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RB Maurice Clarett (B1G Freshman of the Year, National Champion)

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Mo gets cut

I really kinda wanted him to get his shit together in the pro's... In the end the way he has been acting. Couldn't have happend to a better guy.

Maurice Clarett's gamble for the big dollars in the NFL failed for a second time. The Denver Broncos informed Clarett on Sunday that he is being released.



Doug Pensinger/Getty Images
Maurice Clarett was drafted by the Broncos in the third round.
Mike Shanahan surprised the league by using a third-round draft choice on the former Ohio State running back in the final selection of the round. The Broncos coach thought he had the cutback style of running that fit in one of the league's best running systems.

As it turned out, Shanahan made a mistake and didn't want to waste time admitting it. With Tuesday's deadline for cutting the roster to 65 looming, Clarett, who never made the field in three preseason games, was let go.

Clarett first gambled that he could beat the NFL in court after applying despite not being three years out of high school. The case failed and Clarett had to sit out and wait until the 2005 season to get his chance to turn pro.

Clarett's second gamble was on his contract. He felt he was a first-round choice and wanted a contract similar to what a first-rounder would receive. To accomplish that, he tried to do get that contract with incentives. The four-year deal he pushed for included no signing bonus.

The Broncos were willing to give him a $410,000 signing bonus, but Clarett opted to push that money into workout bonuses in 2006 through 2008. Clarett agreed to only a $230,000 base salary in 2005. If he put up good numbers, Clarett had the opportunity to make $7 million over the four years of his contract.

"I'd love to see someone pick up the contract," Clarett's agent, Steven Feldman, told The Associated Press. "The way the incentives in the contract are, he won't get them with another team."

By releasing him, the Broncos won't take any cap hit. It also appears unlikely that they would sign him to their practice squad, although that remains an option if Shanahan is interested.

For the moment, the Broncos are three deep in halfbacks. Mike Anderson is expected to be the opening day starter. Tatum Bell should be the backup, and Shanahan likes what he sees from former Giants No. 1 pick Ron Dayne.

Despite his failure in Denver, Clarett should receive some interest from other teams although it is likely teams may not want to claim his four-year contract. There is a 24-hour waiver claim period that begins Monday when he goes on the league waiver wire. If he is cleared by Tuesday at 4 p.m., Clarett is eligible to sign with any team in the league.

"I'm not real confident of anything at this point," Feldman told the AP. "We'll see what happens now."
 
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The best part of this (to me) is the fact that his attorneys are taking a major screwing. They jumped on Mo's bandwagon, encouraged him to sue the league. They weren't concerned with Mo's best interest or what is fair. They were looking to make themselves famous and once he got his NFL riches, they figured to make a small fortune. He flopped, so basically they get nothing. Perfect outcome.
 
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One of the teams will at a min. pick him up and place him on their practice squad... I doubt he will make a roster spot this year though...

Really is too bad... the kid has had horrible advice from folks looking out for thier interest's not his...
 
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I have bored of this entire situation, but I am curious to see how that a-hole Tom Friend tries to spin this on E***. He has obviously become MoC's bitch, and it should only be a day or two before he starts spouting off about how none of this is his fault.
 
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Interesting comments from Denver newspapers:

Krieger: Clarett's fall was easy to call


Andy Geiger, the former athletic director at Ohio State, warned ESPN about them when Clarett made his sensational charges against the Buckeyes football program last fall. "I just hope you've checked into the background and history of who you're dealing with," Geiger told ESPN. If only he'd mentioned that to Shanahan.
I'm not a psychiatrist, nor do I play one in the newspaper, but I'm not sure it takes a medical degree to say this kid has serious issues.
http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_4037966,00.html

Clarett's bid cut short
<!--subtitle-->Rookie told of release
<!--top author info--><TABLE width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleByline><!-- overline-->By Bill Williamson </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
According to a player at Dove Valley on Sunday, Clarett was commiserating by himself after the meeting with Shanahan and was overheard talking loudly on his cellphone, complaining he never was given a chance by the Broncos.
http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_2981853



<!--subtitle--><!--top author info--><TABLE width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleByline><!-- overline-->



Conceit produces wasted selection
<!--subtitle--><!--top author info--><TABLE width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleByline><!-- overline-->By Mark Kiszla

Denver Post Staff Columnist
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The faithful still believe Broncos coach Mike Shanahan is a genius on Sundays. Good thing. Because, as an evaluator of talent, the mastermind's IQ has been docked another mandatory deduction.

