Rosario Move More About Faith In Andre Smith

When the front office decided to keep five tight ends on the active roster, I had a feeling there was potentially a different plan in place, and Monday morning we learned what that plan was.

Dante Rosario was traded to the Chicago Bears for a conditional seventh round selection in the 2014 NFL Draft. Rosario was a player that my sources around the league were telling me was being shopped, along with Sean Lissemore and Kevin Kowalski. Lissemore was moved to San Diego on Sunday and Kowalski onto the street.

Rosario was brought in to be a jack-of-all-trades type of a player, a stunt man that did those dirty jobs that no one else wanted to do. He had a special teams history with Rich Bisaccia from the Chargers and that alone made me believe that he had a real shot to stay on this roster, but his play in the preseason was less than spectacular.

This move is more about the type of training camp that Andre Smith was having. Smith was projected more as a blocker that was too slow and clumsy to be any type of a threat in this “12” personnel package, but he proved he was far from that type of tag. He was able to get down the field and become a reliable target.

There were several practices in Oxnard and in the Cincinnati game where we observed soft hands and nimble moves on routes. His ability to sustain and stay square on blocks at the point was noticeable as well. He gives them some power at the point of attack that the other tight ends don’t provide.

After the roster reduction on Saturday, I spoke with several teams that were disappointed that Smith was not on the street to be claimed. The overall belief was he was much better than just some ordinary tight end that you get for camp. He had some qualities of the type of player that you could play down after down and not struggle at the position. I like what they were able to do in moving Rosario, which was something they worked hard on, but to keep Andre Smith was a real bonus in my book.