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Has the front office finally gotten it together?


Riggins Seventy Chip

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The mistakes made by the front office in years past have been extremely well-documented and discussed ad naseum on this board and other boards. We all know the history: Spending lavishly on free agents or players brought in via trade who were poorly evaluated and who were major disappointments (the aging fantasy football lineup including Bruce Smith, Deion, Carrier, Jeff George; Archuletta and Lloyd last year) and letting home-grown talent get away (Pierce, Smoot, Clark). After overspending with both money (and capspace) and draft picks for most of the offseasons under Snyder, has the front office finally changed it's thinking?

We have some early evidence that it indeed has. Not over-spending for Dockery is a frugal decision, he is obviously not worth the amount of money that he received from Buffalo. Taking care of two positions of need: MLB and CB, with players whom the coaches know well, at moderate prices are good moves. Not over-spending on Leonard Davis (so far), letting him go back home to Texas, seems to be a different, more measured approach than in years past.

I, like many others, have been very critical of the front office mistakes, and while those mistakes are still costing us to this day, it seems like the front office is finally doing things the right way. This team has an owner who is willing to spend, the best coaching staff in the league, and a great fan base. All it ever needed was a front office to make good, reasonable decisions. If this is indeed the case, then maybe, just maybe this organization will finally become a stable winner for years to come.

Of course, the cynic in me thinks that these changes may just be due to limited cap space this year. But, from what we've seen so far, and with the comments made by Gibbs, I really do believe that there is a new philosophy taking hold. Thoughts?

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I'm kind of in "Wait and See" mode on the whole off-season, RSC.

What I've been reading does make me believe that there is some sort of change going on in the philosophy of the front office in regards to players. However, as you yourself mentioned, that may have more to do with the financial limitations placed on the team than an actual philosophical change inside the front office. Then again, the organization may be realizing that we've made some pretty serious mistakes the last several years and trying to correct them, so we'll have to wait and see if this philosophy holds true for more than the first three days of the 2007 Free Agency period.

I'm trying not to comment on any of the signings and non-signings we've made so far. I'm not necessarily in agreement with all of them, but I'm going to try and give the team and those players enough rope to hang themselves before I begin commenting on them. However, if some of the other players we've heard unsubstantiated rumors about start showing up here in DC, I may not be able to hold my tongue/fingers.

Basically what I'm saying is that it's too early to tell whether the front office has gotten things together or not. The lack of a General Manager, the continued employment of Vinny Cerrato, and some other things make me think not, but we'll just have to wait, hope, and see.

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They seem to have learned to sign good players rather than potentially good players. I'm glad we didnt sign the 80 million dollar man. Smoots become more humble after falling on his face in Minnesota. Fletcher was held in high regard in Buffalo. We didnt want to overpay Dockery and he is gone now.

:applause:

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I will say this though, other than not resigning Dock, they have done an excellent job thus far resigning their own players and signing Fletcher and Smoot. No one saw the payday coming that Dock was going to get so you really can't put that on the FO.

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After three days into the FA period it looks good. I don't think I will be convinced until next year. We don't have much cap space, we don't have many draft picks. It's hard to make major splashes (even though creatively we could) with that kind of ammo. Next year, we should have a bit more cap space and a few more draft picks. I want to see how the team reacts in a situation where we are loaded and there are opportunities on the table.

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Maybe, just maybe they are being frugal because next offseason they will have to sign Cooley. It would be nice if for once they didn't have to restructure so many people just to be under the cap to overpay for someone. If you're going toverpay then do it to keep Cooley and extend Sean Taylor.

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I don't think they have gotten anything together. They usually have one big spending year followed by a lay low kind of year. Not out of choice, but because they have to.

If they had the space they'd be spending big money again this year.

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I posted this in another thread, but I think it applies here as well:

If the backup tight end for the Giants, Visanthe Shiancoe, signed a five-year, $18.5 million deal with $7 million guaranteed and $8.2 million in the first year, and if the third receiver for the Dolphins, Wes Welker, signed a seven-year $38.5 million deal, then you know Ladell Betts could have received easily $30 million with a $10 million bonus, if not more.

Kudos to our front office for getting some key deals done, in addition to Mike Sellers' 4 years for $4 million, right before FB Ovie Mughelli signed for 6 years and $18 million.

We saved a ton of money keeping some core guys here, and we really were committed to keeping our own, with Fox, Frost, etc. etc. being brought back.

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I wouldn't give the front office too much credit - their hands were already bound. You don't give a neurotic shoplifter credit for leaving the store empty handed when he's already in cuffs. Also, with last seasons free agency binge fresh in everyone's mind, I'm sure that acted as a restraint too. The real test will be the next 2 offseasons. If we show restraint there, I'll be willing to call it a trend.

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Personally, I'm embarassed that my beloved team plays their "best game" in March. WTF? That's getting old. Very old. I'm tired of begging for a GM. And our "New Philosophy" is bringing back Smoot and Arrington? Yeah, like they really showed good value after they left here....

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Personally, I'm embarassed that my beloved team plays their "best game" in March. WTF? That's getting old. Very old. I'm tired of begging for a GM. And our "New Philosophy" is bringing back Smoot and Arrington? Yeah, like they really showed good value after they left here....

No way L.A comes here and Smoot was not a good signing????

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