Remember when Stewart Bradley got hurt in December of 2010 vs Dallas and Jamar Chaney took over as MLB? He played well. The next week he was flat out terrific vs the Giants. Brian Baldinger was ready to put him in Canton.
Chaney regressed after that, but was solid.
Then 2011 came and Juan Castillo had the brilliant idea to build the LB corps around Chaney and moved him to SAM as some S/LB hybrid that would be a star. Oh boy, was that a great idea.
Casey Matthews flopped at MLB so Chaney moved back to the middle. He was highly inconsistent there. The team added DeMeco Ryans and Mychal Kendricks in 2012 so Chaney went to WLB, where he struggled to find a home. He was eventually benched.
After the PIT game, I wrote on Twitter that I had invented a new drinking game. Every time Chaney is in the wrong gap on a run play, you drink. Warning…you need lots of beer.
Jamar didn’t find that so amusing and let me know that he graded out at 86 percent. Okay. I followed up by asking what the coach downgraded him for. My guess…being in the wrong gap too often. Jamar never responded to that.
Jamar has talent. He’s a better athlete than people realize. He was a star in the SEC in college. He just needs someone to put him at one spot and leave him there. I wish him well.
I’m glad he’s gone. Watching him frustrated me to no end, even if many of the problems were due to crappy circumstances and not his own doing.
