it’s not one damm thing it’s another. Over and over. But none of that described those 2 (Long and Wells) when they signed.

Herzog wrote:

I believe that you and Chip Kelly subscribe to the same philosophy.

Interestingly, I was against the Long signing when it happened.

But, he did turn out to be a pretty good play-action LOT.

Not a good classic style LOT. But once they dumped that woe-begotten spread that depended on green receivers and Richardson as the feature back, he did pretty well.

Then. Knee injuries.