CanesSkins26 wrote:fleetus wrote:Brad, you know, it's not like draft picks are magical pixie dust that solve all problems and stay with the team forever. Draft picks are good because after the first 20 picks or so, they are lower salaried, younger, less injury prone players. If you can stock pile lots of 2nd and 4th round picks, you get cheap depth. Occcasionally you get lucky and a couple become stars.
But if they do become great players, they are asking for a big contract after 4 years or they leave for another team. So, New England and Philly try to keep a heavy rotation of young, cheap depth by acquiring extra 2nd and 3rd rounders.
You do realize that McNabb was once a draft pick too, right? After a few years he was no longer a draft pick any more, but rather a
VETERAN!

You make a good pick about draft picks. Some of our recent drafts show just how hard it is to be successful in the draft. That is why, though, you see the top teams invest significant resources in scouting and why they try to stockpile picks.
Obviously, there isn't one model for winning in the NFL. However, generally speaking, the teams that are consistently competitive build through the draft, develop their own players, trade aging vets for picks while they still have value, and stockpile picks. A perfect example of that is what New England did with Seymour. Trading him for a first rounder in 2011 now gives them two first rounders next year. They knew that they weren't likely to win it all last season so they got some significant value for an aging star. The Eagles now have 11 picks in this year's draft. The Colts last season, had 9 or 10 (I cant remember which but I think it's 9) offensive starters that were either drafted by the team or signed as undrafted free agents.
Compare that to what the Skins tend to do, which is pretty much the exact opposite. Instead of trading our aging vets for picks, we trade picks for other team's veterans...2 picks for Duckett, 2 for Taylor, and 2 for McNabb. I just don't see how a team can be successful over the long term with this type of philosophy. You end up with an aging team that has a few front line stars but no real depth, which is what we've had here pretty much since Snyder first bought the team.
I think you are really leap frogging over the "context" issue here. The McNabb deal isn't remotely similar to Duckett (which was knee jerk reaction that was senseless, baseless, and inexplicable) or Taylor which didn't pan out due to a combination of injury and misuse of his skills.
Secondly, you completely ignore reality with the Good Short term-bad long term claim as if we traded two 1st's for the guy. We traded this year's 2nd which might have been a project QB that wouldn't even have an effect at all now, nor even the future.
What we got out of the deal is a QB that can lead this team to wins now and in the future ... at least for the next 3-4 years.
Maybe you'd prefer to lose now, in hopes of winning in 2018, but I don't believe (nor does it seem that our GM and Coach does) you have to make such an unpalatable choice.
This is one of the best trades the Redskins have made since they got Sonny from Philly, and low and behold, the son of George Allen pulled it off. Apparently all that fatherly advice from dad about "The Future is Now" stuck with him, thank goodness.
Everyone around the league are scratching their heads trying to figure out how the Redskins were able to pull this one off ... the Texas boys to the north of me are saying that "they are the losers" in this deal because it immediately strengthens the Redskins, while giving the Eagles another early pick. The only people that seem to be questioning the deal are some Redskin fans who refuse to accept yes for an answer, and some Philly fans who have had their heads stuck in their rear ends so long, it now feels natural to them.
The bottom line is that the there are many ways to build a team, and I think the Redskins are now focused on utilizing every tool they have to deliver a winning product using FA, Trades, and the draft.
Let me remind you how we got ourselves into the mess we're in now ... that was wasting two 1st's and a 2nd on Carlos Rogers and Jason Campbell in 2005, followed by another 1st on Laron Landry in 2007 .. this has done more to set back the team than anything else that has happened over the past 5 years ... with not one of those players delivering that type of production, and none of them worth a 2nd rounder in a trade today.