Posts tagged Charles Rogers at FanHouse

When Mlive.com's Tom Kowalski writes that the Martin Mayhew -- the chap burdened with the impossible task of being less competent than Matt Millen -- is taking draft preparations seriously some five months before Roger Goodell starts reading names off a sheet of paper, pretty much tells you all you need to know about why the Lions are annually the worst team in football.

Millen had no business running a team (in case that wasn't obvious, the careers of Charles Rogers and Mike Williams confirm as much) and even though Mayhew is only the interim general manager, he has a chance to show he's capable of handling the full-time gig. (And when I say "handling" I mean in the conventional sense; not in the "Matt Millen shows up for work to catch up on his sleep" sense.)

You think Charles Rogers has been sitting around watching the Lions bumble their way to 0-4, wondering where it all went wrong? The second-overall pick in the 2003 draft lasted two seasons, 15 games, 36 receptions and four measly touchdowns before Detroit decided he was a bust (roughly 24 months after every other team in the league!), and in the three years since he was released, Rogers has been out of football (save the occasional failed comeback attempt).

But, hey, sometimes draft picks don't work out. At least Rogers has that $14.2 million signing bonus to live on while he plots his next career move ... or not.

Bad news, Chuck, you might want to get moving on scanning the want ads: the Lions want $8.5 million of that bonus back, and after three years, an arbitrator agrees.

When [Rogers] was suspended by the NFL for substance abuse in 2005 -- his third strike under the league's policy -- the Lions argued that he triggered a clause that put him in default of his contract. At the time, the club was seeking $10.2 million -- a pro-rated portion of Rogers' bonus money.

The Lions now must go through a few routine legal procedures before they can demand the repayment obligation and take action to collect. The Lions will get $8.5 million added to their salary cap next season, but only if they physically collect the money.

Cheer up, Lions fans, your long national nightmare is about to end. That's right, in just three days the curse of Bobby Layne is set to run out, and your beloved football team will once again return to prominence in the NFL. What's that you ask? The Lions were cursed? Yeah, I had no idea. But apparently this explains everything from Matt Millen, to Joey Harrington, to Barry Sanders suddenly walking away from the game. The Curse Of Bobby Layne website has the full story.

In 1958, after leading the Lions to 3 NFL Championships and providing Detroit nearly decade of Hall of Fame play, the Lions traded Bobby Layne. Bobby was injured during the last championship season and the Lions thought he was through and wanted to get what they could for him. According to Legend, as he was leaving for Pittsburgh Bobby said that Detroit "would not win for 50 years"

With this news, and the fact Millen was finally relieved of his duties two weeks ago, things are really starting to look up for the Lions. But back to this curse business ...

Remember how star receiver turned NFL analyst Cris Carter said he knew all along that Charles Rogers and Mike Williams would be NFL busts? And remember how he said he could have warned Matt Millen not to draft them?

Yeah, it turns out that Carter wasn't exactly being truthful.

Charles Robinson of Yahoo! reports that in reality, Carter was singing the praises of both Rogers and Williams before the Lions spent Top 10 draft picks on them.

Said Carter of Rogers just before the 2003 draft, "He's very similar – and I don't like to make a lot of comparisons – to Randy (Moss) in a sense, a big basketball player playing wide receiver. He's the only receiver that's come out since Randy that you can make an honest comparison to. He has a yearning to learn."

As for Williams, Carter said just before the 2005 draft, "I think he's going to be a great player. I think people will be surprised at the kind of person he is. He's really a hard worker. He takes his training very seriously and wants to be very good."

None of this changes the fact that Millen screwed up when he spent Top 10 picks on Rogers and Williams, or the fact that Millen is the worst general manager in NFL history. But for all the mistakes Millen made running the Lions, failing to call Cris Carter was not one of them.

Cris Carter was one of the best wide receivers in college football history and one of the best wide receivers in pro football history, and he's frequently invited young receivers to work out with him, many of whom have raved about his ability to help them improve. He knows a thing or two about playing the wide receiver position.

And Carter, who is now a TV analyst, said on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown that two of the young receivers he worked with, Charles Rogers and Mike Williams, were clearly not suited to becoming good NFL players. Carter said he worked with Rogers and Williams before they were in the NFL and would have been happy to share a candid assessment with Lions President Matt Millen, but Millen never asked:

"Matt Millen, do a little undercover work," Carter said today. "Williams and Charlie Rogers both worked with out with me before the draft, and I could have told them, 'don't draft neither one of them.' ... Never asked me."

Millen, of course, used Top 10 picks on Rogers and Williams. Both were terrible in Detroit and are now out of the league.

It's common for NFL teams to do obsessive levels of research before drafting a player with a Top 10 pick, but Millen apparently couldn't be bothered to find out that his prized wide receivers had been working out with a future Hall of Famer, and that the future Hall of Famer didn't think much of them. Which is why Millen is now, finally, out of work.

UPDATE: Turns out Carter wasn't exactly being truthful.