Blame Maurice Clarett.

Clarett has an uncanny ability to make any football coach who trusts him look stupid.

The career of America's favorite wayward running back has taken another wrong turn.

Without gaining one yard for the Broncos, Clarett is long gone. Doomed to the waiver wire as a wasted third-round draft choice by Denver.

Shanahan knows football. And you don't. Just ask him.

There were those of us who thought it was a joke, some sort of crazy draft-day prank, when the Broncos selected Clarett for the shock value.

Wasn't this the same kid who somehow managed to turn a national championship at Ohio State into a source of school embarrassment? Clarett departed the university in a huff, but not before giving his alma mater a black Buckeye.

Ohio State kicked him to the curb. The NFL was in no hurry to let him in.

Clarett earned a reputation for being unreliable, fat and slow. Shanahan knew better.

Clarett quit at the NFL combine for draft prospects after posting 40-yard dash times that read as if he were pushing a Hummer uphill. Scouts wondered if any team would be crazy enough to draft him. Shanahan knew better.

Back in April, after taking a gamble on a running back who had not scored a touchdown in more than two years, Shanahan declared at a news conference that speed was overrated, then dared to mention Clarett in the same breath with Terrell Davis, who was nothing less than the greatest running back in franchise history.

Yeah, and if you squinted, Brian Griese resembled Joe Montana.

Sometimes, the vision of a mastermind can be blinded by the shine of all those diamonds in his Super Bowl rings.

But Broncos Nation never doubts its leader. Shanahan knows better. He always does.

When Clarett first set foot in Dove Valley headquarters, he uttered words to Denver reporters that mock him now. Vowing to reward the Broncos' trust, Clarett said, "I just don't want to make them look stupid."

This morning, chortling seems destined to follow Shanahan like a shadow, because NFL scouts have every right to laugh behind the coach's back.

The best thing about Clarett's Broncos career was its brevity. He apparently didn't like to practice. His smile was constantly broken. With a stiff arm, Clarett seemed to hold most teammates at a distance where nobody could root for him.

Clarett is a rebel without a clue, as proven by the fact he turned down a hefty signing bonus from the Broncos.

Don't let the door at the Dove Valley halfway house for troubled backs hit you on the way out, Maurice.

After all these years and all his success, Shanahan retains a powerful hankering to prove how much smarter he is than anybody else in the NFL. Burnout never seeps into his coaching veins, maybe because his heart constantly pumps adrenaline from an addiction to personnel gambles.

For the only man Broncos owner Pat Bowlen can imagine as this team's coach, Shanahan still operates with the intensity of a guy hired yesterday, desperately afraid of a negative job review by the boss. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

But how else to explain why the Broncos would take big chances on the dicey reputations of defensive lineman Gerard Warren and punter Todd Sauerbrun in the same year as drafting Clarett?

Although sometimes guilty of an arrogance that believes he can transform sour apples the likes of Dale Carter and Daryl Gardener into 14-carat gems, Shanahan does not suffer from the same self-destructive stubbornness that plagues too many NFL coaches. So give Shanahan credit for quickly admitting his mistake with Clarett. Every once in a while, a story reads so sadly, there is only one merciful thing to do. End it.


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_2981858

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
 
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FCollinsBuckeye said:
Three words: One and done

Is there an over-under on how long until he lashes out at the Broncos/Shanahan?
Click to expand...
Clarett's bid cut short
Rookie told of release
By Bill Williamson

According to a player at Dove Valley on Sunday, Clarett was commiserating by himself after the meeting with Shanahan and was overheard talking loudly on his cellphone, complaining he never was given a chance by the Broncos.
http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_2981853
Click to expand...
looks like however long it took the person on the other end to answer :lol:
 
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Hmmm... since we know this will never go away... atleast for 3 more years...

Any bets on where he ends up?

Arizona, anyone... Dennis Green will work with headcases (Moss, Cunningham, George, etc).. I do beleive they might have a need. :wink2:
 
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AKAKBUCK said:
Hmmm... since we know this will never go away... atleast for 3 more years...

Any bets on where he ends up?

Arizona, anyone... Dennis Green will work with headcases (Moss, Cunningham, George, etc).. I do beleive they might have a need. :wink2:
Click to expand...
raiders_logo.gif


I'll put money on it.
 
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