On Friday, Redskins General Manager Scot McCloughan took another step in re-building the Washington secondary by acquiring veteran free safety Dashon Goldson from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And it cost next-to-nothing to do so.
The Redskins gave up a sixth round pick in 2016, for Goldson and the Bucs seventh round pick in 2016. Stepping back from the sixth to the seventh round in next year’s draft, is a pretty decent price to pay for a guy that will likely be penciled in at starter at a need position. Reality is that the Bucs were going in a new direction, and may even have cut the safety eventually. Goldson never seemed to gel in new head coach Lovie Smith’s system last year, and therefore became expendable.
Washington are hoping that Goldson can re-gain the form that landed him in the 2011 and 2012 Pro Bowls, and didn’t want to run the risk of him going elsewhere. Goldson is a “known entity” to McCloughan. The Redskins GM drafted the safety in the 4th round of the 2007 draft when with the San Francisco 49ers. It’s the third player that McCloughan has brought in this offseason, that he had previous knowledge and experience with (DL Ricky Jean-Francois, SS Jeron Johnson).
The Redskins have had a void in their defensive backfield, since Sean Taylor ruled the roost – a player that Goldson has expressed a great deal of respect for since being acquired: “One of my favorite players (Sean Taylor) set the tone for the position for years (there). I’m not Sean but I’m honored to be patrolling the same playgrounds as he did. I’ll do my best on making him happy from the position as he watches down on us as a secondary.”
The Goldson trade happened just two days after what would have been Sean’s 32nd birthday.
All of a sudden, the Redskins’ secondary doesn’t look as tertiary. The addition of Goldson and Johnson at the safety positions, to corners Chris Culliver, David Amerson, Bashaud Breeland, and DeAngelo Hall should give new defensive Coordinator Joe Barry a much better secondary to work with. On paper at least. We’ll see how it shakes out over the next few months, but Washington can concentrate on more pressing needs both in free agency and in the upcoming draft.
Running Back Michael Hill
Washington also re-signed running back Michael Hill last week. Hill was signed to Washington’s practice squad last year (Dec. 9th), after being released by both the Packers and Colts. He does have NFL game experience with the Packers and the Bucs though, and will challenge Silas Redd and Chris Thompson to fill Roy Helu Jr.’s vacated back-up spot.
Hail to the Redskins.
Goldson is a good safety and he will improve the Redskins secondary.