If you weren’t lurking around on Twitter yesterday, which is pretty much what I do on a daily and/or minutely basis (I’m working on the addiction!) you might have missed this strange development. First, it was that the Saints put in a waiver claim on quarterback Connor Shaw after the Browns released him. If you’re an LSU fan like me you might remember Shaw from his SEC days quarterbacking the South Carolina Gamecocks. Shaw had an amazing senior season at South Carolina where he really was one of the most efficient college quarterbacks in 2013. He’s only played one game with the Browns and his play was pretty awful throughout that single performance.
Anyway, it appeared the Saints acquired Shaw and cut tight end Jack Tabb loose:
The Saints have claimed former Browns QB Connor Shaw off of waivers, per source. TE Jack Tabb has been waived to make room.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 1, 2016
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No real surprise. Tabb tore his ACL last year and is the long shot to make the team, and we know the Saints like to take four quarterbacks to camp. What’s more, Garrett Grayson is starting to be enveloped in questions as to whether he’ll last much longer. Then, something weird happened:
Some July 1 NFL intrigue. Saints (accidentally?) leaked they were putting waiver claim in for Connor Shaw. Bears jump in and get him first.
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) July 1, 2016
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Apparently sent email to every NFL team instead of just NFL personnel office…. https://t.co/64tPkaZRz3
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) July 1, 2016
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Basically the Bears saw the accidental email, it clued them in that the Saints were making a claim on Shaw, they knew they were ahead of the Saints on the waiver wire – so they made the claim themselves to get the player and snatch him from the Saints. It hurts a little bit more than Ryan Pace, the former Saints front office phenom, is the Bears’ GM. Would the Bears have put in a claim on Shaw if they had never seen that email? We’ll never know, but rumors are circulating they wouldn’t have.
Um… is someone getting fired for this? I mean, not a huge deal, Connor Shaw probably won’t amount to much anyway and I’m just as fine with watching Tabb compete in training camp… but still, this is an epic all time error here. This is the kind of mistake the Saints of the 70’s made. You can read about this in a bit more detail on CBS Sports.
It’s not the end of the world and I can live without Shaw on the Saints’ roster. But man, this is the kind of error you don’t see from a well run organization. It’s embarrassing and frankly unacceptable. It’s less about the fact that the Saints don’t get “awarded” Shaw and more about the fact that this is a clue into the possibility that a business allows things like this to slip through the cracks by being sloppy and not thorough enough. And if that’s true, how many other mistakes have been made? I’m not going to hold back punches on this one – this is utterly ridiculous. They’re already on thin ice with their roster moves the last several years. Your thoughts?
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