Don’t Applaud the Redskins for Being Patient
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 5:30 am
- Meant for a broader audience. Not trying to insult any of your intellegence, but would like to know the feelings on what I have to say.
At a certain point, hearing “expert” after “expert” claim that the Redskins are turning over a new leaf is just irritating and quite frankly, wrong. In free agency, the Redskins are usually in the role of this year’s Chicago Bears…only much worse. The Bears spent huge bucks in free agency this past year, breaking from a usually cheap perspective on free agency. After signing only three players the Bears are going to spend $55, 000, 000 in guaranteed money and about $120, 500, 000 in money overall in the next 6 years. Of course, with all those contracts there is jargon for “this” to be escalated and “that” to be deducted. (Disclaimer: I am just trying to avoid anyone claiming I put everything in black and white, while in reality like every NFL contract there is a boat load of confusion and grey matter)
I can’t begin to point fingers because the Redskins have been guilty of this same issue in their well documented past. I won’t go into depth on every signing because it’s a waste of this paper and your time. But not giving you a list makes this seem made up so…:
Past-their prime-signings
• Mark Carrier
• Deion Sanders
• Bruce Smith
Flat Out Busts
• Dana Stubblefield
• Jeremiah Trotter
• Jesse Armstead
• Adam Archuleta
• (Traded for and re-sign to a massive contract) Brandon Lloyd
The Redskins are still paying for their mistakes, after being off the ‘Skins for two years, the Redskins just paid Brandon Lloyd over five millions dollars. Let us not beat a dead horse.
A proper debate is not proper without looking at both ends of the spectrum. The Redskins have signed some truly talented player such as Marcus Washington, Shawn Springs, Randy Thomas, Cornelius Griffen, Andre Carter, Casey Rabach, and London Fletcher. Now, not all of these players are still on the team, in fact most are gone, but all of these players spent at least three if not more quality seasons with the Redskins. An interesting fact about all of these players, none were signed to ridiculous contracts.
The Redskins will never learn, just only last year they signed Albert Haynesworth and DeAngelo Hall to over 150 million dollars in contracts with $62, 500, 000 in guaranteed mullah. Sadly, but in no way shockingly did these players not nearly give a decent return in their first seasons. If you came by my Uncle’s house where my family watches games you’d hear us all laughing at the joke the Redskins have become as their “100 Million Dollar Man,” Albert Haynesworth, misses four games, dare I say feigns injury at least once a game, and lacks solid production from week to week. Oh and as a feather in the cap, he walks out on his team during a game, complains to his teammates as if he were actually a leader, and complains to the media that he isn’t being used properly. To sum it up, Albert Haynesworth is an overpaid, over-rated 6’5” 350lb baby. Not to mention, for the 54 million dollars DeAngelo Hall makes, you’d expect him to be able to make an open field tackle. Let me put it in better terms, if Hall lost money with every tackle he missed; he would owe the Redskins money. Not a bad idea.
Now all of this free agency waste could be counteracted with proper drafting and good trades but sadly no luck. A block buster trade made in the 2nd Gibbs era was Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey. I say this knowing well and good that Clinton Portis did produce for many seasons but, any semi-in-depth NFL fan is aware that it is easy to find a good running back late in the draft, but near shutdown corners don’t come along everyday. To add to our misfortune of such a mistake trade, we get stuck having to listen to Clinton Portis throw every teammate under the bus, some he doesn’t even play with anymore. It sucks to be the one to say this to Clinton, but all the blame you try to point out is only re-directed back to you, and the fact that you’re over-the-hill. You can blame Jason Campbell’s leadership, the offensive line, Mike Sellers, and even embarrass yourself to the point of needing to jab ex-Redskin LaVar Arrington, but it all come back to Clinton “Look at me” Portis. To look further at drafting the Redskins have done well with a late Sean Taylor, but selections like him were few and far between. Since 2001 the Redskins have drafted in the first round:
• 2001, Rod Gardner (Fans loved him, but just not a No.1)
• 2002, Patrick Ramsey (Bust)
• 2003, No pick
• 2004, Sean Taylor
• 2005, Carlos Rodgers (Has flashes, but is far too inconsistent)
• 2005, Jason Campbell (Good or Bad, has taken the blame for poor management)
• 2006, No pick
• 2007, LaRon Landry (Misses far too many tackles and is inconsistent in coverage)
• 2008, No pick
• 2009, Brian Orakpo (First season was good, but still too early)
Out of all these selections the majority are not worthy of there selection spot. The above mentioned and the free agency busts are the sound and only reason why the Redskins find themselves picking in the top 10 of the draft most years.
