What do you do if you were GM

How do the Redskins fix a last-ranked defense when they currently have ~$2.2 million in cap space, the cap penalty next year, and no first round draft picks for the next two years?

alstontka - while a very valid question, doubtful this couldn't have gone in a dozen other threads. Welcome to ES, but fair warning, this thread might not end well.

The answer to me, to humor you, is quite simple - with the cap penalty, we're FORCED to spend wisely in free agency with limited resources. In the draft, we STILL HAVE A LOT OF PICKS. Period. Yes, we don't have the luxury of a first rounder. But we've been pretty successful in finding late round talent, and we still have a lot of picks in the next two drafts. We need secondary help, OL depth, LB, NT and WR help. Take the BPA that fits those needs. Championship. The End.

Thanks for the input....I have been trolling for years and this is my first thread...I am a skin's fan for life....HTTR, all in at this point. Agree BPA is the way to go.

I'd try to do everything possible to help outside those restrictions, ie. as some have mentioned before I'd want the absolute best, largest, most effective scouting department imaginable and the best coaching staff possible. Maximize your efforts outside of the Mara-straitjacket.

I'd like to hope you were a lurker rather than a troll. As a Skins fan, I'm guessing you are!

LoL a Lurker...I live and die Burgandy and Gold...slingbox my Skins every weekend when not on AFN

Not a bad thread - this is a discussion board right? And this is a very thought-provoking question up for discussion, right? Don't see an issue - better than "danny sucks, fire everyone, rah rah rah!"

If Im the GM, I continue on the same course we have been on. Draft and acquire more talent with regards to skill positions, Griffin needs help making plays. Time to get some DLinemen with more of a motor to push the line back, we're not getting enough pressure without the blitz. Need secondary help bigtime - again, I'd address this through the draft and go to free agency for positions that are traditionally more successful from that channel. I would do a complete overhaul of our training/conditioning staff...don't care who's who, we have a disproportionate amount of injuries nearly every year, and constant complaints from players about misdiagnoses. Finally, I would can Danny Smith - you cant have such a poor performing ST unit year over year and not be held responsible.

Other than that, no firings, no crazy twists and turns, no giving up on the plan....Shanny and team are here for 5 years, minimum, and we need to stick to that. Uprooting the system and everything associated will only do more harm than good for everyone, including the guy we bet everything on in RG3.

Dont forget we will be getting rid of dhall so thats 8 mill...i have a feeling fletch might be done so theres 4mill.

Very difficult to answer, do you jump ship on Shanahan or do you stick with him two more years but force his hand in changing the DC position? When he came here the offense was anemic, the D was good. Now the opposite is true. In this case the GM does not acquire the talent nor the coaches, so getting players is not an option. I would personally beef up the personnel department and search out UDFA, the CFL and late round unknown gems. Without the money this is going to be where you can build depth. I would push to spend money on a safety, a corner and maybe a WR if you can pull it off within the budget.

Not a bad thread - this is a discussion board right? And this is a very thought-provoking question up for discussion, right? Don't see an issue - better than "danny sucks, fire everyone, rah rah rah!"

If Im the GM, I continue on the same course we have been on. Draft and acquire more talent with regards to skill positions, Griffin needs help making plays. Time to get some DLinemen with more of a motor to push the line back, we're not getting enough pressure without the blitz. Need secondary help bigtime - again, I'd address this through the draft and go to free agency for positions that are traditionally more successful from that channel. I would do a complete overhaul of our training/conditioning staff...don't care who's who, we have a disproportionate amount of injuries nearly every year, and constant complaints from players about misdiagnoses. Finally, I would can Danny Smith - you cant have such a poor performing ST unit year over year and not be held responsible.

Other than that, no firings, no crazy twists and turns, no giving up on the plan....Shanny and team are here for 5 years, minimum, and we need to stick to that. Uprooting the system and everything associated will only do more harm than good for everyone, including the guy we bet everything on in RG3.

You said something very compelling here about the training/condition staff. It seems every year we have more injuries than any team in the NFL. I am going to do some research and find out where the SKINS stand as compared to others. Makes you wonder about Carlos Rogers and his bad hands....the 49ers recommended he where contact lenses....well we know how his season was last year.

