Skins Needs: Beyond the Lines (kinda longish)

[JMUGator19]

Everyone knows the depth issues at OL, particularly between Chris Samuels (LT) and Casey Rabach ©... *cough *cough Kendall. Old, sufficient, but for how long?

Randy Thomas will hopefully be back, Jansen and Heyer can hold the RT position, the Skins OL needs just one more G/C to solidify the unit.

Everyone ALSO knows the depth issues at DL, oposite Andre Carter and Anthony Montgomery there is a question mark at DE and DT. Phillip Daniels is reaching the point of rotational player/backup, and Chris Wilson is a situational pass rusher at this point. Either keeping Daniels mixed with Wilson at DE and finding a 3 technique DT elswhere is necessary, or perhaps just movind Daniels to work with Kedric Golston in turns at DT and finding a fresh new DE is also possible.

Many also cry for a big WR, a younger cheaper corner to replace Shawn Springs, a new Safety to fill in the big void by ST (rest in peace).

What I do not hear is... LB.

?

OK, so I get it, London Fletcher is a monster, Rocky McIntosh is coming along nicely injury and playing-wise, and everyone loves Marcus Washington.

BUT... Fletcher is 33 years old or going to be by the Spring, Marcus Washingon (already seeing injury issues) is going to be 31, and McIntosh could have a degenerative knee problem.

Assuming McIntosh can give a good 5 years without another significant injury. He is an animal can definetely hold his own, all he needs is a backup behind him for depth and situational playing.

Assuming HB Blades CAN replace Fletcher (which would be amazing, especially given his low draft round). He will need at least 1 or 2 seasons to be ready to fill those shoes. He can be the future starting MLB, but he will need some sort of backup as well.

Fletcher is 33 next fall... a LB can only play so many years... maybe 2? He has been injury free. Period. Miraculous and hopefully stays that way. But even without injury, how long would he even WANT to play? He is being replaced by HB Blades, but we must realize hes only hear for so long...

Marcus Washington has been getting hurt. His getting hurt is making him turn into a situational pass rushing OLB instead of an every down LB he used to be. He still isnt TOO old that his days are numbered... but relying on someone who has had injury bugs for 2 years straight can be a mistake... where is his eventual successor?

for every starting LB, there needs to be a backup who you can trust and/or an eventual successor. who will it be? I think LB is missing someone someone. Even if Washington can still play, maybe we can find an HB Blades to replace him?

PS skins suck at drafting at the LB position... HB Blades is the only good draft pick out of like 10 in the past 3 years that has a potential to work out at that position. Period. And it was pretty much luck because he has football blood anyway. Hate to say it but FA might be necessary.

(every team sucks at drafting some position... look at the eagles at DT!)

:logo:

[nightbird]

I basically agree with the problem, not so much with your remedy.

I think you can get away with "coaching up" linebackers, and it's a mistake to spend a ton of money in FA for that position. I'm thinking of Lance Briggs in particular. If you want cheaper alternatives for depth, then that's something else.

London Fletcher is one of the sturdiest players in the league...the guy just doesn't get injured (knock on wood). You have to assume he can hold up for another year.

Blades is the understudy and I think he is a long-term option. His draft position doesn't matter. Fletcher himself was no high draft pick. And blades benefits from having Blache promoted and Kirk Olividatti back with us. Continuity and all.

On the outside, things are a little more delicate. There are rumors that Godfrey may follow Grilliams to the Jags. He played well for us and I'd love to have him back, but we can't rely on it.

So behind an injury-prone Marcus Washington and an already-injured Rocky we have Khary Campbell and.....??? Anthony Trucks?

I like Campbell but I don't think we can rely on him as a starter for long stretches. We signed Rian Wallace from the Steelers, he's an athletic young backer we may have high hopes for.

So I think we do need help at OLB, but I wouldn't target a high-priced free agent looking for starter money. Maybe a 5th round pick and a couple veterans.

But we just have too many other needs.

[Truant]

Good post.

I've seen (and mentioned) the OLB position as a position of need, but I'm not exactly sure how to address it.

I'd need to check but I THINK most of our bust linebackers were under Dale Lindsay, who sucked. I think KO can mold our LBs. He's brought Rocky along. Blades was effective last year. He might be a reason we spend a second-day pick on a LB option.

