OXNARD, Calif. – The free safety competition has likely been settled here just a week into training camp.
While it was supposed to be a healthy battle between Barry Church and Brodney Pool, it never materialized and certainly won't now.
Pool has been released Monday morning, along with cornerback Isaac Madison.
The two spots were freed up to sign wide receiver David Little and running back Javarris Williams.
But the biggest news centers on Pool, a veteran safety brought in to add some experience to the position. He was regarded as an insurance policy, but also a player with familiarity to the staff, considering he played in Cleveland under defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and current defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson.
But Pool was a non-factor in the summer practices and then failed his conditioning test, forcing him to miss the first three days of practice.
That opened the door even wider for Church, who has arguably been one of the best defensive players in practice over the first week.
For Pool, who worked only with the second-team defense, he's not much of a special teams player so if he didn't get the starting job, he became expendable.
