Paralis wrote:
Here's what's tough, and I mean this only as regards the salary cap: packing enough good enough veteran players into the top 51 salaries to field a competitive team. And the Skins just aren't in that market, which is the point about Fletcher, and which is the difference between the Skins and the other teams you named (except the Rams who are oddly hobbled by 3 top-5 rookie contracts). The current FO hasn't spent big money to sign or retain anybody, and while on a certain level that's astute (better to be thrifty than profligate), the results speak for themselves--the Skins are getting not very good results for not very much money.
They are into their second full off-season... after taking over the management of the team they had to identify players that were on the roster (a roster that was full of players that got big money players that weren't playing) to see if they would fit into their new schemes. At the same time there was a lockout coming, which limited the number of players that could hit free agency. After the lockout, there was a condensed free agent signing period which again limited the moves they could make, because a lot of free agents took the one year contract route (so they could get another crack at free agency). The Broncos, Niners, and Bengals all spent less than the Skins but they weren't starting from scratch.
Paralis wrote:The problem is that unless they're happy with the results, the cap number isn't sustainable. Even if the Skins are committed to building through the draft, guys in the prime of their career don't get magically cheaper just because they were drafted in-house. The Steelers have cap problems because they've had to give big contracts to great players--Harrison, Polamalu, Hines Ward, etc. and I don't think you can look at the Skins' roster and say the reason we don't have those problems is that our FO is smarter. I think another more obvious conclusion is that our players just aren't as good.
What big contracts are you talking about?
Harrison signed a 6 year/$51M a few years ago that averages out to be less than a $10M per year and that's really not big money. His 2012 cap hit will be around $9.3M... that's big money for a 33 year old LB that was suspended for almost a third of the 2011 season. Polamalu got a new deal last year (four-years/$36.5M) his deal also averaged less than $10M per. He averaged less than ten tackles per game last season. Hines Ward got a five-year, $24.85 million contract in 2009 (averaging less than $5M per year), he'll be 36 before the season starts and is due a $4M base salary in 2012. That's big money and I doubt he'll get it.
The Colts almost spent as much as the Steelers but without a QB look how that turned out.
You're talking about players that Vinny drafted or brought in and overpaid, so again we're talking a new FO trying to find out which players could play. They found out they didn't have many.
Paralis wrote:If the Skins want to keep Davis and Landry, or Orakpo and Kerrigan, or Williams and Lichtensteiger long-term, it's going to cost and that's just not a problem that the current FO has had to consider yet. For now all they've had to do is take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cut big contracts (sort of what Oakland is trying to do now), forget about competitiveness. As a fan who supported most of the moves at the time, that feels more obvious than tough.
Davis and Landry both have issues that will allow the team to retain them if they do hit the market. Lichtensteiger is coming off a injury and is a RFA so he'll be back too. All three need to prove they are worthy of long term deals. Williams, Orakpo and Kerrigan are all under contract until 2015.
All six will be back in 2012. Cutting big contracts are tough even if it's obvious they need to be cut. Look at Fat Albert, he was in his prime and got paid. After one year with Shanny they let him go. Just because there was a uncapped year it wasn't a free pass. Haynesworth will cost the Redskins $2M in cap space in 2012. That's a tough decision to eat that much cap space. I will agree with you on the Raiders doing the same thing. Ownership in Oakland hired a GM for the first time and he is getting the Raiders out of the world of fantasy football and trying to rebuild a neglected organization and field a NFL caliber team at the same time.
Dude I wish I could 
all over you. If you are really that negative about football and the Redskins Why don't you leave?