Most Redskins fans are exciting with a new regime of Bruce Allen at GM, former son of Redskins coach George Allen, and 2-time super bowl winning coach Mike Shanahan. Here’s a hint, don’t be excited. This is not going to change anything; in fact, it will only increase spending in coming years. Why? Because Bruce Allen is best known for his skills for signing veterans and Mike Shanahan is the coach version of Daniel Snyder. Snyder’s drug is free agent splashes and these two gentlemen are his enablers.
This year the Redskins have been applauded for being patient and going after Chad Clifton (re-signed with the Packers), and signing Artis Hicks. They also are applauded for never attempting to sign DE Julius Pepper and LB Karlos Danby, both being signed to record deals for their respective positions. Here is the reason why you need to just sit on your hands that have suffered from a tragic case of premature admiration. Yes, the Redskins have been able to not sign Peppers or Dansby, but there is a reason why they are avoiding singing these 28 year old or older free agents, next year’s free agency, chalk full of young talent. Granted, this year is an uncapped year, but another rule to this uncapped year is that most unrestricted free agents (UFAs) in a normal capped season become restricted free agents (RFAs) in this uncapped season. Basically in a normal year 4 year players can become UFAs, but now they have to be 6 year players. Meaning, the restricted free agents are signed to a one year deal called a tender, and can not be signed to another team without their original team being compensated, a pre-determined by salary, draft pick. This rule made 212 players that would usually be UFAs, RFAs. This is all due to a lack of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NFL and the NFL players association. The CBA is basically just the logistics of where the money goes in the NFL between players and owners. The new CBA was not reach by the March 5th deadline so the hope is a new deal will be reached before 2011’s March 5th. If there is a new CBA in place, then all the 2010 RFAs, that aren’t signed to long term deals, will become UFAs in 2011, along with the hundreds of other athletes already set on course to be UFAs in 2011. If you do the math, the majority of the RFA won’t sign long term deals, so a normal class of talented free agents will have doubled. The 2010 class of RFAs contains WR Brandon Marshall, OLB Shawn Merriman, RB Darren Sproles, and about a 200 more. That class will combine with a 2011 free agency class that will possibly hold athletes like, QB Tom Brady, QB Donavan McNabb, TE Antonio Gates, OLB LaMarr Woodley, CB Champ Bailey, and hundreds of others.
As you sit back and think of brighter futures for the Washington Redskins because they aren’t spending in an uncapped season understand something. That bright future isn’t bright at all. It’s a dark, looming, cloud with a storm brewing. A storm on track to begin March 5th 2011, and it should be raining money; millions of dollars at a time…but none of this should surprise you, remember, Daniel Snyder will still be the owner in 2011.
At a certain point, hearing “expert” after “expert” claim that the Redskins are turning over a new leaf is just irritating and quite frankly, wrong. In free agency, the Redskins are usually in the role of this year’s Chicago Bears…only much worse. The Bears spent huge bucks in free agency this past year, breaking from a usually cheap perspective on free agency. After signing only three players the Bears are going to spend $55, 000, 000 in guaranteed money and about $120, 500, 000 in money overall in the next 6 years. Of course, with all those contracts there is jargon for “this” to be escalated and “that” to be deducted. (Disclaimer: I am just trying to avoid anyone claiming I put everything in black and white, while in reality like every NFL contract there is a boat load of confusion and grey matter)
I can’t begin to point fingers because the Redskins have been guilty of this same issue in their well documented past. I won’t go into depth on every signing because it’s a waste of this paper and your time. But not giving you a list makes this seem made up so…:
Past-their prime-signings
• Mark Carrier
• Deion Sanders
• Bruce Smith
Flat Out Busts
• Dana Stubblefield
• Jeremiah Trotter
• Jesse Armstead
• Adam Archuleta
• (Traded for and re-sign to a massive contract) Brandon Lloyd
The Redskins are still paying for their mistakes, after being off the ‘Skins for two years, the Redskins just paid Brandon Lloyd over five millions dollars. Let us not beat a dead horse.
A proper debate is not proper without looking at both ends of the spectrum. The Redskins have signed some truly talented player such as Marcus Washington, Shawn Springs, Randy Thomas, Cornelius Griffen, Andre Carter, Casey Rabach, and London Fletcher. Now, not all of these players are still on the team, in fact most are gone, but all of these players spent at least three if not more quality seasons with the Redskins. An interesting fact about all of these players, none were signed to ridiculous contracts.
The Redskins will never learn, just only last year they signed Albert Haynesworth and DeAngelo Hall to over 150 million dollars in contracts with $62, 500, 000 in guaranteed mullah. Sadly, but in no way shockingly did these players not nearly give a decent return in their first seasons. If you came by my Uncle’s house where my family watches games you’d hear us all laughing at the joke the Redskins have become as their “100 Million Dollar Man,” Albert Haynesworth, misses four games, dare I say feigns injury at least once a game, and lacks solid production from week to week. Oh and as a feather in the cap, he walks out on his team during a game, complains to his teammates as if he were actually a leader, and complains to the media that he isn’t being used properly. To sum it up, Albert Haynesworth is an overpaid, over-rated 6’5” 350lb baby. Not to mention, for the 54 million dollars DeAngelo Hall makes, you’d expect him to be able to make an open field tackle. Let me put it in better terms, if Hall lost money with every tackle he missed; he would owe the Redskins money. Not a bad idea.
