Rivers suggests the loss of Sproles hurt the team?

however seizing your opportunity, you have chosen the right time to show us you have a pair.

I agree that he (sproles) is definately still a talented player and still has a lot left in the tank. But like a previous poster has already stated there was a noticeable drop off in his production over the previous two years prior to letting him go which would not have supported a new and hefty contract offer for him. The question is why was his production dropping? Was it that he wasn’t being used effectively? Was it that his frustration with the team was getting the better of him? I don’t know – its that hole hindsight thing.

But having sproles on our team this year would have done “what” for us? We had solid RB play in my opinion. Our offensive line challenged us this season – would sproles have been better at picking up blocks (instead of being used as a receiving back)? Our defense was definately a sore spot for us this year – would sproles have made our defense better – maybe line him up as a outside blitzer?

I think its all mute. It is what it is and it wouldn’t have mattered if sproles was on the 2011 Chargers or not. The only team it would have had an effect on was the Saints, who probably would have still won their division and made it to the playoffs with or without sproles – who does make them better.

He’s a 28 year old 3rd down running back and KR/PR.

We grossly overpaid for his services by franchising him 2 years in a row. I think he was paid between $6.5 and $8 million dollars per year.

Frankly……………RB depth was not really an issue for us. So much so we let Todman get signed off the practice squad for nothing. Our backs were also very competent catching the ball out of the backfield all season long. Matthews had 50 catches and Tolbert had 54.

I’m sure a reasonable offer was made to Sproles and he chose to go elsewhere. Good for him…………….and I’m glad he had a good year. It doesn’t change the fact he’s an aging 3rd down back that we weren’t going to overpay for a third year in a row.

I’d like to see Tolbert move back to FB full time, and a complimentary RB to run with Matthews. Maybe we draft a Lamichael James type back out of college this year in the mid rounds and we’ll have that 3rd down speedster RB again.

Just because a player leaves and has a good year doesn’t mean it was a bad decision to let them walk.