Redskins Final Game Truly A Microcosm of 2008 Season

[Grinder]

We can talk about getting younger and positions to target but does anyone have faith in Snyder and Vinnie to pull off a total rebuild?

Its just a year to year plan to sell jerseys with these guys and if it takes a draft pick or two to put a new name in the Redskins store, why not?

This team needs a long range vision and a competent GM at the wheel to implement it.

Until then it doesn't really matter how young or old the players are.

[veteranskinsfan]

if you lack the high picks, you have to do what Bobby Beathard did and strike gold with some undrafted rookie free agents and mid-tier veterans who have more in the tank than their previous clubs anticipated.

unfortunately, this front office has not been known as a successful bargain shopper in the personnel grocery store.

I agree with your viewpoint. Beathard was very good at getting good second round selections. He would always find four or five players each year that made a positive impact on the team and who would later become starters.

[Santana_89]

We can all talk about the draft, but this team is afraid to play rookies and allow rookies to make their mistakes on the field

:applause::applause:

You just said it all.

[mcarey032]

The Redskins are an average football team. That's what 15 weeks showed and that's how the team played today. There was some good, some bad and some stretches of just plain mediocre.

Ultimately, the problem areas for the Redskins are clear for all to see from this game. How you fix them personnel wise is the professional challenge facing those at Redskins Park.

To me the Redskins finish at 8-8 is a weak 8-8. And for that reason my thoughts have gravitated more and more for the need for a major rebuild of the roster, not merely another attempt at a 'reload' such as in 2004 and 2006.

The reason I say it is a weak 8-8 is that the record was 'achieved' with the oldest active roster in the NFL.

This Redskins team is not a younger team learning how to win and grow for the future.

In many areas, notably OL, DL, and LB this is a team that has players whose careers have already reached their collective peak and in all likelihood are looking at continued declines in productivity heading into 2009 and beyond.

What I thought might be a 1-2 year transition to contender status has been complicated with the lingering questions regarding the 2008 draft class and the untimely surrender of #2 and #6 picks in the upcoming draft for the soon-to-be 35 year old Jason Taylor.

Only a team really feeling itself to be very close to a championship should contemplate deals of the magnitude the Redskins made for Taylor. That #2 pick on most clubs is a player you project to be a starter in the NFL.

Given the age here, how can this team throw away a potential starter on the OL, DL or at LB for the next 4-6 years?

As with the previous moves for Brandon Lloyd and TJ Duckett, the Redskins have given up the equivalent of a draft class full of picks for 3 players, NONE of whom made a single pro bowl for the Redskins or made significant contributions over the course of a 16 game season.

That said, again, I am back at the point of thinking a rebuild rather than re-tool is ahead of this team. The longer Snyder and Cerrato resist admitting it to themselves the longer you will see the 7-9 to 9-7 rut stay in place.

You look up and down this roster and age-wise it looks a lot like the George Allen Over the Hill Gang clubs from the 1970's, the difference being that this team hasn't consistently put up the 10 win seasons those clubs did.

For those that think we are a player or two away consider the following and point to a contender (Giants, Steelers, Carolina, etc.) that faces the same age/time dilemma in 2009:

QB - Todd Collins - 36

FB - Mike Sellers - 32

WR - Santana Moss - 29

WR - James Thrash - 33

WR - Antwaan Randle El - 30

TE - Todd Yoder - 31

OC - Casey Rabach - 31

OG - Randy Thomas - 32

OG - Pete Kendall - 35

OG - Jason Fabini - 34

OT - Chris Samuels - 31

OT - Jon Jansen - 32

DL - Phillip Daniels - 35

DL - Jason Taylor - 35

DL - Andre Carter - 30

DL - Demetric Evans - 30

DL - Cornelius Griffin - 32

LB - London Fletcher - 33

LB - Marcus Washington - 32

LB - Khary Campbell - 30

CB - Shawn Springs - 33

CB - Fred Smoot - 30

S - Mike Green - 31

While age is not a problem for this team in the specialist positions, I think the 16 games in 2008 shows that the Redskins need to re-think their current personnel at PK, P and PR. Rock Cartwright is the only keeper in this group.

Agree with alot of what you have to say here. I thought that there would be a mention of the change of the QB, but I have to say that this loss can not be blamed on Jason Campbell. Even Tony Boselli who did his first Redskins game of the year noticed that the routes of the Redskins were less than 10 yards and only on a couple of occassions did we attempt to stretch the field. The playcalling, along with younger and more talented personnel on the offensive and defensive line would be a welcomed change after we have ignored these positions the last 5 years.

[Warhead36]

Great stuff as always 'dog. This team needs to be smashed and rebuilt from scratch.

I'd keep the following guys as "cornerstone" players. They're all young and still have many years left:

Cooley

McIntosh

Landry

Rogers

Horton

I'd also keep the following guys as solid young players that have some limited potential, and at worse should be cheap depth:

Golston

Montgomery

Blades

pretty much all of our young drafted players over the last couple of years(Thomas, Kelly, Davis, etc.)

I'd lean towards keeping the following but try to trade them if I can get good value:

Samuels

Portis

Moss

Carter

Fletcher

Hall*

*toss-up actually, he's played well enough to stay but I'm worried he's just playing hard for another contract and will start to suck once we show him the money

After that I'd cut everyone I can that saves considerable $. Probably better off keeping guys like say Kendall and Smoot if their cap savings are minimal, but definitely cut guys like Jansen, Springs, and Washington who get hurt too much and cost too much.

Focus on the lines in the draft while also looking at LB and maybe QB to bring in more competition.

[fansince62]

But in the April 2009 draft we are already down #2, #4 and #6 picks.

How are you going to plug holes and replace older veterans with only 3-4 picks?

that is the maddening part of it all.....we have buffoons running this team who adhere to a flawed philosophy. trading down - which is what they will be forced to do - is a strategy that favors quantity over quality. they backed themselves into a corner and now are consigned to this middle ground of eternal mediocrity because of the way the roster and cap have been managed.

suck it up....blow it up...get some professionals to run this team.

[Oldfan]

Let's face facts:

The front office was on the wrong plan for building a roster until after the sad 2006 season. We aren't going to dig out of that hole in a couple of years.

The trade of picks for Taylor was a mistake. I'm not unhappy that Taylor produced nothing for us. Maybe Dan and Vinny will learn their lesson.

But, there's no point in blowing it up and starting over. We can only seize every opportunity to get younger and better. We can't manufacture those opportunities.

[thehogs]

I agree with what you have written and would have agreed with it had it been a few weeks back too.

The worrying thing - if your name is Jason Campbell - is that people keep saying "wait until next season then you'll see him play". I still cant make up my mind on JC and as for that argument: Play with what next season? if the profile of the team stays pretty much as it is with some no better than average draft picks (wait and see, I know) he is in for a hard time and we know what this forum will be like then!