To be fair, it’s not all that rare for a backup to have surgery mid-season that they wouldn’t have as a starter. The odd part here is that he was the starter for most of the season and it’s the most important position so having a good backup is important. But the Falcons were essentially out of contention anyway and he was going to be a free agent so he had to start looking to the next season and making sure he was going to get a decent contract after the year is up.
I do think it would’ve been better for the team for him to stick around but I can’t blame him for putting himself first when the team already chose someone else over him.
I can absolutely see saying “you hired me as a bridge until you were comfortable with the young guy, and I did that, but I’m not going to wait on surgery when I don’t even know if you want to play me if the starter goes down”.
Because at the end of the day some teams out of contention would probably still rather play a younger more long term option than the veteran in that spot if the starter goes down.
Isn’t it crazy how no other NFL player ever had an injury and/or baby? I can see why he left the team. /s
To be fair, it’s not all that rare for a backup to have surgery mid-season that they wouldn’t have as a starter. The odd part here is that he was the starter for most of the season and it’s the most important position so having a good backup is important. But the Falcons were essentially out of contention anyway and he was going to be a free agent so he had to start looking to the next season and making sure he was going to get a decent contract after the year is up.
I do think it would’ve been better for the team for him to stick around but I can’t blame him for putting himself first when the team already chose someone else over him.
I can absolutely see saying “you hired me as a bridge until you were comfortable with the young guy, and I did that, but I’m not going to wait on surgery when I don’t even know if you want to play me if the starter goes down”.
Because at the end of the day some teams out of contention would probably still rather play a younger more long term option than the veteran in that spot if the starter goes down.