USAToday: Inside Slant
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:30 pm
In Pro Bowl holdover Santana Moss and newcomers Antwaan Randle El and Brandon Lloyd, Redskins coach Joe Gibbs might have assembled a latter-day version of Art Monk, Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders, the elite receivers who helped Washington win Super Bowls in 1987 and 1991. Lloyd sees the three-headed receiving corps as the successor to the Greatest Show On Turf that spurred St. Louis to Super Bowls in 1999 and 2001. Randle El, who won a Super Bowl with Pittsburgh last month, was so excited about what could lie ahead that he yelled 'Yeah, baby!' during Lloyd's welcome to Washington press conference that followed his on Mar. 13.
"Happier days ahead" was the phrase receivers coach Stan Hixon said of his newfound riches.
"A lot of times last year, Santana was worn out and I wish I could've rested him," Hixon said of Moss, who had 75 percent of the yards and all nine touchdowns by 2005 Redskins wideouts. "We want to play at a fast speed and keep them fresh. The new additions will make Santana even better. Santana's the fastest, the most explosive of the three. Randle El's more elusive with the ball. Brandon's a good route-runner, a Jerry Rice type."
None of Washington's receivers is over 6 feet, but that doesn't worry Hixon, who noted that the NFC's top wideouts last season were the vertically challenged Moss and Steve Smith of Carolina.
And if aging quarterback Mark Brunell - who tailed off badly in the second half of the season - can get them the ball, the receivers say they'll happily share the wealth as did their productive predecessors. At least after Saunders, who was with the Rams during their glory days, explained his plans to spread the ball around.
"That was an issue," said Randle El, who averaged just 41 catches during his four years with the run-focused Steelers. "I sat down with (offensive coordinator Al) Saunders. I wanted to hear that I'm involved. It's not about greed. It's about being able to help your team as much as you if you have the talent and the ability to do that."
Lloyd, an aspiring rap artist was less bashful about his abilities than Randle El, a devout Christian.
"That's three superb receivers if I do say so myself," said Lloyd, who caught 91 passes for 1,298 yards (14.3-yard average) and 11 touchdowns while starting the past two years for San Francisco's horrid offense. "I make plays that most guys don't. I dive. I do about anything to get the ball."
Gibbs said that when the Redskins were evaluating players heading into free agency, Lloyd's talent was impossible to miss and made him determined to try to work a trade to acquire the 24-year-old Illinois product. He'll likely soon be handed a contract in the neighborhood of Randle El's seven-year, $31 million bonzanza.
"Brandon's one-handed spectacular catches, I don't know if I've seen a receiver make those kind of grabs," said new Redskins safety Adam Archuleta, who faced Lloyd twice a year the past three seasons while with St. Louis. "He has exceptional hands. He was the one (49er) that we had to keep an eye on at all times."
All eyes were on Randle El as the quarterback at Indiana, when he became the only Division I player to pass for 6,000 yards and run for 3,000. Despite a part-time role in Pittsburgh until he became a starter in 2005, the 26-year-old Randle El still scared opposing teams. As the Steelers went 15-1 in 2004 and won the Super Bowl - which he clinched with a late touchdown pass - Randle El caught 78 passes for 1,159 yards (14.9-yard average) and four touchdowns.
"Antwaan is a player who can do a lot of things (beside catch passes)," Gibbs said. "He can run. He can throw. He can run back punts and kickoffs. Two years ago when we played Pittsburgh, we kept punting the ball and he kept getting it and we couldn't get him down (six returns for 111 yards). Our deal is to get him the ball."
Despite his gaudy financial deal, Randle El said becoming a Redskin wasn't all about the money.
"There are a lot of places I could've gone, but I was welcome here," Randle El said. "Free agency started at 12:01 (AM Saturday). I got a call at 12:05 from Coach Gibbs. He asked to speak to my wife. She was kind of blown back from that. From that point on, they kept putting plusses on the chart in showing me they really wanted me to be here. They really made me feel that I was first on their list."
