CBS 106.7 The Fan - London Fletcher Having Ankle Surgery, Plans to Play in 2013

[SonnyandSam]

What team were you guys watching? Fletcher was not above average or excellent in the second half like some of you are posting. He went from truly horrible to at best below average. He went from 14 missed tackles in the first 8 games to missing "only" 10 tackles in the last 8 games. Compared to prior years of just 14, 8, 10 missed tackles for the entire year. His ability to get to runners on the outside was also worse than previous years. His pass coverage continued to suffer against tight ends. But luckily for us and London, they dropped a bunch of passes that should have been caught. Yes, he played better in the second half. But he was one of the worst inside linebackers all year rated by PFF and made huge mistakes or failed to make plays all year. Hell, Madieu Williams and DeAngelo Hall had better years and everyone wanted them cut DURING the season. Got to get over the man crush and look at results on the field.

[KCClybun]

What team were you guys watching? Fletcher was not above average or excellent in the second half like some of you are posting. He went from truly horrible to at best below average. He went from 14 missed tackles in the first 8 games to missing "only" 10 tackles in the last 8 games. Compared to prior years of just 14, 8, 10 missed tackles for the entire year. His ability to get to runners on the outside was also worse than previous years. His pass coverage continued to suffer against tight ends. But luckily for us and London, they dropped a bunch of passes that should have been caught. Yes, he played better in the second half. But he was one of the worst inside linebackers all year rated by PFF and made huge mistakes or failed to make plays all year. Hell, Madieu Williams and DeAngelo Hall had better years and everyone wanted them cut DURING the season. Got to get over the man crush and look at results on the field.

This is precisely what I've been trying to get across.

This is another case of fans getting an emotional attachment to a player and refusing to unblind themselves and admit that London Fletcher is not the same guy that he used to be.

It used to be we yelled at Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato for not knowing when to cut old players loose.

Now, with Cooley last year, and likely with Fletcher this year, we get fans damn near ready to turn in all the Redskins gear if an old guy gets cut.

[KERRAKPO9198]

The captain is back!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TD4l9WSyR8 Fletcher!

HTTR! :helmet:

[SonOfWashington]

Maybe we should sit him for a year. :paranoid:

Oh man this post had me rolling. :rotflmao:

Anyone knows that I'm a huge Fletcher fan, so I'm glad to hear he will be back. Isn't he due $5.5M this year? We'll have to work something out but I think he will be willing to take a pay cut to help the team. Especially after he didn't garner any interest from around the league last year.

[TSO]

What team were you guys watching? Fletcher was not above average or excellent in the second half like some of you are posting. He went from truly horrible to at best below average. He went from 14 missed tackles in the first 8 games to missing "only" 10 tackles in the last 8 games. Compared to prior years of just 14, 8, 10 missed tackles for the entire year. His ability to get to runners on the outside was also worse than previous years. His pass coverage continued to suffer against tight ends. But luckily for us and London, they dropped a bunch of passes that should have been caught. Yes, he played better in the second half. But he was one of the worst inside linebackers all year rated by PFF and made huge mistakes or failed to make plays all year. Hell, Madieu Williams and DeAngelo Hall had better years and everyone wanted them cut DURING the season. Got to get over the man crush and look at results on the field.

I totally disagree. Fletcher was all over the place and also made a ton of GREAT tackles for us the second half of the season. Furthermore, he came up with more clutch INTs than anyone else. I remember being utterly shocked at how different he looked the last 6 weeks compared to the rest of the season. I don't care if he missed 10 tackles, all those "misses" could've easily been harmless where someone else comes in and cleans up right away. He also made a ton of tackles, it's silly to just go off of PFF exclusively without looking at how the defense played as a whole.

He also was defending passes well towards the end of the season against TEs, something he wasn't doing well at all earlier in the year.

[ZRagone]

Very true, but he was ranked #1 in the NFL amongst LBs with missed tackles (most from before week 8). He was the worst in coverage and he was the #4 ranked worst linebacker overall in the NFL (most of the bad happening before week 4). Correlation maybe?

Actually, I do think there's a correlation. It's no surprise to me that the first half of the season, when our defense was at it's worst, so was Fletcher. Our Defense in the second half wasn't great, and I think with our secondary problems and pass rush injuries we didn't have a legitimate shot to be "great", but it was noticeably better than in the first half of the year. Again, it doesn't shock me that the time period coincides when Fletcher began an excellent playmaking run and reportedly was getting more power to adjust the defense in game settings.

London Fletcher has been the heart of this defense since he's gotten here. I don't think it should shock anyone that it's going to ebb and flow, in part, with how he's playing at any given time.

[cphil006]

At a much lower price.

I think he's signed for 5.5M right now... don't think he'd restructure since it may be a last year... I could only see him doing it for two years (13-14) with 14 being a heavy loaded year... our cap is past the brim with the penalty.