I would work with the NFLPA to put pressure on the NFL to ease the cap hit we were forced to take by John Mara's cronies for "violating the spirit of the cap" in an uncapped year. I would put pressure on Mike Shanahan to replace Jim Haslett after this season (with someone OTHER than Raheem Morris) and also force him to SERIOUSLY consider replacing Danny Smith.

Other than that, no firings

Screw that. I saw the Texans fire their Coordinator and bring in Wade Phillips. In 20011 and this year that defense has been good.

So my first step would be to hire a defensive coordinator with a proven track record. I heard somebody say that they hope the jets fire Rex Ryan and he can come here, I wouldn't be mad at that. If that doesn't happen, we should look at Keith Butler, or maybe even Mike Singletary.

If that didn't work, I would risk hiring that defensive coordinator from Norte Dame, Bob Diaco. I think a college defense is easier to transfer than a college offense.

As far as the draft goes, I would go BPA in all rounds. Free Agency would be to bring in quality defensive players and maybe an offensive linemen or two.

Numerous people in the draft database thread have mentioned that the draft should be used mostly for BPA as opposed to need because your building depth for the next 2-3 years. Well it's been almost three years since ShanAllen have been here. I think if we continue the same path we've been going in the draft, and with the return of our 8 or 9 injured starters/depth players, we would be very surprised at how the team will start to come together in years 4 & 5.

Obviously we need a new DC, however we should try and target someone experienced in the 3-4. Preferably someone already familiar with our system a la Lou Spanos. Our pass rush was very effective last season and I think he had more to do with it than Haslett. Bringing him back would save us a lot of time as far as getting familiar with the players and the system we're running.

Just my two cents

Dont forget we will be getting rid of dhall so thats 8 mill...i have a feeling fletch might be done so theres 4mill.

My guess is Hall, Fletcher, Moss, J. Black, J. Brown (June 1st cut), Cooley (again, but for age not salary since his original cap hit was voided when he didn't make the opening roster), C. Griffin, Madoo-doo Williams and Golston will all be gone.

If a viable defense can't be implemented in 3 years, I am not sure I have faith in the powers to suddenly fix it in the 4th.

Fix the offense instead. Draft a RT, a RB and TE. Hope the injuries on D are minimal and keep the focus of the GM duties on supporting THE player they committed to, and the player that we all know have to win games for us. The QB.

QB's win games in the modern era, not defenses.

The secondary will absolutely need an over-haul, restructure the guys you can, then go after 1 star player in the secondary thru FA. Yes, we may not have a 1st round pick, but we have a lot of picks in the upcoming draft. Spend these picks on secondary and O-line depth.

Look to spend some $ on another star offensive player (Bowe) etc. Get the space by restructuring. Explain to players the cap penalty to current players and maybe get them to back load some of their contracts?

Oh, and fire current DC, it just has to happen to keep accountability alive in organization.

There's a great chance that D. Hall will be let go after 2012, thus freeing up some cap room. I'm not sure how much tho.

Continue doing what we've been doing and go into this offseason knowing there shouldn't be any more surprises.

If I were GM:

1. First things first, I march into Snyder's office and tell him straight, if he wants a consistent winner before 2014, he needs to get us our cap back. I explain the situation, in depth, where we can save money, where we're obligated, where our holes are, what it costs to fill them effectively, and tell him that without that cap room, we have no margin for error in 2013, and will still be hurting in 2014, since it can take time to get everything in working order.

If Snyder gets the money back, great, but mainly it needs to be made clear to him that that 18M is effectively 2-3 very good to star players in key positions. Maybe go over the 2012 offseason plan, and explain how the 18M penalty stopped us from getting Winston at RT (he can clearly see how Polumbus has done) and getting Carr at CB (he can see even more clearly how the secondary has played).

2. Normally here you'd want to prioritize your offseason, evaluate the young players, see where your needs are, evaluate the draft, etc., BUT there's one thing that needs to be done first.

Issue an ultimatum to Hall. Either he redoes his contract in the neighborhood of 3-4M dollars, down from the 11M he's due in 2013, or hand him his walking papers. That 11M can do a lot of good. Hell, that 11M could probably secure Jairus Byrd AND a reasonably decent #2 or #3 CB with the 3M left over (I'm assuming Byrd would get 8M a year). Or you could grab DRC (probably around 9M a year) and put the remaining 2M towards safety or RT or something.

So yeah, Hall either needs to come down to 3-4M a year, or get out.