Like 2005 acquisition Moss (26) and unlike previous Gibbs wideout signees Patten and Thrash, who were 31 and 30, respectively last season, Randle El and Lloyd should have serious upside. Lloyd's 48 catches in 2005 were a career-best. Randle El's 47 catches as a rookie in 2002 are his career-high and he has just seven touchdowns among his 162 grabs.
NOTES, QUOTES
—Not only is new defensive end Andre Carter a rangy 6-foot-4 and 265 pounds with the swiftness to have recorded 12 1/2 sacks back in 2002, but he's also a black belt in karate. On top of all that, Carter is out to prove that he still belongs among the NFL's better defensive ends after two frustrating years in San Francisco.
Carter missed nine of 16 games in 2004 after having a cyst removed from his sciatic nerve. Last year, Carter was switched from his lifelong position of defensive end to outside linebacker as the 49ers went to a 3-4 defense. And San Francisco was a league-worst 6-26 during those two seasons.
"When the 49ers announced they were changing to a 3-4, I'm like 'Oh, great,' " Carter said sarcastically. "But I did it. I feel that's a testament to my character. I made some plays (at linebacker), but it took me out of some plays as far as getting to the quarterback."
Carter's ability to do just that is why he's now a very rich Redskin. Right end Phillip Daniels, who'll move to the left side for 2006, had six sacks in the final three games last season after producing just three in his first 19 games as a Redskin. Incumbent left end Renaldo Wynn has just 4 1/2 sacks in his two seasons in assistant head coach Gregg Williams' scheme. Carter has 27 1/2 sacks in his 53 games at defensive end. The last Redskin to top Carter's 12 1/2 sacks was linebacker Ken Harvey in 1994. Linebacker LaVar Arrington, with 11 sacks in 2002, was the only Washington player to top eight sacks during the past five seasons.
"If it helps the team win, Renaldo is all for it," said Wynn's agent, Peter Schaffer.
"We felt that Andre was a real impact player with a great motor," said Gibbs, who considers Carter, Daniels and Wynn starters. "Andre can play both sides for us. He can play (linebacker). And he can play inside, too. It gives us a lot of flexibility. (Defensive line coach) Greg Blache is real creative. He rotates a lot of guys. And you'd like to see (strong-side linebacker) Marcus Washington be able to rush more."
Carter, 26, gave the Redskins some anxious hours when he completed his free agent visit without signing and flew to Denver on Sunday. Had he resisted the Redskins' all-out blitz: private plane, limousine, courtside seats at the Wizards' game and most important, a six-year, $30 million contract?
"At that point, we panicked," Gibbs said. "We were still text-messaging and calling (Carter and agent Don Yee) at 3:30 in the morning."
Carter didn't just visit Denver to see if he was the right replacement for departed Pro Bowl end Trevor Pryce. He also had a more personal connection to the Broncos.
"My dad (nose tackle Rubin Carter) played there for 12 years," Carter explained. "The thought of being a second-generation Carter was big, but this team was always in the front of my mind."
And so on the afternoon of his visit to Denver, Carter decided he belonged in Washington, where his father, now the coach at Florida A&M, had coached the defensive line in 1999-2000.
"It's great being back in the trenches because that's where it all started for me," Carter said. "And God willing, that's where it will finish for me. This team wants me at right end and I'm pleased with it."
—Tight ends coach Rennie Simmons called TE Christian Fauria, who started on New England's Super Bowl champions in 2001, 2003 and 2004, "an exceptional blocker." Simmons foresees Fauria and Mike Sellers sharing the blocking role as Sellers and Robert Royal, who signed with Buffalo on Mar. 11, did last season. Fauria, 34, split time the past couple of seasons in New England with Daniel Graham and Ben Watson.
—QB Todd Collins, who played the past five seasons under new associate head coach Al Saunders in Kansas City, will replace Patrick Ramsey, who was traded Friday. Collins, 34, threw just 27 passes in relief of ex-Redskin Trent Green as a Chief, but he's valuable to Washington because he knows the offense so well.
"Todd's a sharp guy and a super person," Gibbs said. "He's a real solid veteran with a great history of working with young guys which will be good for Jason (Campbell, a first-rounder in 2005 and the heir apparent to starting quarterback Mark Brunell)."
