stevea Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 EDITED POSTSCRIPT: Damn! Rat_Boy pointed at that RFAs must be signed by April 18, well before the Draft. I double-checked at nfl.com FA FAQ and Rat is correct. Only franchise and transition tagged players can be signed by others after the draft. My bad. I'll leave this defunct plan here but it really can't fly. Sorry 'bout that. / stevea END OF EDITED POSTSCRIPT If we're really trying to make a run for the Super Bowl during the next several years, and it looks like we are, then let's do it right ... ... Ramsey needs an experienced (but still young) WR to work with and grow with. Coles is a better fit FOR THE REDSKINS than Andre Johnson would be -- not to mention the risk of busting that all draft prospects carry (although I don't think AJ will bust). Even if AJ becomes a stud, he'll still need several years to develop. A couple of other posters have already mentioned the key -- sign Coles after this year's draft (actually the day before is OK, too). If the Jets do not match the offer we would then owe them OUR FIRST-ROUND DRAFT PICK NEXT YEAR. This is what Carolina did in the Sean Gilbert deal ... at least in principle, but our situation is different in some important ways. Carolina had the option of trading us their 1st and 2nd round picks in the year they signed him, but turned down that offer in favor of using their 1st round picks in each of the next two years. That was stupid. We are not risking TWO first-round picks, only one. And we don't have an alternative that reduces that cost. Our options for signing Coles are simple: forget it; use our first-round pick this year; or use our first-round pick next year. I think he's worth it and I don't want to "forget it". And I think our first-round pick next year PROBABLY will be lower than #13. THE DISADVANTAGES - we may wind up losing a top 10 (or top 5) draft pick next year, e.g., if Chris Samuels and Patrick Ramsey both break their legs in September. - we would build an even bigger cap crunch for several years down the road than we are already building (and I believe we are building a crunch). OTOH, the combined contracts of our #13 pick and Coles are probably still less than Charles Rogers will receive at slot 2. THE ADVANTAGES - we get someone who fits our needs AND IS PROVEN - we get to take advantage of a relatively rare opportunity to draft a highly ranked DL stud. My preference is for someone who can play both LDE and DT, in particular Kevin Williams and William Joseph. One of them would give us a high-quality 5-man DL rotation, exclusive of Bruce Smith who would still be a valuable 6th man for 3rd-down duty. - we stop this silly talk of getting rid of Smoot. He looked like an absolute CB stud his rookie year and then had a bit of a sophomore slump last year in Marvin's system (and with questionable Safety support). Even in his slump level he wasn't too bad. You don't cut a player that promising that quickly. Also, his trade value might even be higher next year if he has a decent recovery this year. Finally, his contract is extremely cap friendly for both this year and the following year. ============================================== It would be tough to make this work under the cap, but I think we could do it. And there's always the chance that the Jets match our offer. There's not a lot we can do about that ... but there is one thing we can do to make it more likely that the Jets choose not to match: - let it be known shortly before the draft that we are going to make a big-dollar offer to Coles - officially sign the offer sheet the morning of the draft They would not see the actual deal until after the first day of the draft is over. What I would hope for is that the Jets need to "cover their asses" for the prospect of losing Coles by drafting a new WR of their own. Then even if they might be inclined to match the deal, maybe they wouldn't because they've already got another guy. HTTR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skins26 Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 Good points but it cant happen. Coles is an RFA if we sign him we gotta give the jets our #13 pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeDaSchmoe Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 Yeah, our pick is gone if we grab Coles. However, I'd much rather have him than trading up for Johnson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TC4 Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 But what if the Jets resign Coles to a new deal BEFORE the NFL Draft? To get him, we can't sit around and just hope he still doesn't have a new deal with the Jets by draft day, because it is still about 7 weeks till then. That's a LONG time to hope he stays unsigned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeDaSchmoe Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 Hopefully we're not gonna wait around until draft day before making a decision on him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sir Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I say we sign Coles and draft Ty Warren with our second rounder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeDaSchmoe Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I'd like to sign Gilbert Brown (a frickin leviathan of a DT) for about a million per year, grab Coles, then go for Tyrone Calico in the second round. Calico's a freak of an athlete (6'2", 230 pounds, runs the 40 in 4.3 seconds), but he needs work on his catching, route running, fully using his speed, and playing in traffic. All of those can be fixed with proper coaching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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