Our Favorite Redskins Argument. Trade versus Draft.
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:10 am
I didn't really want to start another thread, but I would like people to read this and honestly offer their comments, rather than having it buried in another thread. Not to mention, I added a Poll. Got to love polls.
The commentary on the signing of Jason Taylor has run the gamut of emotions here at THN. There has been stated every opinion from, “The Redskins’ Front Office never learns” to “The Redskins Front Office doing nothing would have been the worst move” and every opinion in between.
So, I thought we’d take what we know or at least accept as fact and separate it from what we think we know, otherwise called speculation, guessing, conjecture, pulling unsubstantiated opinion from one’s backside, etc., et. al., ad nauseum, ad infinitum.
What the Redskins Lost:
- Starting left defensive end Phillip Daniels
- 3rd down defensive tackle Phillip Daniels
- Consistency in training camp drills
- The player with the strongest work ethic, and the physically strongest player.
- Veteran Experience and Leadership
- A dominating occupier of space, when healthy. The immovable object.
What the Redskins Gained:
- Six-time Pro Bowl Defensive End
- Five-time 10+ Sack Defensive Lineman
- Veteran Experience and Leadership
- Former Defensive Player Of The Year on a 1-15 team
- A player who has not missed a game for any reason in eight seasons.
- Pure speed rusher, who often requires double teams, which frees up other defensive players, even when he fails to pressure or sack the QB.
- A player opposing teams will account for on every play. (Invaluable)
What Nobody Knows For Fact (Yet):
- Which team, the Redskins or the Dolphins, received the better trade value in the deal.
- How many plays Jason Taylor will make for the Redskins.
- How many plays Jason Taylor will blow.
- How many plays Jason Taylor will affect by “allowing” someone else to make a play.
- Who the Redskins would have drafted with the 2009 2nd Round Pick, although we can safely assume from history that it would not have been a defensive lineman.
- Who Miami will draft with the two picks, not that Washington would draft the same players. Miami needs everything, except a left tackle. Even that’s not certain. Washington only needs key replacements at key positions.
- How much getting out of Miami will be a motivation for Jason Taylor. Eleven sacks on a pitiful 1-15 team, with no help from teammates, cannot, or at least should not be understated.
The remains of the day, yesterday, bring the following:
Redskins fans can’t agree on anything other than being Redskins fans.
Redskins fans used to get peaved if the Redskins kept draft picks.
Redskins fans currently get peaved if the Redskins trade draft picks.
The teams with the most success in the salary cap era have both kept and traded draft picks. No successful team only does one and not the other.
No team is trading prime-time players in their prime for a reasonable price.
Washington’s problem has never been trading for prime-time players in their prime.
It has been trading for prime-time players past their prime.
Jason Taylor is not past his prime. Taylor had 56 tackles, 11 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and 1 interception on that pathetic 1-15 team.
Phillip Daniels had 37 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and four forced fumbles on a playoff team.
Here is what every Redskins fan would have liked to have seen this season, and please don’t attempt to deny it: Everyone here knows Redskins fans all too well. And everyone was complaining, for lack of a better word, about how the Redskins failed to address the defensive line in the draft. It is doubtful those comments need to be reprinted here.
LDE Jason Taylor
LDT Cornelius Griffin
RDT Phillip Daniels
RDE Andre Carter
What there likely will be this season:
LDE Jason Taylor
LDT Cornelius Griffin
RDT Anthony Montgomery
RDE Andre Carter
On paper, it doesn’t look bad at all. But we know all about that “on paper” argument. The Redskins win it every year. The point to the trade argument is that it can be argued any way each person wants to argue it. There are plenty of facts and plenty of history to support any point of view. What happens on the football field this upcoming season will be the only true answer to whether or not the Redskins should have made this trade. And, whether we agree or disagree, Jason Taylor is now a Washington Redskin so it’s time to move beyond the trade and to the “I hope to hell he stays healthy until the season starts, otherwise the Redskins are in the same situation, and there aren’t any more Jason Taylor’s to be had on the trade / free agency market.” Or something like that.
