Free Agency and the Draft

[RedzoneHunter]

Year after year we watch our front office go nuts and pile into Redskins One as free agency begins. It's not that I'm against signing free agents or anything. But the way our front office does business, they tie a noose around the team's neck by over-paying over-hyped players who think that they have reached the top of the mountain. Then after they get their fat contracts, they think that they have finally arrived and don't need to work that hard anymore. All of their hard work from years past has paid off big as they finally hit the jackpot.

Take last year, for example, all of the signings we made filled the entire team with a bunch of hot air. They actually believed they were going to just coast to the super bowl without putting in the hard work that's necessary to get them there. Now that the season is over, I'm sure these players will respond differently to the wake up call they got last year, the trouble is, the new free agents we will over pay this year will go through the same thing, thinking that they can take it easy now, forgetting the fact that they should know that they are going to have to work even harder now, re-adjusting to a new environment, a new system, and new faces.

But that's not all. Then we have no depth because we always trade our draft picks away. If you notice, all of the elite teams in this league put great value in the draft. Their foundations are laid with the draft. This is where they develop young players while also saving their teams money. They kill two birds with one stone, then another bird when you consider that they are also adding depth. But the way the Redskins front office is doing business, our house is being built on sand, and every year the big storm comes and blows the house down.

Yeah, yeah, I know. We almost got lucky in 2005. We made it to the playoffs, but we shouldn't kid ourselves. That team looked pathetic too. They were 5-6 after 11 games. The only thing that made a difference then was that the players knew they were backed into the corner and had to play must win football, saying, "5 in a row or we don't go." Well that wake up call almost worked, but almost just doesn't cut it. Now we're back to square one. There's another storm coming, but everyone's asleep in the front office.

Lets go the other way this year, by trading down for more picks, and don't trade any of next years picks away. Then we can start building a solid foundation too. And when it's time to fill holes through free agency, don't go get the guy that already thinks he's the best. Go get a top 10 guy who will still work hard trying to be the best, but don't over-pay him. Give him top 10 money as a reward for his hard work, not a ticket to easy street.

[RedzoneHunter]

So far, so good. It appears the front office is starting to wake up. We haven't gone overboard yet in the free agent market, and so far, we still have all of next years draft picks. Maybe they have turned the corner?

Now they need to take advantage of Denver's trade offer,

(our #6, for their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick #'s (21), (56), (87) and Dre Bly.

[26fan4life]

So far, so good. It appears the front office is starting to wake up. We haven't gone overboard yet in the free agent market, and so far, we still have all of next years draft picks. Maybe they have turned the corner?

Now they need to take advantage of Denver's trade offer,

(our #6, for their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick #'s (21), (56), (87) and Dre Bly.

never going to happen

[HEavyJumbo85]

never going to happen

well that is the reported deal if it were to go down...It actually is near equal value. We would actually kind of be getting less than our pick is worth depending on how much folks value Dre Bly.

[RedzoneHunter]

never going to happen

To which are you referring?

The front office not waking up and turning the corner; or

the Denver trade not going through?

[elkabong82]

Since Gibbs has come back, Gibbs is the primary person in charge of which free agents we go after. 2004 was a rebuilding year, and we netted a group of solid players that year. 2005 we were modest due to cap restrictions. 2006 we have Archuleta and Lloyd not performing well. Carter came on strong towards the end and Randle El definitely did his part well for us. I know we got Fauria also, but he wasn't part of the big name crew. It has only been one season for these guys though, so you can't really judge yet whether or not we overpaid. This year, we got Fletcher and Smoot. One will probably step up as the leader on defense, and the other turned down more money to return here, and will play his heart out for this team. Any moves made before Gibbs aren't up for debate when talking about the way the current organization operates. I think Gibbs ahs made more good moves than bad.

The only positions that really need depth are the offensive line and TE. The D-line needs a starter. The DT could stand to be improved, but Griffin, Golston, Salavea, and Montgomery isn't that bad of a DT group. DE needs a new starter from the draft, but Evans and Daniels backing up Carter and draft pick isn't too shabby. QB, RB, WR are fine. LB has Washington, Fletcher, McIntosh, Marshall, K. Campbell. CB right now is Springs, Rogers, Smoot, and Jimoh. Not too bad either. Safety has Taylor, Archuleta, Prioleau, and Fox. That isn't too bad either.

If we do trade our 6th pick for Denver's 1, 2, and 3, and Bly, any remaining holes can be addressed via the draft.

