So far has the team improved from 2008?

[Dallsux]

Sure the Oline is older, just like everyone in the NFL. The Skins can't fix everything at once no matter how they might have tried in the past. But i do think they have addressed needs and improved and gotten younger in key areas. But have gotten younger with quality players.

Yeah, except our aging O-Line + a FB or RB blocking couldn't even block 3 blitzers midway thru the season last year. This is a problem that needs immediate addressing, not eventual. Spending $156 million on defense while re-signing 1 O-Lineman who played with this same O-Line 3 years ago (which, mind you, hasn't gotten better since he left) was simply not smart IMHO. We should have been shopping for younger, faster, &/or stronger O-Lineman in this FA to help the offense get better.

When I heard the news that Haynesworth was on the market & was likely to receive the largest contract for a DL ever, I KNEW we were going to sign him. Why? Because he was slated to make more money then anyone in his position & Danny & Vinny simply can't resist being THAT FO.

"It doesn't matter where the problems are, he's worth $450,000,000,000,000,000. He must be good. Let's sign him!" :doh: It simply kills me to watch this team sabotage itself year in & year out.

[Braxford]

Yeah, except our aging O-Line + a FB or RB blocking couldn't even block 3 blitzers midway thru the season last year. This is a problem that needs immediate addressing, not eventual. Spending $156 million on defense while re-signing 1 O-Lineman who played with this same O-Line 3 years ago (which, mind you, hasn't gotten better since he left) was simply not smart IMHO. We should have been shopping for younger, faster, &/or stronger O-Lineman in this FA to help the offense get better.

When I heard the news that Haynesworth was on the market & was likely to receive the largest contract for a DL ever, I KNEW we were going to sign him. Why? Because he was slated to make more money then anyone in his position & Danny & Vinny simply can't resist being THAT FO.

"It doesn't matter where the problems are, he's worth $450,000,000,000,000,000. He must be good. Let's sign him!" :doh: It simply kills me to watch this team sabotage itself year in & year out.

I do think Haynesworth was a good signing but the Skins DO need to go after another young OLineman in free agency and then maybe even two more in the draft. If the Skins could shore up the OLine to at least be in the top 15 or that will help a lot, especially on 3 and 7 and in the redzone. When the offensive line was playing well to the mid point of the season the offense was moving the ball well through the air and especially on the ground ( still need MUCH work on the redzone offense, MUCH work). I can understand about Danny and Vinny though. They have thrown a LOT of money around, I honestly think Haynesworth will be different, but then again I am wrong a lot.

[mi6]

Now, at this juncture ... doesn't trading our draft picks away appear foolish!

[Going Commando]

Our defensive line is definitely better in both phases. We added the best 4-3 defensive tackle in the league to an already solid line, and if by the end of free agency, we can retain either Gholston or Montgomery and resign Daniels, we will have lost little from last year. Haynesworth is a good pass-rusher, and as everyone has pointed out, he occupies and defeats 2 sometimes 3 blockers making everyone else better.

Taylor produced almost nothing for us outside of the second Eagles game, so he is really not much of a loss. It sucks to lose Evans, but we clearly weren't sold on him as a starter because we grabbed Taylor in that unfortunate trade. I admit, it would have been interesting to see JT play outside linebacker, but who knows he he could have made the adjustment to a new position. He was already playing out of position for us and it didn't work out, it's probably better for us to have philip daniels in there on the left anyway.

Speaking of which, I really hope we resign him. As you said, our run defense was good last year, it will be even better if we get Daniels back. Sign him, retain Gholston, and then use a mid round pick on Lawrence Sidbury from Richmond and you've got yourself a terrific rotation.

As far as Offensive Line, who knows. Almost nothing has changed except that we replaced Kendall with Dockery. The advantage from Dockery is that he never misses games and he will be able to practice throughout the entire season unlike Kendall. Our OL will look significantly better though if we are able to draft Oher or A. Smith at 13 and start them at RT. We'll see what happens in the draft.

[Going Commando]

Yeah, except our aging O-Line + a FB or RB blocking couldn't even block 3 blitzers midway thru the season last year. This is a problem that needs immediate addressing, not eventual. Spending $156 million on defense while re-signing 1 O-Lineman who played with this same O-Line 3 years ago (which, mind you, hasn't gotten better since he left) was simply not smart IMHO. We should have been shopping for younger, faster, &/or stronger O-Lineman in this FA to help the offense get better.

When I heard the news that Haynesworth was on the market & was likely to receive the largest contract for a DL ever, I KNEW we were going to sign him. Why? Because he was slated to make more money then anyone in his position & Danny & Vinny simply can't resist being THAT FO.

"It doesn't matter where the problems are, he's worth $450,000,000,000,000,000. He must be good. Let's sign him!" :doh: It simply kills me to watch this team sabotage itself year in & year out.

