Spencer Long retires three days after signing with 49ers

[Behindenemylines]

1 hour ago, NoSaint said:

wait- what?

Just sayin prior to Beane and Co., prior administration would have found a way to screw the pooch in a scenario like this.  Would just have been another in a long line of “Billsie” moves.  A term I’m thinking we have outgrown.  Maybe its a curse and we can place it NE....give new meaning to “Patsie!”

[Doc]

11 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

I'd agree with him on that one. Sometimes it goes the way you're saying. Other times you're coasting along expecting to take one fork of the road and you suddenly pass a giant red flashing sign that makes you change your mind.

 

And being cut, along with perhaps not finding everything about the new team to be what you expected, could easily be that big red flashing sign.

 

Without talking to Long, nobody can say. The assumption that this has been coming along for some time isn't a fair one to make. It might have worked that way, yeah, but equally, it might not have.

 

It's not an issue of fairness since there's no shame in doing what he did.  He wasn't being counted-on as a starter (which probably factored-into his decision) for the Bills and wasn't with the 49'ers long enough, so it's not like he screwed anyone over.  I just think it's highly unlikely that out of all the O-linemen Beane could have cut, he randomly chose Long when he was valuable to the team since he  played last year and there wasn't a cap issue, and that after signing with a contender, he retired.  

[H2o]

23 hours ago, WMDman said:

See Beane knew something all along

Beane has officially become the Minister of Magic, no more mere wizarding. 

[Thurman#1]

15 hours ago, Doc said:

 

It's not an issue of fairness since there's no shame in doing what he did.  He wasn't being counted-on as a starter (which probably factored-into his decision) for the Bills and wasn't with the 49'ers long enough, so it's not like he screwed anyone over.  I just think it's highly unlikely that out of all the O-linemen Beane could have cut, he randomly chose Long when he was valuable to the team since he  played last year and there wasn't a cap issue, and that after signing with a contender, he retired.  

 

 

Agreed that there's no shame, and it's not about fairness. But you say you think it "highly unlikely" that he wasn't planning it? I don't. Not for a second. Very possible, IMO. If Beane had known, he'd likely have given him a chance to retire publicly with the Bills. 

 

A guy who's comfortable one place gets cut ... he very likely rethinks his future. Particularly in the days of COVID, 

 

I believe what you've got there is a guess with very little evidence. Not that you're wrong. You could be right, but there's no particular reason to think so. My guess is that he had no intention of retiring, and that if he had, he wouldn't have signed with the 9ers, that the experience was a powerful one that caused him to reconsider his future. Again, without talking to him, nobody can reasonably say. 

 

And again, some people don't make this move quickly or quietly. Others do, particularly if situations change.

 

With the Bills he was signed for two more years and was going to get another roughly $7 mill if he'd made it through those two years. How much was he going to make with the 9ers? I know it was a one-year deal but I can't find figures anywhere. Could easily be that he signed for significantly less, didn't like the situation, thought he might even be cut later in camp, and especially with COVID as a factor, made the decision to pull the parachute.

 

Perhaps we'll have to agree to disagree, eventually.

Edited August 18, 2020 by Thurman#1

[GunnerBill]

34 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Agreed that there's no shame, and it's not about fairness. But you say you think it "highly unlikely" that he wasn't planning it? I don't. Not for a second. Very possible, IMO. If Beane had known, he'd likely have given him a chance to retire publicly with the Bills. 

 

A guy who's comfortable one place gets cut ... he very likely rethinks his future. Particularly in the days of COVID, 

 

I believe what you've got there is a guess with very little evidence. Not that you're wrong. You could be right, but there's no particular reason to think so. My guess is that he had no intention of retiring, and that if he had, he wouldn't have signed with the 9ers, that the experience was a powerful one that caused him to reconsider his future. Again, without talking to him, nobody can reasonably say. 

 

And again, some people don't make this move quickly or quietly. Others do, particularly if situations change.

 

With the Bills he was signed for two more years and was going to get another roughly $7 mill if he'd made it through those two years. How much was he going to make with the 9ers? I know it was a one-year deal but I can't find figures anywhere. Could easily be that he signed for significantly less, didn't like the situation, thought he might even be cut later in camp, and especially with COVID as a factor, made the decision to pull the parachute.

 

Perhaps we'll have to agree to disagree, eventually.

 

I agree with you. Going from an environment you know and are comfortable with to somewhere new even in normal times can trigger a re-evaluation. Let alone in covid times. Very possible he got to San Fran, underwent the covid tests, got given a new playbook and thought "I don't know if I can be all in enough to learn this from scratch and commit to a new process." And once you think like that, you are done. Chances are he just realised that.