[taylor362183]

Since Gibbs has come back, Gibbs is the primary person in charge of which free agents we go after. 2004 was a rebuilding year, and we netted a group of solid players that year. 2005 we were modest due to cap restrictions. 2006 we have Archuleta and Lloyd not performing well. Carter came on strong towards the end and Randle El definitely did his part well for us. I know we got Fauria also, but he wasn't part of the big name crew. It has only been one season for these guys though, so you can't really judge yet whether or not we overpaid. This year, we got Fletcher and Smoot. One will probably step up as the leader on defense, and the other turned down more money to return here, and will play his heart out for this team. Any moves made before Gibbs aren't up for debate when talking about the way the current organization operates. I think Gibbs ahs made more good moves than bad.

The only positions that really need depth are the offensive line and TE. The D-line needs a starter. The DT could stand to be improved, but Griffin, Golston, Salavea, and Montgomery isn't that bad of a DT group. DE needs a new starter from the draft, but Evans and Daniels backing up Carter and draft pick isn't too shabby. QB, RB, WR are fine. LB has Washington, Fletcher, McIntosh, Marshall, K. Campbell. CB right now is Springs, Rogers, Smoot, and Jimoh. Not too bad either. Safety has Taylor, Archuleta, Prioleau, and Fox. That isn't too bad either.

If we do trade our 6th pick for Denver's 1, 2, and 3, and Bly, any remaining holes can be addressed via the draft.

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: Couldnt agree more

[RedzoneHunter]

Any moves made before Gibbs aren't up for debate when talking about the way the current organization operates. I think Gibbs ahs made more good moves than bad.

In terms of the free agents he has signed, he hasn't done that bad, except for a few bad choices. However, Gibbs has failed to build this team with a solid foundation. Instead of building it from the ground up, he's trying to build it from the top down, which is why we have no quality depth and always max out our cap space. All of the elite teams build their foundations through the draft, from the bottom up. I'm not sure if he has finally learned his lesson in this area yet, this year, or if he's only slowing his pace because we have little cap space? Time will tell, but he needs to quit dumping our draft picks.

Safety has Taylor, Archuleta, Prioleau, and Fox. That isn't too bad either.

If we do trade our 6th pick for Denver's 1, 2, and 3, and Bly, any remaining holes can be addressed via the draft.

Our safeties were terrible last year, because none of them can cover. That's because we don't have a true free safety. We have all strong safeties, which is why Archuleta was a terrible move. They brought him here to cover, which is something he can't do.

If we trade down and lose out on the top notch defensive linemen, there are a couple good safeties in this draft and one should be available for the 21st pick. Landry will probably go first, but Deion Sanders said that Merriwhether is a beast from the U, and is a cross between Ed Reed and Sean Taylor. He sounds like more of a true free safety than Taylor is. Houston is a lockdown corner from Arkansas that ran a 4.3.

So which ever position we draft with the 21st pick, there should still be plenty of talent there. So we really do need to trade down and make some smart picks.

[Nemesis]

I don't know about anyone else but this trade is a little scary. Remember what happened the last time that we traded with Denver.

Champ for Portis:

We ended up giving up our draft pick, when we were the one with the perenial pro bowler. :doh:

Knowing our luck we will end up with Bly and give them 3 draft picks.

God can we please get it right this time!!!!!

HTTR!!

[RedzoneHunter]

I don't know about anyone else but this trade is a little scary. Remember what happened the last time that we traded with Denver.

Champ for Portis:

We ended up giving up our draft pick, when we were the one with the perenial pro bowler. :doh:

Knowing our luck we will end up with Bly and give them 3 draft picks.

God can we please get it right this time!!!!!

HTTR!!

That was a very bad trade, but only because Gibbs wasn't patient enough and he let Denver squeeze another 2nd round pick away from us. A General Manager he is not. But this trade with Denver looks pretty fair, especially when we needed to trade down anyway.

[HEavyJumbo85]

That was a very bad trade, but only because Gibbs wasn't patient enough and he let Denver squeeze another 2nd round pick away from us. A General Manager he is not. But this trade with Denver looks pretty fair, especially when we needed to trade down anyway.

This is almost the reverse of what happened there. When we made that trade we were desperate to get rid of Bailey and shuffled him off when we got the guy we wanted involved. They want to get Bly off their hands but they want our 6th overall to be included in a deal. Basically what I'm trying to say is all the pressure is on them, we don't necessarily need Bly, but they need to make the trade. I hope if we pull the trigger on this thing we'll be getting the value we deserve.