Now all of this free agency waste could be counteracted with proper drafting and good trades but sadly no luck. A block buster trade made in the 2nd Gibbs era was Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey. I say this knowing well and good that Clinton Portis did produce for many seasons but, any semi-in-depth NFL fan is aware that it is easy to find a good running back late in the draft, but near shutdown corners don’t come along everyday. To add to our misfortune of such a mistake trade, we get stuck having to listen to Clinton Portis throw every teammate under the bus, some he doesn’t even play with anymore. It sucks to be the one to say this to Clinton, but all the blame you try to point out is only re-directed back to you, and the fact that you’re over-the-hill. You can blame Jason Campbell’s leadership, the offensive line, Mike Sellers, and even embarrass yourself to the point of needing to jab ex-Redskin LaVar Arrington, but it all come back to Clinton “Look at me” Portis. To look further at drafting the Redskins have done well with a late Sean Taylor, but selections like him were few and far between. Since 2001 the Redskins have drafted in the first round:
• 2001, Rod Gardner (Fans loved him, but just not a No.1)
• 2002, Patrick Ramsey (Bust)
• 2003, No pick
• 2004, Sean Taylor
• 2005, Carlos Rodgers (Has flashes, but is far too inconsistent)
• 2005, Jason Campbell (Good or Bad, has taken the blame for poor management)
• 2006, No pick
• 2007, LaRon Landry (Misses far too many tackles and is inconsistent in coverage)
• 2008, No pick
• 2009, Brian Orakpo (First season was good, but still too early)
Out of all these selections the majority are not worthy of there selection spot. The above mentioned and the free agency busts are the sound and only reason why the Redskins find themselves picking in the top 10 of the draft most years.
Most Redskins fans are exciting with a new regime of Bruce Allen at GM, former son of Redskins coach George Allen, and 2-time super bowl winning coach Mike Shanahan. Here’s a hint, don’t be excited. This is not going to change anything; in fact, it will only increase spending in coming years. Why? Because Bruce Allen is best known for his skills for signing veterans and Mike Shanahan is the coach version of Daniel Snyder. Snyder’s drug is free agent splashes and these two gentlemen are his enablers.
This year the Redskins have been applauded for being patient and going after Chad Clifton (re-signed with the Packers), and signing Artis Hicks. They also are applauded for never attempting to sign DE Julius Pepper and LB Karlos Danby, both being signed to record deals for their respective positions. Here is the reason why you need to just sit on your hands that have suffered from a tragic case of premature admiration. Yes, the Redskins have been able to not sign Peppers or Dansby, but there is a reason why they are avoiding singing these 28 year old or older free agents, next year’s free agency, chalk full of young talent. Granted, this year is an uncapped year, but another rule to this uncapped year is that most unrestricted free agents (UFAs) in a normal capped season become restricted free agents (RFAs) in this uncapped season. Basically in a normal year 4 year players can become UFAs, but now they have to be 6 year players. Meaning, the restricted free agents are signed to a one year deal called a tender, and can not be signed to another team without their original team being compensated, a pre-determined by salary, draft pick. This rule made 212 players that would usually be UFAs, RFAs. This is all due to a lack of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NFL and the NFL players association. The CBA is basically just the logistics of where the money goes in the NFL between players and owners. The new CBA was not reach by the March 5th deadline so the hope is a new deal will be reached before 2011’s March 5th. If there is a new CBA in place, then all the 2010 RFAs, that aren’t signed to long term deals, will become UFAs in 2011, along with the hundreds of other athletes already set on course to be UFAs in 2011. If you do the math, the majority of the RFA won’t sign long term deals, so a normal class of talented free agents will have doubled. The 2010 class of RFAs contains WR Brandon Marshall, OLB Shawn Merriman, RB Darren Sproles, and about a 200 more. That class will combine with a 2011 free agency class that will possibly hold athletes like, QB Tom Brady, QB Donavan McNabb, TE Antonio Gates, OLB LaMarr Woodley, CB Champ Bailey, and hundreds of others.
As you sit back and think of brighter futures for the Washington Redskins because they aren’t spending in an uncapped season understand something. That bright future isn’t bright at all. It’s a dark, looming, cloud with a storm brewing. A storm on track to begin March 5th 2011, and it should be raining money; millions of dollars at a time…but none of this should surprise you, remember, Daniel Snyder will still be the owner in 2011.