We're nearing the end of Day 1: Life After Millen, and by most accounts, it's been a joyous occasion. Now begins the arduous process of rebuilding the Lions, no easy task given what hell Matt Millen hath wrought on this franchise in just eight years.

During tonight's NFL Total Access, Rich Eisen got current NFL Network analyst and former Lions head coach Steve Mariucci on the horn to talk about what it meant to work for the worst general manager in the history of sports. (Click Millen's handsome mug for the moving pictures.)

Some highlights after the jump.

I always think people overlook Charles Rogers when they list the all-time biggest busts in the history of the NFL draft. Sure, he always makes the list, but he's never at the top, and really, how was he any better than Tony Mandarich or Ryan Leaf? At least Mandarich and Leaf caught on with other teams after they washed out with the Packers and Chargers. Rogers didn't do that.

At least, he hasn't yet. But some people still think it's possible. He said this about his future:

''When I know, you guys will be the first to know,'' Rogers told The Saginaw News. ''That's all I'm saying right now.''

And his high school coach said this:

''He's had a couple workouts with some teams and has a workout with the Minnesota Vikings. He's getting caught up (with playing in the NFL again). I tell him to play where he can play and enjoy it. People get caught up on where the best spot for him is."

I suppose it's possible that the Vikings will really give Rogers a tryout, but color me skeptical that he'll actually be invited to training camp, and extremely skeptical that he'll ever play another regular-season down in the NFL. Rogers wasn't good enough to help the Lions win when they cut him in 2006. What makes anyone think he's good enough to help a team win after a two-year layoff?

Via PFT.

The media, bloggers, fans, and people that just hate Matt Millen have spent a lot of time lambasting the Lions general manager because not only does he love drafting wide receivers in the first round, he's got an amazing knack for unearthing sure-to-be busts.

(To be fair, Roy Williams is legit, and there's no reason to think Calvin Johnson won't be even better. But Charles Rogers and Mike Williams were so embarrassingly bad, they more than canceled out anything Williams accomplished.)

But enough about the Lions. The Falcons love drafting wideouts in the first round, and amazingly manage to find guys who are less effective than their Detroit counterparts. In 2004, the team took Ohio State's Michael Jenkins with the 29th pick, and in 2005, they grabbed Alabama-Birmingham's Roddy White with the 27th pick.

Jenkins has never caught more than 39 balls in his three-year career; White has yet to top 30 receptions in two seasons. Not exactly the output you're looking for in your first-round picks. Which explains why the Falcons signed 35-year-old Joe Horn this off-season.

And guess what? Horn will be in the starting lineup tomorrow when the Falcons take on the Vikings. And he'll be joined by White ... meaning that Jenkins will be the third receiver. Being the slot guy isn't as bad as getting released, but it's not exactly what most teams envision when they use a first-round pick on a wideout (Anthony Gonzalez and the Colts are the obvious exception).

A lot can happen over the regular season, but Jenkins enters his fourth year in the league. If he doesn't get by now, there's a good chance he never will. The good news, though, is that the Raiders are always looking for former first-round busts. So there's that, I guess.

A few days ago it was noted that the Giants had met with former first round draft pick and well known bust, Charles Rogers. After that, as has been the case all offseason, the conflicting reports began.

According to USA Today's Inside Slant written by David Klein, the Giants are definitely considering the addition of the former Michigan State wide receiver.

The Giants reportedly have interviewed former Detroit Lions WR Charles Rogers, the second overall pick in the 2003 draft, and seem inclined to consider hiring the Michigan State star. He is 6-4 and 220 and would be a perfect speed/possession replacement for the aging and injured Amami Toomer.

However, according to a Bergenn Record report, Rogers is not in their immediate plans.

Conflicting reports have quickly become a typical characteristic of this offseason. The question becomes, which report holds more water? Sadly, it's hard to say. The Giants obviously brought Rogers in for a reason and have made no secrets about their desire to add another set of hands. If he came across well and showed maturity in his interview, I'd venture to guess the Giants are most certainly interested. If he showed some of his bad character traits, things he's better known for, I'd image the Giants will pass. I guess the bottom line still remains to be seen.

It looks like the Lions could cut ties with another former first-round wideout. Mike Williams, the 10th overall pick in the 2005 draft, has been a big fat bust during his two-year career. And I stress the "fat" part. Williams, who many draftniks considered the best available player at the time, has struggled with his weight.

In two seasons, Williams started only two games, caught 37 passes -- including two TDs -- for 449 yards. The team tried to get Williams to drop 10-15 pounds with no luck. Terry Foster of Detnews.com thinks it's not Williams' weight that has made him an ineffective NFL wideout:

The Lions got it wrong by insisting that Williams play at a lower weight. He is not a great receiver by any stretch of the imagination, but some team will allow him to play at 230-235 pounds and use him as a big underneath third receiver.

Foster adds this: "It also would be nice if the Lions had enough guts to draft Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson following their bobbles of drafting Charles Rogers and Williams high..."

At this point, nothing Matt Millen did would surprise me, but drafting Johnson wouldn't even make the GM's top-10 worst decisions list.