Who would you have had them sign? IMO, there were no high quality offensive linemen available in this years FA class. I don't really think Willis offers that much of an upgrade over Heyer, and I didn't think that Cary would have been worth the money necessarry to steal him away. Good young offensive linemen just don't make it to FA. I like what we did. We signed known quantities in Hall and Dockery minimalizing the chance that they'd bust. Then we swung for the fences with Haynesworth knowing that he was a true FA outlier being that he was the best at his position in the league and he somehow still hit the open market anyway.

We'll have to wait until the draft to try and fix the line, we never really had any other choice. Hopefully good players will be available. If all goes well, we will have perhaps 4 very good new starters with long term promise (DT, LG, CB, and RT) after this off season is over. To me, that is significant progress.

[budski]

No every year i try and see the positive side of FA for this team and it usually is a bust.

[Spartacus87]

Forget about Daniels. Make a big time push for Willis from Seattle if Zorn and Stump knows he can handle the RT position. Make a push for Igor of SD. Most importantly sign Hunter Smith already. We need to spend our 1st three draft picks on OL & LB.

What's with the love for this Willis guy?

I feel like he's the Stephon Heyer on the other side of the fence.

[Spartacus87]

Yeah, except our aging O-Line + a FB or RB blocking couldn't even block 3 blitzers midway thru the season last year. This is a problem that needs immediate addressing, not eventual. Spending $156 million on defense while re-signing 1 O-Lineman who played with this same O-Line 3 years ago (which, mind you, hasn't gotten better since he left) was simply not smart IMHO. We should have been shopping for younger, faster, &/or stronger O-Lineman in this FA to help the offense get better.

Ignoring the part about Haynesworth and what he could do for our defense (and, our offense in turn)...

What free agent o-linemen were out there to sign? Besides Dockery, who we got for pretty cheap actually.

Willis? Who the hell is this Willis guy? I'd love to see threads on other teams' forums talking about them trying to get Heyer from us because they saw that he started a bunch of games for us this past season and they don't know who he is, therefore they don't know if he's actually a bum or not, but he clearly must be better than what they have currently.

Nobody's been on the market for o-line. Gross and Carey re-signed with their teams. Jason Brown was really about it, but unfortunately the Skins can't sign everybody and he went somewhere else.

Younger/stronger linemen are definitely a need, but it wasn't coming in FA. We need to draft those guys this year and next year.

[Skins-in-CT]

TO vs Springs? No problem.

TO vs our corners now? Cross your fingers and hope that Hall plays like he did here last year, and not like he did in the first half of the year.

At this point, it is a non factor since TO reportedly has been released. I think Hall will prove himself to be the guy we signed in November, not the guy Oakland traded for. At least I hope so.

[Spartacus87]

That isn't an on-field improvement. That would be status quo.

The problem is that we lost Springs. When healthy, still the top of the class that we had.

TO vs Springs? No problem.

TO vs our corners now? Cross your fingers and hope that Hall plays like he did here last year, and not like he did in the first half of the year.

I seem to recall Springs giving up 4 TDs in one game to T.O. only a year and a half ago.

I also seem to recall Rogers coming in during the second half of the game at Dallas and limiting T.O. just as well as Springs did, if not better.

Losing Springs isn't a problem. We had an absurd overabundance of depth at the CB position. Only a rare select amount of teams had the kind of depth we did with Springs, Rogers, Hall, and Smoot, and it obviously wasn't going to last.

Just the same, bringing Hall in in mid-season meant someone was going to be the odd man out of the picture, and it ended up being Springs, which was the best choice due to his salary, age, and health issues.

[Spartacus87]

On paper he is correct. Not sure how that makes his response stupid.

We don't know if our oline is improved, it was aging and now it's a year older at most positions.

Our d-ends are worse on paper.

Our linebackers are worse on paper.

Our corners are a draw.

Our receivers are a HUGE question mark.

Can't agree with LBs, corners, or receivers.

O-line is the most dire question mark, but that could change following the draft. The jury's the farthest out on that one right now.

D-ends are definitely worse on paper, no idea what's going on with the LDE position. We're like the anti-Giants there.

But LBs haven't taken a big hit at all. We cut Washington, who just wasn't close to the same guy he was in 2004 or 2005. Somebody has a great signature of him being dragged for about 6 yards by Steven Jackson before Landry finishes the tackle, only for Washington to get up and dance like he did anything other than act as a speed bump for Jackson. He lost a ton of his lateral quickness and didn't seem to tackle as hard anymore either. Combined with his salary, we played the right move there. Blades and possibly a draft pick could replace him without us noticing too much. I believe Khary Campbell is a FA right now though, so I hope we can re-sign him.