[Doc]

9 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

Agreed that there's no shame, and it's not about fairness. But you say you think it "highly unlikely" that he wasn't planning it? I don't. Not for a second. Very possible, IMO. If Beane had known, he'd likely have given him a chance to retire publicly with the Bills. 

 

A guy who's comfortable one place gets cut ... he very likely rethinks his future. Particularly in the days of COVID, 

 

I believe what you've got there is a guess with very little evidence. Not that you're wrong. You could be right, but there's no particular reason to think so. My guess is that he had no intention of retiring, and that if he had, he wouldn't have signed with the 9ers, that the experience was a powerful one that caused him to reconsider his future. Again, without talking to him, nobody can reasonably say. 

 

And again, some people don't make this move quickly or quietly. Others do, particularly if situations change.

 

With the Bills he was signed for two more years and was going to get another roughly $7 mill if he'd made it through those two years. How much was he going to make with the 9ers? I know it was a one-year deal but I can't find figures anywhere. Could easily be that he signed for significantly less, didn't like the situation, thought he might even be cut later in camp, and especially with COVID as a factor, made the decision to pull the parachute.

 

Perhaps we'll have to agree to disagree, eventually.

 

I think we agree that it's at least very possible that Beane knew something was up with Long.  Hence the totally unexpected cutting of him when there was absolutely no need to do so.

[artmalibu]

1 hour ago, Doc said:

 

I think we agree that it's at least very possible that Beane knew something was up with Long.  Hence the totally unexpected cutting of him when there was absolutely no need to do so.

 

 

Yes!!!  right after a starting guard went down that was the backup center. We still dont have a clue who the backup center will be.  

[Mr. WEO]

who?

[GreggTX]

It seems pretty clear, doesn't it? He was playing very well, but suffered numerous injuries which severely reduced his effectiveness to that of a bubble player. Time for Spencer to give his aching body some rest and healing. I just hope he isn't one of the retired NFL players whose injuries seriously compromise his quality of life. Head and neck injuries are the worst though. I'm not aware of any concussions or spinal cord injuries in his past. I hope he'll be OK.

[Thurman#1]

18 hours ago, Doc said:

 

I think we agree that it's at least very possible that Beane knew something was up with Long.  Hence the totally unexpected cutting of him when there was absolutely no need to do so.

 

 

 

Right, no reason to do so ... except they almost certainly liked Winters better and were able to get him. But except for that, no reason. Winter had been cut before they cut Long.

 

Wait, that's a really good reason, isn't it?

 

And "very possble"? No. Possible? Sure, there's a wild outside chance, if you want to think that a guy seriously thinking of retiring soon is going to:

 

1) discuss it with his GM or someone who would report it to his GM

2) have the GM who thinks he's considering retiring tell him he's letting him go, and then not ask the GM to let him retire on his own terms

3) then very quickly sign with another team

 

Sorry, man, it doesn't make much sense at all. We can't rule anything out without talking to him but yeah, it's very unlikely that all that went down in that first he had strongly considered retirement, that Beane found out about that and that it all went down in that order. Yeah, pretty far-fetched.

 

But at this point, 'nuff said.

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by Thurman#1

[Doc]

10 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

Right, no reason to do so ... except they almost certainly liked Winters better and were able to get him. But except for that, no reason. Winter had been cut before they cut Long.

 

Wait, that's a really good reason, isn't it?

 

And "very possble"? No. Possible? Sure, there's a wild outside chance, if you want to think that a guy seriously thinking of retiring soon is going to:

 

1) discuss it with his GM or someone who would report it to his GM

2) have the GM who thinks he's considering retiring tell him he's letting him go, and then not ask the GM to let him retire on his own terms

3) then very quickly sign with another team

 

Sorry, man, it doesn't make much sense at all. We can't rule anything out without talking to him but yeah, it's very unlikely that all that went down in that first he had strongly considered retirement, that Beane found out about that and that it all went down in that order. Yeah, pretty far-fetched.

 

But at this point, 'nuff said.

 

Winters was signed to replace Feliciano, who was likely lost for the season.  Basically that was a swap of one starting OG for another.  Meaning nothing changed with the depth chart and Long stayed where he had always been: backup OG and C.  Again there was no need to cut him and if anyone should have been cut, it was UDFA OG Marquel Harrell.

 

And it's highly unlikely that the first time Long considered retirement is 3 days after signing with a SB contender.  If all he had been able to get was a deal from, say, the Bengals, I'd understand wanting to retire.  But if you can't get fired-up to a play for a team that went to the SB and has a real chance of going back, you lost it awhile ago.

 

Not to mention that the silence from Bills players about his release and retirement has been deafening.  You'd think someone, anyone, would have tweeted something about either of those 2 events.  Suggesting that the players knew it as well.

 

We'll agree to disagree.  The bottom line though is that the criticism directed at Beane for not getting something of value for Long before cutting him was misplaced.