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CB Shawn Springs (All B1G, All-American, B1G DPOY, OSU HOF, Pro Bowl, All Pro)

BuckNutty

Hear The Drummer Get Wicked
Staff member
Bookie
It's being reported on the Insiders he's agreed to terms on a new contract and will be announced tomorrow. I give Daniel Snyder credit, he's not afraid to spend money. With Joe Gibbs running the show again the Redskins could be dangerous down the road.
 
Hate to see Springs leave Seattle. With is health problems, I'm not sure he will stand up to the bullyball NFC East. Portis is a good back, but what are they going to do for an off. line? And Burrell over Ramsey at QB? And all things being equal, Gibbs is a good coach. With Washington's talent, they are still a 4th place team.
 
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I just don't get the price they are paying Springs and Griffin. Springs has shown a propensity for injuries and Griffin's best year was his rookie year. I still think the jury is out on Portis as to whether it is him or the system in Denver.

At this point I don't see how this is that much different than the silly stuff Snyder did a few years ago, just that the expensive players are younger.

Edit: Correction on listing Kearse to Washington instead of Griffin. Thanks, BuckeyeSkins for the catch.
 
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Springs

BY PAUL WOODY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 2, 2004


ASHBURN The success of a father sometimes is a heavy burden for his son.

Shawn Springs has a successful father. Ron Springs was a star in high school in Williamsburg, a team captain at Ohio State and had a six-year career as a running back with the Dallas Cowboys.

The pressure on young Shawn Springs must have been high when he was growing up in Silver Spring, Md.

"Not really," Shawn Springs said "It was more that way when I went to Ohio State, where he had been the team captain."

Why go to Ohio State then? Was it a yearning to follow in his father's footsteps, to become a team captain and lead the offense to the Rose Bowl?

"My father did pressure me to go to Ohio State," Shawn Springs said, smiling.

But Ron Springs did not pressure his son to follow in his every footstep.

"He made me switch to defense," Shawn Springs said. "He told me I'd have more success and make a lot more money on that side of the ball."

His father was right. Springs, the third player picked overall in 1997, received a large initial signing bonus. And when he signed with the Redskins this off-season, he received another signing bonus, this one worth $10 million.

Managed correctly, $10 million can last you a lifetime or two.

Springs was one of the top cornerbacks available on the free agent market this off-season. The Redskins marked him as the man they wanted most and sought him as soon as the free agency period opened.

Springs, 29, was in Seattle at the time, and at 9:01 p.m. (PDT), his phone rang.

"I wondered who was calling me that late," Springs said.

It was Redskins defensive backs coach DeWayne Walker, asking Springs if he'd like to play for Washington and telling him to hold the line for Redskins coach Joe Gibbs.

The next day, the private jet of Redskins owner Dan Snyder was at the Seattle airport, gassed up and ready to transport Springs across the country.

"Redskin 1 spoiled me," Springs said. "I can't fly commercial anymore. And they gave me a nice little signing bonus to make me feel good about myself."

The Redskins needed Springs because they traded perhaps the best cornerback in the league, Champ Bailey, to Denver, along with a second-round draft choice, for running back Clinton Portis.

The Redskins believe they got equal value for Bailey by acquiring Portis. They believe that Springs will be a more than adequate replacement for Bailey.

"They're getting a cornerback who can cover, tackle and blitz," Springs said.

The blitzing part might be a bit of a stretch. Springs has 1 sacks in his NFL career.

He also has had some problems getting on the field in two of the past three seasons. Last year, a broken bone in his shoulder kept Springs out of four games entirely and kept him out of a starting role in eight games.

"It was so frustrating because I worked so hard to get ready to play," Springs said.

Too hard, at times. In 2001, he was suspended for four games for violating the league's substance-abuse policy by using steroids. He missed another four games with a hamstring injury.

Springs has been a model citizen since 2001, and, as almost always is the case, talent trumps transgressions. Springs was welcomed back in Seattle after his suspension, and he has been more than welcomed to the Redskins.

Springs is happy to be home.

"Growing up, I never envisioned this," Springs said. "It's so amazing to me how you can be right here in Washington and feel as if you're in the center of the football universe. In Seattle, it felt like you were on the outskirts."

http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20040803-122234-5266r.htm

Springs defends desire on field


By Jody Foldesy
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


The contrasts changed Shawn Springs permanently.
He saw a beautiful land blighted by poverty and hunger. He witnessed educated people without enough running water or electricity. There was a Sheraton hotel on one side of a road and "2,000 shanties" on the other.