[RedzoneHunter]

This is almost the reverse of what happened there. When we made that trade we were desperate to get rid of Bailey and shuffled him off when we got the guy we wanted involved. They want to get Bly off their hands but they want our 6th overall to be included in a deal. Basically what I'm trying to say is all the pressure is on them, we don't necessarily need Bly, but they need to make the trade. I hope if we pull the trigger on this thing we'll be getting the value we deserve.

We were'nt desperate. Bailey became disgruntled and wanted out. So Gibbs was just looking to cut his losses, so he settled for Portis, the lesser of the talents, who was also drafted in the 2nd round. Bailey was a 1st round pick, #5 overall. That really wasn't that bad because Gibbs was filling a need as well, that is, until he agreed to throw in that 2nd round pick as well. He should have stood firm, because the Broncos wanted a lockdown corner worse than we needed a Portis. There's no good reason for us to forfeit our 2nd round pick, when we just traded our high ist rounder, for Denvers 2nd rounder. They got the best of us both ways.

Now Denver is not desperate either. In fact, they may have got Bly because they knew we wanted him, for the sole purpose of having leverage to get to our #6 pick, which is really what they want now. I suspect they are wanting to draft a running back, probably Peterson, or maybe they're after that big receiver Calvin Johnson?

[Skins n' Bones]

We were'nt desperate. Bailey became disgruntled and wanted out. So Gibbs was just looking to cut his losses, so he settled for Portis, the lesser of the talents, who was also drafted in the 2nd round. Bailey was a 1st round pick, #5 overall. That really wasn't that bad because Gibbs was filling a need as well, that is, until he agreed to throw in that 2nd round pick as well. He should have stood firm, because the Broncos wanted a lockdown corner worse than we needed a Portis. There's no good reason for us to forfeit our 2nd round pick, when we just traded our high ist rounder, for Denvers 2nd rounder. They got the best of us both ways.

When a player was drafted is irrelevant once they have played in the NFL for a few years and proven what they are worth today. Is Tom Brady still only worth a 6th rounder? Is David Carr still worth the #1 pick overall? I think not. NFL performance outweighs draft position, very heavily.

That said, I agree that adding the 2nd rounder was too much for a trade that should have been straight up player for player, but what's done is done. Hopefully we will be the ones to make out best if this Bly deal happens.

[RedzoneHunter]

When a player was drafted is irrelevant once they have played in the NFL for a few years and proven what they are worth today. Is Tom Brady still only worth a 6th rounder? Is David Carr still worth the #1 pick overall? I think not. NFL performance outweighs draft position' date=' very heavily.

That said, I agree that adding the 2nd rounder was too much for a trade that should have been straight up player for player, but what's done is done. Hopefully we will be the ones to make out best if this Bly deal happens.[/quote']

Agreed! I think we should just forget about Bly. Trade our #6, for Denver's #'s 21, 57, 70, and a 3rd rounder in 2008. Then we can go get Rod Hood from the Eagles for a much better price than Bly is asking, and he is a bit younger as well.

[nightbird]

I don't know about anyone else but this trade is a little scary. Remember what happened the last time that we traded with Denver.

Champ for Portis:

We ended up giving up our draft pick, when we were the one with the perenial pro bowler. :doh:

Knowing our luck we will end up with Bly and give them 3 draft picks.

God can we please get it right this time!!!!!

HTTR!!

That actually wasn't the last time we traded with them, it was the first time (under Gibbs 2 anyway).

But I see your point, we should've been able to keep that 2nd round pick...it's not like Denver had the upper hand. Portis was threatening to hold out if they didn't renegotiate his rookie deal.

To make your point even stronger, the LAST deal we did with Denver was when we decided it'd be really smart to send them a 3rd and a 4th round pick for T.J. Duckett (via Atlanta).

Worst. Trade. Ever.

Then the trade before that was a crapload of picks so we could take Jason Campbell. If he develops into a franchise QB it was worth it.

[Wyvern]

Redskins need to be LOT more prudent when making trades and giving away draft picks. I'm not impressed with their record.

A lot of 'iffy' trades -- for Portis, to 'reach' for Campbell, to reach' for Rocky McIntosh, as well as trading for LLoyd, Duckett, etc. Come to think of it, didn't we give up something for Rumph too? (Where is Rumph these days?)

Worst trade was the one Redskins made for the privilege of having TJ Duckett sit on our bench in 2006.

Not that our drafting has been all that great. I'm still wondering about how badly the Redskins' 2005 draft will turn out to be. Only #1's Carlos and Jason hang on, and the jury is out on both.

Okay, you may want to count McCune and the remaining 2005 'developmentals.' My guess is that they'll be gone soon.