I hated the idea of Briggs last year, but I've warmed up to him. He is a tackling machine and paired with Fletcher we would, hands down, have the best LB core in the league. We wouldn't give up a draft pick to acquire him and we'd have insurance for Rocky and Marcus.

I think we'll MAYBE get one big FA. Probably two good ones instead. If we are going to get one big prize, Briggs is up there for me.

[Tastes Like Chicken]

It would not surprise me at all to see us sign Briggs. Vinny mentioned on the radio that LB is a spot that needs to be addressed in the offseason. One that is pretty thin on talent in the free agent market.

We can't solve all our problems this offseason. But we have 6/7 draft picks at this point, and unless something crazy happens (like Ocho Cinco) then we should have a pretty busy draft.

[Veretax]

We haven't had that many picks in the last 3 years so how COULD we have depth at Linebacker?

[TheLongshot]

PS skins suck at drafting at the LB position... HB Blades is the only good draft pick out of like 10 in the past 3 years that has a potential to work out at that position. Period. And it was pretty much luck because he has football blood anyway. Hate to say it but FA might be necessary.

You forgot about Rocky.

The Redskins have only drafted 5 LBs in those three years, with two of them being keepers. Everyone else has been RFA, so it isn't a surprise that a lot of those guys haven't worked out.

A point to make about Fletcher, he was an undrafted player as well, so I wouldn't say that the learning curve is that high for HB.

We also have some young guys the coaching staff likes. For example, Matt Sinclair. To me, Verdun-Wheeler looks like an interesting player. But, I will agree that neither player looks like a replacement for Washington so far, but you never know.

I expect that they will draft a LB late, and sign a lot more after the draft. Course, they've done that every year.

Jason

[TheItalianStallion]

Maybe we could bring LaVar back...:laugh:

[JMUGator19]

You forgot about Rocky.

The Redskins have only drafted 5 LBs in those three years, with two of them being keepers. Everyone else has been RFA, so it isn't a surprise that a lot of those guys haven't worked out.

A point to make about Fletcher, he was an undrafted player as well, so I wouldn't say that the learning curve is that high for HB.

We also have some young guys the coaching staff likes. For example, Matt Sinclair. To me, Verdun-Wheeler looks like an interesting player. But, I will agree that neither player looks like a replacement for Washington so far, but you never know.

I expect that they will draft a LB late, and sign a lot more after the draft. Course, they've done that every year.

Jason

2 out of 5 LB drafted isn't exactly a great record... Blades and Rocky are the two I'm guessing your calling as possible good ones?

What about the other 3? Dallas Sartz at a round earlier than Blades? Kevin Simon? Jared Newberry and Robert McCune? at least McCune turned out as a special teams player for a while... but the rest?

PS McIntosh was projected to do VERY well in the draft... untill it was found out that he may have degenerative knee issues and thats how he dropped to the second round... and the skins traded up to grab him for good measure... So maybe its a fairer assessment to say the skins cannot draft LBs in low rounds?

Another thing, I know I said Blades chances of doing well were low because he was a low pick... I also know that many greats come from the lowest rounds. BUT, by the same token, how many don't make it through? Blades showed ALOT of promise, but it was in the preseason against some less than stellar players (backups). (To me Blades could be the skins version of Wes Welker? drafted way low because of certain measurables like height)

[TheLongshot]

What about the other 3? Dallas Sartz at a round earlier than Blades? Kevin Simon? Jared Newberry and Robert McCune? at least McCune turned out as a special teams player for a while... but the rest?

I wonder if McCune would still be around if Miami wouldn't have picked him off of our practice squad? He actually played a couple of games for the Ratbirds last year.

Sorry, I forgot about Simon, but 7th rounders, especially those at the end who are compensation picks, are pretty much RFA anyways. I don't expect a lot from 6-7 round picks. Most of the time your board has been picked over and there really isn't much left that is worth picking.

To be honest, I think the only real disappointment in that list was Sartz. At least with McCune you knew that he was very talented, but didn't have a lot of experience and was at an advanced age. In the 5th round, it is worth the risk. I'm not sure what the attraction to Sartz was tho, since he was rather spindly to play LB in the pros. Course, some of the FA out there outplayed him, like Sinclair.

Jason