—Clark said that Gibbs' constant evocations of "core Redskins" and other family-type references are just talk. Clark saw "core Redskins" Antonio Pierce and Fred Smoot depart as free agents last March without much of a struggle and now he has basically been kicked to the curb in favor of the flashier Archuleta despite starting for a top-10 defense the last two years and helping keep Taylor under control.
"There are a lot of speeches about core guys, but then they don't keep the core group together," said Clark, who's going to visit the Steelers today. "I love my teammates and my coaches, but there's the football side and there's the business side of the building. (Redskins owner) Dan Snyder likes to make big moves and Archuleta's a first-round guy. He's a good player, an athletic guy. They'll be able to use him well."
The day after Archuleta took his job, Clark visited Pittsburgh and signed a four-year, $7 million contract that included a $1.7 million bonus.
"It's a wonderful day," Clark said. "I was at the airport, swinging my terrible towel. I was with a team with a great fan base, now - they're going to hate me for this - but I'm with a team with an even better one. The beauty of it is, I'm coming to a team that's already great. I'll just try to fit in and be part of this great organization."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I didn't think they disliked me. They just weren't feeling my style. I was loud and laughing and joking all the time and ... I'm not going to change regardless of the record. I'm having fun." - New WR Brandon Lloyd on rubbing some of his former 49ers teammates the wrong way.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
After their spending splurge, the Redskins are pretty much done shopping although they need to find a starting linebacker (WLB or MLB), a third cornerback and more than one backup offensive lineman. There won't be much help coming through the draft since Washington only has six picks (second, fifth, three sixths, seventh).
Re-signing top reserve defensive lineman Demetric Evans became a somewhat diminished priority with the addition of Carter. Linebacker Warrick Holdman, who's hurt by not playing special teams, is also reserve material, and tight end Brian Kozlowski might retire. They are Washington's only remaining unrestricted free agents.
TEAM NEEDS
1. Linebacker: The Redskins have yet to welcome a free agent visitor to fill the hole left by the Mar. 6 release of three-time Pro Bowl WLB LaVar Arrington. Chris Clemons has only been used as a situational pass rusher and is coming off knee surgery in December. Fellow backup Warrick Holdman is unsigned and didn't produce as a starter in the first half of 2005. Washington could move MLB Lemar Marshall, a starter here in 2004, back to this spot depending on whether it signs/drafts an inside LB or an outside LB.
2. Cornerback: The Redskins cut fading veteran Walt Harris leaving only special-teamer Ade Jimoh and the unproven Christian Morton and Dimitri Patterson behind starters Shawn Springs and Carlos Rogers. This might be how Washington uses the 53rd pick in next month's draft, its only choice above the fifth round.
3. Offensive line depth: G Jim Molinaro, the only backup who has taken a snap, is so lightly regarded that when now-retired fill-in RG Ray Brown went down in the playoff loss at Seattle, the Redskins put career C Cory Raymer - who has since been released - ahead of Molinaro. Washington needs three backup linemen badly with Brown and Raymer both departed and will have to choose wiser than it did in taking Molinaro (sixth) and since-released T Mark Wilson (fifth) on the second day of the 2004 draft.
FRANCHISE PLAYER: None.
TRANSITION PLAYER: None.
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: DL Demetric Evans; LB Warrick Holdman; TE Brian Kozlowski.
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (not tendered offers): DE Melvin Williams
RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: LB Chris Clemons; OG Derrick Dockery; CB Ade Jimoh.
PLAYERS RE-SIGNED: LB Khary Campbell; RB Rock Cartwright; DT Cedric Killings.
PLAYERS ACQUIRED: S Adam Archuleta; DE Andre Carter; QB Todd Collins; TE Christian Fauria; WR Brandon Lloyd; WR Antwaan Randle El.
PLAYERS LOST: LB LaVar Arrington; S Matt Bowen; OG Ray Brown; S Ryan Clark; CB Walt Harris; DT Brandon Noble; QB Patrick Ramsey; C Cory Raymer; TE Robert Royal; S Omar Stoutmire; P Tom Tupa.
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suckers.