Would signing Clements and Fletcher further disrupt team chemistry?

[ChiefPowhatan17]

I am completely unsure about both of these FA pick ups, Just for London's age, and for Clements, his price.

Clements and Springs would end up Starting and Rogers would be the nickel, but if they did move springs to SS, then Rogers would get the nod again. But, I defineately know that Springs would not be the nickel. He's way too good when healthy not to be on the field.

But, really Peirson will be starting at the SS position.

[flexxskins]

Why is anyone worried about disturbing the "chemistry" of the league's 31st-ranked Defense?

Best question in this thread. :applause:

[Peregrine]

When I see these guys constantly being mentioned on this site' date=' this is the question that immediately comes to mind.

First off, Clements will be incredibly expensive. This might mean animosity between Springs and the team. Say what you will about Springs, but he has the respect of everyone in our secondary. We all saw how improved their play was with him in the lineup. He definately steadied the play of Sean Taylor. Moving him to FS or Nickelback will turn heads in the locker room. Suppose Rogers were to develop into an all-pro or, as is more likely, a very good corner. Do we pay him as much as we dropped on Clements?

In the case of Fletcher, I assume that Marshall would take his acquisition as a slight. The team is essentially telling him that despite playing injured last season and having a very good 05' season, he can't cut it at the Mike. Moreover, he will be relegated to the second string with Washington and McIntosh taking up the other starting LBer spots. Marshall is an UDFA, and has had to work much harder than others on the team to get to where he is. I would imagine the team would look at this slight to Marshall as saying "No matter how much you accomplish, how hard you try, and how productive in the future you may be, we (the Redskins) will eventually look to replace you."

Anyone else out there think this will be the case?[/quote']

First, why in the world would I want someone(in this case Springs), who would take the signing of a bigger contract as a reason to create animosity? No, thats a bit of a straw-man you beat down, and I dont think it has any bearing on any signings, or will come to any fruition. Second, Marshall SHOULD take the signing of Fletcher as a slight. Because its a lot more than that. Its saying he cant cut it as a MLB.

Here you are, all worried about the "feelings" of two of our starters, and our defense was one of the worst defenses in NFL history last year. I honestly dont care about their feelings. They obviously didnt have enough to put it on the line to do more than finish at the top of the NFL record books in very bad categories. When your defense is this bad, there is NO CHEMISTRY to disrupt. Second, if there actually is chemistry holding this defense in its current shape, I want to sever it as quickly as possible so I could actually build some real, meaningful chemsitry.

No siree, If theres anything our defense needs after the embarrassing season last year, its new faces, and lots of them. Im still flabbergasted(great word BTW) that anyone would actually be concerned about disrupting one of the absolute worst defenses in Redskins and NFL history. I say, disrupt away.

[Bossman_SKins]

even if we don't have that much cap space. signing a fa de and drafting a dt would ripple across the whole defense and help everyone else improve. we dont really need a whole overload of players to turn it around

[D'Pablo]

No siree, If theres anything our defense needs after the embarrassing season last year, its new faces, and lots of them. Im still flabbergasted(great word BTW) that anyone would actually be concerned about disrupting one of the absolute worst defenses in Redskins and NFL history. I say, disrupt away.

First off, I wouldn't blame a player for being angry that their organization would sooner pay money to outsiders than to their own. To an extent, it's not about money one player gets over another. It's about how much we respect our own players.

At one point or another, our top 4-5 players on D were injured last season. When we had some semblance of health, we shut down Philly and New Orleans. Coincidentally, those were the top 2 offenses in the NFL last season. To say that we lacked chemistry would be to deny that this ever happened. Come next season, we don't need a giant overhaul of the defense. We need our players to be healthy and better depth.

Adding expensive free agents didn't work out too well last season. No matter how well Fletcher knows our defense, he will have to work alongside two linebackers that very much respect Marshall. He will immediately be thrust into a situation where players have to take sides. Is Marcus Washington a scrub that needs to be replaced? He's exactly the kind of guy that might take issue with Marshall's demotion, having played alongside him for 3 seasons. The same goes for Sean Taylor regarding Shawn Springs's demotion.

We need to remember that we are only one season removed from a top 10 defense that thrust us into the playoffs. Chemistry doesn't completely disappear overnight, despite everything the FO did last season to sabotage it. If we want to build on what's left, we might want to think about approaching FA with mindset of finding quality depth.

[HogsLover]

TK is a jerk off.

He is probably 5'6" tall 325lbs and the only love he's ever had is from his hand.

[HoyaSkins28]

these arent bad points. maybe you should be the GM. Certainly btter than Vicki Cerrato

[GrimReefa]

If Shawn Springs or Carlos Rogers has a problem with Clements meing signed then maybe they should make some attempt to get onto the field every now and again.

[mistertim]

the same age as Marshall. - The reason you've heard his name is that he is a good player and his name gets mentioned a lot. Marshall has done an admirable job the last 2 years, but he is not suited to play MLB.

I don't get the how some people on this site want to get rid of Saunders after one year and Williams after one bad year, but don't want to improve the weaknesses of the team because it might hurt someone's feelings.

Exactly right. We have now witnessed the fact that GW's schemes are not God and he can't take just anyone and plug them in. The team needs talent. If someone isn't performing they might be replaced. That's the way it has always been. I'm not saying that Marshall or Springs don't have the heart or the desire to win; they just aren't physically capable anymore. Marshall because he is not a true MLB and Springs because he is so injury prone. Both Clements and Fletcher are well respected and well liked. Both are also very good players. Clements really is a great corner and Fletcher is a very good MLB who is a major leader and "field general" on defense. They both know GW's defensive schemes as well. These guys aren't TOs; they are good, hardworking players who would more likely bring more chemistry than disrupt it. Also remember that Troy Vincent played with both of these guys for some time and will have some input about them (or already has given input about them). Lets not get knee-jerk reactions just because it is FA and we would be paying a high price for a least one of them; FA signings aren't anathema as long as they are done correctly and well researched.

:2cents: