FLETCH Please come back

[bonesbr549]

Well the D came together in a big way and took us on a long ride. Fletch you are the glue and lead of the team. Please come back next year. Have a good offseason and looking forward to you being back and a monster in the middle next year. Take care.

[longball]

I hope he is here next year in some capacity along with Moss. His character, discipline, professional, and performance make it reason enough for me.

[LoudMouth12thMan]

Maybe for one more year, but no longer. I would prefer to move on without him now despite his play this year (which was great). They need to draft, acquire, or move a current player into his role. We need to get younger at a few positions including his. London is a short term solution right now. His body is breaking down as was evident this year and we need someone to step into his role sooner rather than later. Said replacement needs the reps and experience.

[FanboyOf91]

It's unnerving reading his season-by-season stats and seeing no letup. Rare to see such consistency at the linebacker position.

[braindx]

I think he'll be back, but we need him back on a reduced contract as he definitely is getting slower unfortunately. He was having tons of trouble keeping up with and playing the tight ends earlier in the season, and his tackling hasn't been as good except in the last few games.

When his time is up Snyder should pay the man as our linebackering coach.

[Kostaskins]

I think he'll be back, but we need him back on a reduced contract as he definitely is getting slower unfortunately. He was having tons of trouble keeping up with and playing the tight ends earlier in the season, and his tackling hasn't been as good except in the last few games.

When his time is up Snyder should pay the man as our linebackering coach.

Reduced contract for d hall too and who else???

[HTTR78]

Fletcher is playing way beyond his years. As in, he's playing like a 30 year old. Still our best defender by far. Hope he's on the field in 2013 for the entire season.

[authentic]

i'm sort of 50/50 on this... There's a part of me that believes his consistent play will continue. But at some point there must be a drop off. We seen it during the 1st half of the season, but then he really came on towards the end. IDK, i'm just not sure if its worth keeping him, if we could get someone that's young, and more athletic to play the position.

[#98QBKiller]

No question he should be here next season starting again, you can't replace veteran leadership like he brings. But we need to have his backup drafted and learning in the wings.

[braindx]

Reduced contract for d hall too and who else???

1. Probably renegotiate Fletcher. He's due 6.2 million.

2. Cut D Hall... maybe re-sign him reduced (he's due 8.3 mill -- not worth 8.3 mill) depending on what other corners are out there in FA.

3. Cut Jamaal Brown... lol. 4.5 million.

4. Renegotiate with Santana. He played clutch for us but he's going to be around 6.3 million I think which is too much.

I guess we'll find out what else but those are the big ones that need to be worked on.

Probably work on T Williams contract to free up more room too.

http://www.thehogs.net/washington-redskins/salary.php

[NoVaSkins21]

I think the guy did sign an extension last season and unless he says otherwise, I think he will be back next year.

[The Fax]

For me this is absolutely a no brainer. Even if he has started to break down, you still keep him on this team for his leadership. At worst he'll become solely a run stopper for us next season with Riley taking over on nickel/dime packages.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

At worst he'll become solely a run stopper for us next season with Riley taking over on nickel/dime packages.

Don't forget Keenan Robinson.

[ncsuFB27]

I would love to have London and Santana here next year in some capacity. It of course depend on their desire to continue on here and their ability to be productive in their roles. This year they both played well and London somehow finds ways to make plays that the younger guys should be making. They have been parts of this team in extremely tough seasons and been leaders through those times I would love to see them be able to enjoy next year, in which we all hope will be an even better one.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

I'm probably in the minority but I wouldn't be totally upset if London was released/hung it up.

I want to get younger (Keenan Robinson) and we could use London's salary.

[The Fax]

Don't forget Keenan Robinson.

He's got some nice speed but could greatly benefit from getting bigger.

[hugger73hatch]

He will be back. Signed 2 year deal last April. He was hurt for a better part of the season....hammy and ankle. Last several weeks he has been awesome.

[PleaseGoForTheWin]

There's no question this team wants him back. Yes, we need to think about his replacement, but the man still plays great and leads the defense. As he got healthy, his play improved quite a bit.

[vicrodjr]

The man is still a great field leader. We do need him back.

[Soup]

Why wouldn't fletcher be back? out of the seasons he's played, losing with bad teams, he finally has a chance to help out a real winner.

[KDawg]

Fletch is signed for another year, and I think he might be a little bit hungry to see how far we can go. But who knows. Whatever he does, I'd like to thank him for once again being our most consistent and best defensive player.

[acuratl1984]

I think Fletcher deserves to go out on his own term, and seriously hope they bring him back as a LB coach.

[DogofWar1]

From a contract standpoint, Fletcher has one year left, and is due 5.5M in base salary, 1.75M in signing bonus.

His contract also has 6.75M guaranteed, and he was paid 3.5M this year, meaning, at a minimum, he's due 3.25M next year, regardless of what we do with him.

From an age and play perspective, he's 37, will be 38 next year, and during the first half of the year looked pretty gassed. Then he sort of picked up his level of play in the second half of the season and started looking like the awesome player we know he is.

The problem is that Fletcher would be due 7.25M next year, despite the fact he might run into a wall. Simply put, 7.25M is too much for the kind of play we got in the first half of the year, but about right for the second half, but we can't guarantee that.

I would like to see him retained for his leadership qualities, but his level of play is a question mark and his price is problematic.

As counter-intuitive as it sounds because of his age, it might be a good idea to extend him a year while keeping his pay close, and upping his guaranteed money a bit. For example, restructure his deal to be 7.5M over 2 years, with maybe 4.5M guaranteed. Pay him 3M or so in 2013, and then, assuming he's not here in 2014, we'd still have about 1.5M in dead cap but considering we're getting our 18M back it's a drop in the bucket, and would allow us an extra 4M to work with in 2013.

Is that actually something that can be contractually done? I'm not sure how extensions, contracts, and restructures work exactly, I only have a vague idea.

[C26 Run]

Fletcher should definitely retire or face being released. It's not that he's not appreciated for his years as a Redskin but we have to get younger at key positions and linebacker is one of them. We've got Robinson and/or Alexander to play the inside role with Perry Riley.

Actually I'd switch Jackson to the middle once Orakpo comes back.

:helmet:

[mmzznnxx]

Fletcher should absolutely be here next year. Perry Riley's definitely come on lately and I think can step up for him when the time comes, and I thought Keenan Robinson showed a lot to like before he went on IR.

But I'm still not sold on Robinson as a full-time starter, and Fletcher's earned enough goodwill to get another year at the very least. Fletch made a ton of huge plays to get us to the playoffs. Not to mention I don't think we have draft/FA resources to fill his spot longterm this offseason, considering we should upgrade at DB/RT, maybe a few other spots.