Hail To The Redskins, Always.
The commentary on the signing of Jason Taylor has run the gamut of emotions here at THN. There has been stated every opinion from, “The Redskins’ Front Office never learns” to “The Redskins Front Office doing nothing would have been the worst move” and every opinion in between.
So, I thought we’d take what we know or at least accept as fact and separate it from what we think we know, otherwise called speculation, guessing, conjecture, pulling unsubstantiated opinion from one’s backside, etc., et. al., ad nauseum, ad infinitum.
What the Redskins Lost:
- Starting left defensive end Phillip Daniels
- 3rd down defensive tackle Phillip Daniels
- Consistency in training camp drills
- The player with the strongest work ethic, and the physically strongest player.
- Veteran Experience and Leadership
- A dominating occupier of space, when healthy. The immovable object.
What the Redskins Gained:
- Six-time Pro Bowl Defensive End
- Five-time 10+ Sack Defensive Lineman
- Veteran Experience and Leadership
- Former Defensive Player Of The Year on a 1-15 team
- A player who has not missed a game for any reason in eight seasons.
- Pure speed rusher, who often requires double teams, which frees up other defensive players, even when he fails to pressure or sack the QB.
- A player opposing teams will account for on every play. (Invaluable)
What Nobody Knows For Fact (Yet):
- Which team, the Redskins or the Dolphins, received the better trade value in the deal.
- How many plays Jason Taylor will make for the Redskins.
- How many plays Jason Taylor will blow.
- How many plays Jason Taylor will affect by “allowing” someone else to make a play.
- Who the Redskins would have drafted with the 2009 2nd Round Pick, although we can safely assume from history that it would not have been a defensive lineman.
- Who Miami will draft with the two picks, not that Washington would draft the same players. Miami needs everything, except a left tackle. Even that’s not certain. Washington only needs key replacements at key positions.
- How much getting out of Miami will be a motivation for Jason Taylor. Eleven sacks on a pitiful 1-15 team, with no help from teammates, cannot, or at least should not be understated.
The remains of the day, yesterday, bring the following:
Redskins fans can’t agree on anything other than being Redskins fans.
Redskins fans used to get peaved if the Redskins kept draft picks.
Redskins fans currently get peaved if the Redskins trade draft picks.
The teams with the most success in the salary cap era have both kept and traded draft picks. No successful team only does one and not the other.
No team is trading prime-time players in their prime for a reasonable price.
Washington’s problem has never been trading for prime-time players in their prime.
It has been trading for prime-time players past their prime.
Jason Taylor is not past his prime. Taylor had 56 tackles, 11 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and 1 interception on that pathetic 1-15 team.
Phillip Daniels had 37 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and four forced fumbles on a playoff team.
Here is what every Redskins fan would have liked to have seen this season, and please don’t attempt to deny it: Everyone here knows Redskins fans all too well. And everyone was complaining, for lack of a better word, about how the Redskins failed to address the defensive line in the draft. It is doubtful those comments need to be reprinted here.
LDE Jason Taylor
LDT Cornelius Griffin
RDT Phillip Daniels
RDE Andre Carter
What there likely will be this season:
LDE Jason Taylor
LDT Cornelius Griffin
RDT Anthony Montgomery
RDE Andre Carter
On paper, it doesn’t look bad at all. But we know all about that “on paper” argument. The Redskins win it every year. The point to the trade argument is that it can be argued any way each person wants to argue it. There are plenty of facts and plenty of history to support any point of view. What happens on the football field this upcoming season will be the only true answer to whether or not the Redskins should have made this trade. And, whether we agree or disagree, Jason Taylor is now a Washington Redskin so it’s time to move beyond the trade and to the “I hope to hell he stays healthy until the season starts, otherwise the Redskins are in the same situation, and there aren’t any more Jason Taylor’s to be had on the trade / free agency market.” Or something like that.
Hail To The Redskins, Always.