Bob Sanders getting cut today was destined the minute Bob went down Week One against the Houston Texans last season. Still, it's worth noting that, over the past two years, when asked numerous times about the prospect of the Colts cutting Sanders, Colts president Bill Polian was often defiant in his refusal to even consider parting ways with the 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Here's Polian from November 2009, after Sanders was placed on IR that year:
"There’s no way we would cut Bob Sanders unless he’s completely incapable of playing and I don’t think that that’s the case," Polian said this week. "I think he’ll be back better than ever as the saying goes next summer. I see no situation where we would cut him. Trade? There’s an old saying, ‘Don’t ever trade anybody who can help you.’ I think Bob Sanders can help us a lot."
Sanders came back in 2010, and was essentially lost for the season in the first game. The Colts needlessly held him on the active roster until December, but finally relented by placing him on IR, ending his 2010 season.
Now, we're going to assume that Bob Sanders is not 'incapable of playing.' We will also assume that Polian's comments in 2009 were, to be blunt, a crock of do-do, especially his 'I see no situation where we would cut him,' line of nonsense.
The scenario in which the Colts did cut Sanders ended up being the fact that, in 2011, Bob's salary would have doubled to $5.5 million. Paying that much cash to a 30-year-old safety who has ended up on IR the last two years would have been utterly moronic.
The lesson: Money makes the world go around boys and girls. And whenever a person like Bill Polian says 'I see no situation where we would cut [insert player name here],' that person is pulling your leg.