3. Evaluate the youngins.

Keenan Robinson, Hankerson, Aldrick Robinson, Dezmon Briscoe, Richard Crawford, Jenkins, Hurt, Neild, LeRibeus, etc. etc.

Is Keenan Robinson good enough to take over for Fletcher? Are Hankerson, Robinson, Briscoe, in addition to Garcon and Morgan, sufficient at WR, or do we need another playmaker? How do the depth guys fit in the interior of the Oline? Is Jenkins developing as a DE, or does he need to move to NT, or is he just going to be quality depth, but depth nonetheless, going forward? And what's Crawford's, and for that matter, Bernstine's ceilings?

3. Prioritize offseason needs. Once we've figured out what we have, we can figure out what we need. IMO, at this moment, we need, in order of importance:

Safety

Cornerback (going back to the Hall problem)

Right Tackle

Safety (we need two, but we could settle for one assuming Meriweather is still here. If he's not...well it stays here, but gets much greater urgency)

ILB (dependent on Robinson, if he's ready drop down a few spots)

WR

NT (Neild, Baker, and Jenkins might all be capable, and Cofield is decent. We could manage one more year if we needed to)

4. Work on contracts.

Moss is due 5.8M. Fletcher is due 7.25M, appox. 3.25M of which is guaranteed. Brown is due 3.5M, of which 1.1M is guaranteed. Those are the biggies. Either these need to be re-done down to basically JUST their guarantees (for Moss, down to around 1M), or they need to be cut for the savings.

Other players like Madieu Williams will be shown the door as well. Basically, we'd like to free up another 8-12M from sources besides Hall, and try to go into FA with about 20M at a minimum in our pocket. Tough, but if we get 7M from Hall, 5M from Moss, ~3M from Fletcher, and 2.4M from Brown, we're looking at $17.4M-ish right there, and with some other cuts can get us close to 20.

5. Having established offseason needs, and evaluated current talent resulting in cuts and freeing up some space, we send off the scouts to look at the draft kids, while the GM stays home and evaluates FAs (** means top target, * means high priority target).

S - Byrd**, Delmas*, Golson*, Phillips*, William Moore, Michael Mitchell, Colt Anderson, Mundy

CB - DRC**, Talib**, Sean Smith*, Antoine Cason*

OT - Clady*, Albert*, Baker*, Long*, Loadholt, Vollmer, Bushrod (no one gets ** because frankly they're all too expensive or likely to be re-signed)

ILB (haven't researched many)- Erin Henderson, Justin Durant, Jovan Belcher

WR - Bowe*, Wallace*

NT - Not really any premium prospects in the market, honestly

I'd also prioritize a blocking RB to replace Royster, but those aren't terribly costly.

Anyways, I go HARD at Byrd. Flowers, chocolates, and a 5 year 35M contract at a minimum. Next, I look at DRC very hard, and maybe make a 5Y/45M offer. I also watch Talib, if he hits the market, I'm looking at him, but keeping numbers low because of danger of a year off. Probably willing to offer a maximum of 4M for him, but only for 1 year. If he plays well, give him a 3-4Y contract next year.

Another option is to pursue two safeties (maybe Phillips at Strong and Byrd at Free) hard, ignoring CBs, and attempting to retain Hall on the cheap. In this case, our 2nd would probably go towards a CB.

Probably avoiding the RT market unless we get our money back. Same thing with WR. I'd love to upgrade but safety and CB is more pressing. If Fletcher is deemed too old, and Robinson is not deemed ready, then I'm looking at ILBs too, but I would have to search for bargains. Probably first call I'd make would be to Goff. Tell him that if he can heal and be in shape, we'll give him a solid shot at the job.

Ultimately, I think I'll want to spend to within a couple million of the cap in order to cover costs of draft picks.

6. Draft. Throughout, I'm keeping an eye on targets I like, and if they fall, I'm considering trading up to snag them. We got a lot of picks that made the roster the last two years, and I'd prefer quality over quantity this time. If I can get a prospect I like earlier on at the cost of a late rounder, I'm pulling the trigger no question.

- 2nd rounder in most scenarios is targeting a safety, like Vaccaro. If we secure 2 starting safeties in the offseason, IN ADDITION to Meriweather (which probably means we neglected CB), I might look at CB in the 2nd, maybe someone like Amerson if he's there, or Trufant. I'm also keeping an eye on RTs. If anyone falls, like Lewan, I might pull the trigger on a small trade up to secure him. Otherwise, I probably hold off. I might also peek at who's available at ILB, NT, DE, and WR, but unless a solid 1st round talent falls I'm focusing on S, CB, and RT.