Corners are fine. Rogers, Hall, and Smoot, with hopefully the added pass rush that Haynesworth will bring, with another year for Landry at FS and Horton going into his 2nd season playing between the hashmarks and over top. Probably one of the best, younger secondaries in the league actually. Rogers and Hall don't get hurt too often (outside of course Rogers tearing his knee, which could happen to anyone at any time), and I'm actually confident Smoot could have a decent year at nickel bouncing back from his mediocre year last year. Going into last year, we only had Springs, Rogers coming fresh off his knee rehab, and Smoot, but we fared well enough before we picked up Hall.

As for receivers, the hope is that Thomas and Kelly can show some of that 2nd year receiver improvement, and maybe even Fred Davis too. I wouldn't expect them to be instant Pro Bowlers this season, but we'll know by the end of the year whether they're likely to sink or swim in the NFL, and that's really all we can do considering we spent three 2nd round picks on all of them. Getting someone in FA would just impede their progress by forcing them into action- we want them to move up the depth chart and supplant Randle El ideally, not push them back down behind other guys.

[Chump Bailey]

I think so, but I also think the staff is really kidding themselves regarding the offensive line - the RIGHT side of the line that is and Center. Thomas, Heyer and Rabach are not good enough IMO.

The Ravens just signed Matt Birk - we should have been in the mix.

[thedevilhimself]

The 33 year old Matt Birk ? Not sure that is much of an upgrade .. The Ravens picked him up because they just lost thier starter, Brown, now he is someone I would have gone after .

I would rather us go after a C in the draft, Someone will be around who is under rated in the 5th, addressing OL and OLB on the way .

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Undoubtedly we've improved the roster with the three free agent signings to date, all in key areas of need.

I guess you could argue Springs has weakened the corner depth, but for the amount of time he actually suited up the last few years, that was a move that had to happen. The less said about the JT experiment the better. :doh:

So on paper, we've improved the roster in key areas we had to, with still the rest of FA and the draft to go.

As to the later part of the question, will it improve the overall record?

Time will tell I guess, but as we stand, I'm expecting little more from year two of Coach Zorn than year one; around .500.

With a non-existent kicking game costing us way more points than it actually gains; serious deficiencies on the offense, not least an average pro QB, serious need for a center and tackle, and lack of a true #1 wide out, along with a HC who steadfastly refuses to deviate from his scheme, even when the opposition have it figured out and it's patently not working; all the Albert Haynesworths in the World aren't going to translate into many wins when the O can't score for ****.

But at least were slowly improving the roster and getting younger and more talented for future years.

Hail.

[HRNY4ZRNY]

We are two wins better with Haynesworth. Question is how many would we have won without him. I would say 6-10. So that means we probably get to 8-8 again.

[#98QBKiller]

Just getting younger on both sides of the ball IMO.

[Chump Bailey]

The 33 year old Matt Birk ? Not sure that is much of an upgrade

You're joking right? Matt Birk is one of the best Center's to ever play the game. He's smarter and much more stout than is Rabach.

Color me silly, but I'd take MB over Rabach anyday of the week and he would have been the perfect guy to groom a rookie for a couple of years.

[MattFancy]

if we get an OT and an OLB either in FA or the draft, i think our offseason will be complete. everyone said we needed to get younger, well getting rid of springs and taylor helped with that. we needed a better pass rush, we got the best defensive lineman in the game in haynesworth. we addressed the o-line when we brought back dockery and we got a playmaker at corner in dhall.

i'd say its been a productive offseason so far. we haven't lost anymore draft picks, which is always a good thing. we haven't signed any players over 30, another good thing. plus, we've addressed some of our needs. so i'd say this team has improved from 2008 on paper so far.

[onnie007]

Yes we have. JT's value was not realized and we not sure it will ever be realized again because his mind is not on football. AH is one of the top two DTs in the NFL. I am happy with what will be available to Redskins at RT in the draft and I think we can find a OLB in free agency or bring back M. Washington on the cheap. So far we have gotten better and younger. Yes.

[ttr77]

The defense might be a little more opportunistic, but anyone thinking that simply adding Dockery and assuming that last year's rookies are going to take some huge leap forward is playing the hoping game.

If I were a betting man, I'd put a good amount of money on the Skins ending up with between 7 and 9 wins. You know, like always.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Not at all

There are still holes on the defense, in particular SS LB, LB depth, DE, and defensive line depth. If AH gets injured, this D is in major trouble

On offense there are still holes at RT and RG (Randy Thomas is just not the same anymore)

We need a speed/change of pace back in the roles of Sproles

And nobody knows how JC will perform

[ttr77]

Not at all

There are still holes on the defense, in particular SS LB, LB depth, DE, and defensive line depth. If AH gets injured, this D is in major trouble

Agreed...this team is paper thin at most positions, and the ones that they can say have depth on (WR and TE) have unproven backups.

[deejaydana]

One or two signings can't address our lack of depth. We're hamstrung once again too because we only have 4 picks in the draft. I see another 8-8 year coming.