The cornerback went to Ethiopia several years ago with a professor from the University of Washington, where Springs took classes to complete his sociology degree. Springs said it took three days for him to comprehend what he saw, but he returned a changed man with a completely different view of the world.
These days, things that are not life and death — in other words, anything that happens on a football field — don't bother him as much.
Tailing Springs from Seattle, where he spent seven seasons with the Seahawks, are questions about his football desire, whether the Washington Redskins' replacement for four-time Pro Bowl pick Champ Bailey cares enough after giving up a big play.
"[Ethiopia] was a life-changing experience," Springs said yesterday as he climbed out of an ice tub at Redskins training camp. "That's one of the reasons why my attitude is where it is. You go over there, and you realize that you take so much stuff for granted. People are dying over there."
Hence, Springs sometimes just shrugs when he gives up a touchdown pass. The most obvious incident occurred in 2002, when Springs gave up a long touchdown to the San Francisco 49ers' Terrell Owens. After scoring, Owens pulled a pen out of his sock and, well, you probably know the rest.
Owens' audacity really burned Seahawks fans because the financial planner who received Owens' signed ball also worked for Springs and was sitting in Springs' field-level luxury box. After the game, the cornerback fueled questions about his heart by laughing off the incident.
Funny how Springs' trademark wide grin is a double-edged sword. Injuries have precipitated Springs' fall from among the best corners in the game — he was the third pick overall in 1997 and a 1998 Pro Bowl selection — but his happy-go-lucky attitude fostered the perception he didn't have the desire to be great.
Yesterday Springs levied a passionate defense of his football pride. Mistakes, he claimed, gall him as much as anyone.
"I go hard, and I want to win," Springs said. "I get [ticked] off when I get beat. But I'm not going to let anybody else know. There's no chink in my armor. You might say, 'That didn't even faze him.' But people don't know. I might rewind that [play] 200 times. I'm [ticked], but I'm not going to let you see. No one's going to get me to waver.
"I take pride in that. 'OK, you got me.' And then I go out the next game and try to rip your [expletive] head off."
Coach Joe Gibbs is a believer after witnessing Springs' dedication during the offseason program.
"If a guy's going to skip something and he doesn't have a burning desire, it'll show up in his offseason work," Gibbs said. "I think he was extremely well-prepared, worked extremely hard. We tracked everything they did. ... I think he has a burning desire and wants to play. I'll put it this way: We're real happy [with him]."
Questions about Springs are particularly poignant this week as the Redskins prepare to play the Denver Broncos in Monday's Hall of Fame Game. Denver obtained Bailey this spring as part of the Clinton Portis deal; Washington subsequently signed Springs to a six-year, $31 million contract.
League personnel men don't favor Springs in head-to-head comparisons with Bailey, who may be the NFL's best corner. However, several Redskins players pointed to Washington's overhauled defense and said direct comparisons between the physical newcomer and departed man-to-man master don't make sense.
"They both bring something great to the table," wide receiver Laveranues Coles said. "It's just, what style of defense are you playing? Are you playing man-to-man, press defense all day? Or are you playing a defense like we have now, where they play a little zone, sometimes throw in a little man? Shawn fits the scheme we have now, more so than Champ did."
Safety Matt Bowen added: "Last year, I think we relied on Champ a little too much, to be honest. This year we're playing more of a team defense. Everyone fits in."
Springs certainly believes he will fit in. Although the value of the Silver Spring native, who starred at Springbrook High School before attending Ohio State, will be determined over several years, he ended yesterday's interview with a hushed statement of confidence — a few words from a veteran who has seen everything, even Ethiopia.
"I think it's going to go well," Springs said. "I can already tell. People are going to be surprised."
 
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at the HOF game tonight, including picking off a pass in the first series of the game. Washington isn't going to miss Bailey as much as they think, because he looks like he can still make some plays, though he may not be the "shut-down" corner he used to be able to be. I wasn't impressed with Portis at all, though I think he's still getting used to the new digs.
 
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I hate Miami guys as much as any respectable fan should, but Sean Taylor is an absolute stud. 2 picks and a TD last evening... OK, it wasn't against the #1's but not a bad start to what looks to be a very good career.


Open note to Kellen Winslow - you wanna get paid? Do things - or the TE equivelant - like Taylor did last night....
 
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Monday Night Football. Shawn Springs Springbrook H.S.

Why would he do an intro like that? Eddie George and Terry Glenn said THE Ohio State University. What the fuck is Springs issue here? Total bullshit. Coles only said his H.S. name. But he has a legitimate gripe with FSU giving him the boot, and only Warrick for a few games.
 
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