kearly":3rd66b4p said:
Scanner: I think you are reading too much into this, but the truth is: I don't know. And you don't know. We can only speculate. This is more in the realm of opinion than fact.
You don't go from a 7th round pick to the NFL's best backup without busting some tail.
Now, lets say he really was slacking (in relative terms) this past year. Can you really blame him? He lost his chance at a starting job to arguably the most unprecedented rookie phenom in NFL history. By the end of the 3rd preseason game, he knew that he'd never be a starter in Seattle. You could see it on his face. He knew it. Where is the motivation to put in insane amounts of work when you know you're destined to be traded anyway. He could have spent every waking moment at the VMAC and it wouldn't have done anything to create an impression on his next employer.
I think the reason Seattle traded Flynn was because he was expensive, because they wanted a read-option backup, and because they felt Matt Flynn deserved better than to be a career backup. I don't think work habits factored. Not even a little. But that is only my opinion, and nothing more.
First of all, let me again start off by saying that I am NOT a Flynn hater. I like Matt Flynn as a player quite a lot ... it just has become clear to me that him as a back-up in Seattle just wasn't going to work.
Now Kearly, I don't know that I am reading too much in to this actually. Go back and look at what Brock Huard is saying in that section of the article. He starts out by saying, "It was my understanding ..." What he says and following there clearly isn't based on his his opinion -- it says that he has some inside knowledge from player(s), coach(es), whomever. Someone from within the Seahawks organization shared this with him ... and since we know that Brock talks with a lot of guys connected to the team, I put stock in what he writes. And what he was told (specifically) was that last year Matt Flynn:
A) gave little to no help to Russell Wilson
B) that Josh Portis was far more willing than Flynn to put in extra credit time
Now, when Matt Flynn first joined the Seahawks ... I made a concerted effort to learn about everything I could on him. I read, listened to interviews of those who knew him, etc -- I did my homework. And you're absolutely right, you don't go from a 7th Round pick to the best back-up in the league without busting some tail. He most certainly did. His record clearly shows that he did and that this was one of the hardest working guys in football.
So when I read Brock Huard's comments, that is what doesn't add up frankly. All of that flies in the face of everything that Matt Flynn had ever done as a player up until that point. The logical explanation (to me at least) of why he would suddenly turn his back on the values that got him to where he is now as a player ... is that he was pretty disappointed and that disappointment affected him (and I would probably say the team to some degree) last year. You're right in saying that in looking at video and pictures of this guy from last year that he wears his emotions on his sleeve. It was clear that he was disappointed and unhappy following that 3rd Pre-season game.
Now do I blame him for slacking and perhaps pouting a little? As I wrote in the main piece, given the circumstances -- absolutely not. I understand perfectly. That said, in the end this is a job and as the back-up he had a job that he was required to do. That may sound harsh, but that's exactly how employers see things. And from what Huard is saying, he didn't do his job very well (and frankly probably never would have, which is why besides the money it probably became necessary to trade him).
I agree that the contract, the Seahawks desire to find a read-option QB, and the Hawks desire to be classy in sending him to a place where he could honestly compete for a starting job played in to their ultimate decision to trade him ... but I find it hard to believe that there isn't anything more to the story than that. IMO, you simply don't go trading your back-up QB for 2 future 5th Round choices going in to a season in which you're considered a Super Bowl favorite. That just doesn't pass the smell test unless there's something more.
Lastly, I believe you're completely wrong in saying that Flynn's work ethic (or lack thereof) after losing out on the starting job wouldn't have any effect on the impressions of any future employer. You can fertilize a lot of lawns with that kind of thinking. The other day in writing this piece, I went back and listened to Ian Furness's entire podcast with John Schneider right after the Seahawks signed Flynn this last March. Schneider said in that interview that prior to making that move, he talked to a lot of guys within the Green Bay organization (including Aaron Rodgers) about Matt Flynn -- and Schneider made it real clear that Flynn's incredible work ethic was what impressed him the most. Believe me, people talk and things like that get around. Who you are when no one is watching most definitely has an impact.
In the end, I believe Flynn was unhappy here in Seattle (for obvious reasons), which is why I believe things would never have worked with him as the back-up QB. I hold no ill will towards him whatsoever and wish him nothing but the best of luck in Oakland.
