Mark Long, who covers the Jacksonville Jaguars for the AP, was sitting in and co-hosting on 1010XL in Jacksonville where said something very interesting regarding general manager Gene Smith and about his tenure under Wayne Weaver. "I don't think there was any question that Wayne Weaver was trying to do this thing (build a roster) on the cheap," Long told host Ryan "Hacker" Green. "Especially when he was trying to sell the franchise, working out the details with Shad Khan. He didn't want a lot of big money contracts, he didn't want a bunch of long term contracts. He wanted to sell this thing (the franchise) and make it more marketable, more sellable so if Shad Khan wanted to come in and put his stamp on it, it would be an easy thing to do." The real surprising thing however came when Long elaborated on some of the draft picks and free agency moves that may have hamstrung Gene Smith. "Gene Smith had to do things that normal, other GMs didn't have to do. He had to take chances on an Aaron Kampman, where you could pay a guy a little bit less than say if he was healthy or in his prime," Long said. "High reward, on the cheap a little bit. There's been a lot of talk in and around the build that Tyson Alualu, when you look back, that was Gene Smith taking a guy they knew they could sign. They didn't want like Derrick Harvey who had held out in 2008, Eugene Monroe had held out in 2009 and Wayne Weaver didn't want another holdout in 2010. So, he (Weaver) told Gene Smith to do whatever you can to get a guy in here who's not going to hold out." Alualu wound up holding out for a while, but it was less than the previous holdouts and he got into camp. "So, that was Gene Smith responding to his boss and taking Alualu tenth overall, which everyone spotted that around the league. You take a guy who's supposed to be a low first-rounder and you get him at 10 and you'll be able to have signability," Long said on air. The three year extension that Gene Smith received last year however, looks especially like a golden parachute now. It was called that back when he received it as something for being with the franchise since it's inception, but now it looks like a reward so-to-speak for being a yes man. Source: SBNation.com
