| The Dallas Cowboys have released
Deion Sanders, making the star cornerback a free agent and saving the team millions of
dollars. If he had not been released today, Dallas would have owed him $23.5 million over
the next two years. The team announced the move on its Web site. "Deion was a great
player for us," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "He was a major contributor on
our Super Bowl team, and he has been a major contributor to the success we've had in
recent years. But because of salary-cap reasons, we just can't afford to keep him under
his current contract."
ProFootballWeekly.com asked contributing editor Joel Buchsbaum to weigh in on the
subject.
Q: The teams being rumored as possibilities for Sanders are Washington, Tampa
Bay and Denver. How do you see this playing out?
Buchsbaum: It's Washington all the way now.
Q: Why is that?
Buchsbaum: They cleared up room. They're going to sign him.
Q: Do the Redskins become the clear-cut Super Bowl favorite if they sign him?
Buchsbaum: Yes.
ProFootballWeekly.com also asked editor-in-chief Ron Pollack to comment on Sanders.
Q: What are your thoughts about Sanders possibly landing in Washington?
Pollack: The most intriguing thing to me is what it could mean to his place in history.
If Deion never plays another down of football, he will be viewed as an elite all-timer.
He's a big-time player whom you can't take your eyes off when he is on the field. He's a
playmaker. There is an electricity that runs through a stadium when he merely waits for a
punt to come his way. When Deion intercepts a pass, you can feel the entire crowd lean
forward with anticipation at what he will do with it. Plus, he doesn't just dominate with
style. He has also dominated quietly throughout his career by shutting down an entire side
of the field against the pass.
If the Redskins win a Super Bowl with Sanders in the lineup, he becomes more than just
a thrilling, dominating showman. He becomes the ultimate difference maker. He's sort of
there already, having won Super Bowls with the 49ers and Cowboys. If he wins a Super Bowl
in a Redskins uniform, he becomes an all-time winner to go with being an all-time
performer. Sanders just may be as good as Dan Marino is at his job, the difference being
that Deion has the championship jewelry to go with the individual accomplishments. That's
pretty rarefied air. When you add the fact that Sanders has also played in a World Series,
I think it should be pretty clear that he has blown Bo Jackson out of the water in the
debate over who the better two-sport athlete has been.
Q: Do you think the Redskins will be the clear-cut favorite to win the Super
Bowl if they sign Sanders?
Pollack: You know, I've been a little slow to jump on the Redskins' bandwagon. Don't
get me wrong, I think they will be in the Super Bowl hunt even if they don't sign Sanders.
But I've been taking a little bit of a wait-and-see approach to their defense. DE Bruce
Smith is an all-time great, but he is not the every-down dominator that he once was. LaVar
Arrington has incredible potential, but he hasn't done it on Sundays yet. Thus, for all
the improvements the Redskins have made to date on defense, I think you have to remember
that their defense ranked 30th in the NFL last year. They didn't just need a little bit of
added firepower on defense, they needed a ton of help on that side of the ball. Given how
much their big-money expenditures have underachieved on defense in the past, I feel the
need for them to do it before I anoint the Redskins the next big thing. That all goes out
the window if they sign Sanders, though. It looks like Sanders will be healthy during the
2000 football season, and if that is the case, he will return to his old, dominating self.
Add Sanders to the Redskins' roster and I suspect I'll toss my wait-and-see attitude into
the garbage can and jump on the bandwagon along with everyone else. |