Guys I like here:

Safety - Vaccaro, Reid, McDonald, Lester, Elam, Jefferson (pretty much any of the top 6 safeties)

CB - Amerson, Trufant, Poyer, Fuller

RT - Matthews (won't fall, but still), Lewan, Aboushi (but only later on in the 2nd, which would probably require a trade down)

- 3rd rounder is largely dependent on the 2nd. If I go safety, I'm probably going CB, or RT. Still look at NT, WR, DE, ILB, etc. but still very much focused on S, CB, and RT. One guy I'm keeping an eye on if I don't go RT in the 2nd is Aboushi. If he's still there in the 3rd, he's probably almost the highest guy on the board by that point. Fluker, if he's still there, gets a look too.

Beyond that, I'm probably looking at BPA with deference to the positions of need, as usual.

Anyways, that's what I'd probably do top to bottom, but I won't be angry if Bruce and Shanahan make moves differently, I trust them to make the smart choices.

Well, I'd write myself a note to NOT sign some one-hit wonder player to a 50 mil contract; not gonna call any names [ Garcon cough cough ], but there's a few players who can be traded, i.e.; Royster. He's just not impressing me in the least bit, and RB position is something we can afford to flex with.

Unless another CB worthy can replace Hall, he's gotta be kept; think its bad now, wait and see if he's gone; we will break all defensive negative records. Just sit him down and discuss a much lower salary; if he doesn't bite, then he'll have to go. But my fear is he will go to another NFCE team and give us headaches for years to come.

I'd fire Shanahan and start over. I want the Number One franchise in the NFL. I don't think Mike is either willing or able to achieve that goal.

IfIssue an ultimatum to Hall. Either he redoes his contract in the neighborhood of 3-4M dollars, down from the 11M he's due in 2013, or hand him his walking papers. That 11M can do a lot of good. Hell, that 11M could probably secure Jairus Byrd AND a reasonably decent #2 or #3 CB with the 3M left over (I'm assuming Byrd would get 8M a year). Or you could grab DRC (probably around 9M a year) and put the remaining 2M towards safety or RT or something.

So yeah, Hall either needs to come down to 3-4M a year, or get out.

4. Work on contracts.

Moss is due 5.8M. Fletcher is due 7.25M, appox. 3.25M of which is guaranteed. Brown is due 3.5M, of which 1.1M is guaranteed. Those are the biggies. Either these need to be re-done down to basically JUST their guarantees (for Moss, down to around 1M), or they need to be cut for the savings.

Other players like Madieu Williams will be shown the door as well. Basically, we'd like to free up another 8-12M from sources besides Hall, and try to go into FA with about 20M at a minimum in our pocket. Tough, but if we get 7M from Hall, 5M from Moss, ~3M from Fletcher, and 2.4M from Brown, we're looking at $17.4M-ish right there, and with some other cuts can get us close to 20.

Don't forget to rework Trent Williams deal. He'll be making a bundle next season. I'd like to reduce his cap hit.

Don't forget to rework Trent Williams deal. He'll be making a bundle next season. I'd like to reduce his cap hit.

I've seen different numbers for Williams, ranging from 6M to 8M in terms of costs. Thing is, he's due more in 2014 (I think like 11M after everything), and a LOT more in 2015 (like 14M after everything). I'm not sure I'd want to push that back, when he's due the least amount of any of the next three years next year.

I've seen different numbers for Williams, ranging from 6M to 8M in terms of costs. Thing is, he's due more in 2014 (I think like 11M after everything), and a LOT more in 2015 (like 14M after everything). I'm not sure I'd want to push that back, when he's due the least amount of any of the next three years next year.

You can always tear it up and re-do the deal entirely. That is his rookie contract if I'm not mistaken. Before they put retrictions on the contracts.

I suppose, but he's playing like an elite LT, so his contract wouldn't shrink much for next year if we redid things, he'd still probably be in line for a 10M/year contract. I mean, I wouldn't have a problem shifting 3-5M from 2013 to 2014, when we get our cap back, but I think if we can avoid it we should.

Point taken. I'm all for what is the best way to give us some cap relief from the 18 million penalty.