[Going Commando]

We're lucky he's coming back. The FO would be foolish to get rid of him. Dump somebody else if you need the money. Don't dump your HoF defensive leader that's still one of the best players on the team.

---------- Post added March-6th-2013 at 03:08 PM ----------

Love London Fletcher but with him due 5.5 mil this upcoming season and at 38 plus him getting surgeries and our cap space you have to release him and see if he wants to come back at a bargain price. Remember the NFL is a business.

5.5 million is absolutely a bargain for a player like him. 5.5 million is a steal if his individual production is even close to what he did on the field last season, even before you consider the value of his leadership and durability.

[darrelgreenie]

How you treat your team leaders, your great or even former great players carries weight with how the players view the FO/coaching staff.

It behoves any team to do right by players like Fletch.

[SkinsCrushCowboys]

Love his leadership and have loved his play. Fact is he has lost a step or two. I still think we should keep him for a reduced amount given our cap problems. He is the heart and sole of the defense and he still gives 100%, but I think his age may be catching up with him a bit. I almost wish he had decided to retire and go out while he still is a contributor. I hate to see him come back and not be the same London Fletcher. I will cheer for him and hope, if he is back, he plays big and maybe we give him a Ray Lewis like send off..

[Murphs56]

Happy he's going to play. He's most definitely the heart and soul of this defense and made HUGE plays for us down the stretch even on a bum ankle. Hopefully, he'll be 100% healthy going into this season

[Going Commando]

This is precisely what I've been trying to get across.

This is another case of fans getting an emotional attachment to a player and refusing to unblind themselves and admit that London Fletcher is not the same guy that he used to be.

Or you could be wrong. You could be relying on anecdotal evidence referring to a miniscule number of his total snaps for last season that's been repeated so often people now take it as gospel.

Despite London "losing a step" and declining, he still played all 16 games, put up one of his best statistical seasons, and got another AV score of 12--matching his career best total from the previous two years. His AV score was nearly double the next best player on the defense and the third best score on the entire team. He's still one of the five best and most important players on the team.

And that doesn't factor in his value as a team leader.

And regardless, 5-6 million for a 12 AV player and the defensive leader is a huge bargain. It's chump change really. Cutting him means you need someone else to immediately step in and replace his production or else the defense is going to take a gigantic step back.

[MumboSauce]

Glad to have the captain of the D back another season. He gets all the other guys lined up and on the same page, and an obvious great leader and sure tackler. His int's were also way up, hope that continues. We will need a replacement to fill his shoes next season most likely...but I don't know if that guy is on this roster already or not, or who could we get that would work or we could afford in free agency if he retired. The Skins will just have to cut in some other ways. If London wants to play one more season I'm good with it. I'm not a personnel guy, gm etc. obviously but I think London for one more season and then worrying about his replacement for next season is best right now. We have enough more immediate issues to resolve as far as the defensive secondary, right tackle, possibly TE, and perhaps another pass rusher or playmaking offensive player.

[ToaCommander]

Well, I hear what the Businessmen fans want, but I'm a sentimental redskin fan. I know Cooley's case, but London Fletcher is not Cooley. He is our defense, the way we adjusted in the 2nd half of our season is a testatment to both Jim Haslett and Fletcher. Yes I know we are tight against the cap, but we should not let that be a factor to let go our team leader. I'm sure Allen has a plan to incorporate Fletcher's salary and still make it under the cap.

[Going Commando]

How you treat your team leaders, your great or even former great players carries weight with how the players view the FO/coaching staff.

It behoves any team to do right by players like Fletch.

I think it's an easy decision for the team since he is probably still good. He was still one of the best players at his position in the league last year. I did some digging around and found that he was tied with Chad Greenway for the 4th best AV score among linebackers last season excluding the primary pass rushers (3-4 OLBs and Von Miller). The guys ranked ahead of him: Daryl Washington (17), Patrick Willis (15), and Navorro Bowman (15). The guys ranked just below Fletch were Lance Briggs, Jerrod Mayo, and Lawrence Timmons.

He's not in the top tier of interior linebackers in the league but he was solidly in the second tier. He's probably still very good.

[ArmchairRedskin]

I don't think this situation is like the Cooley situation at all. Cooley's play had dropped off significantly and we knew that Fred Davis was playing better than Cooley. There isn't an ILB on the team now that we know is better than London and London's relative play didn't drop off like Cooley's did. People were just attached emotionally to Cooley. With London there is a good argument for his production.

I mean, i'll accept whatever happens, but I feel pretty sure that if London's health is good that he'll be starting next season.

[London Kev]

It's great news that London says he wants to come back, but whether he does come back is another matter.

I really hope that he does. He's a leader on the field, and I loved seeing him blitz up the middle in the last few games and picking up some sacks. He looked like he was having fun out there. C'mon Fletch, one more year.

[darrelgreenie]

He's not in the top tier of interior linebackers in the league but he was solidly in the second tier. He's probably still very good.

I agree. And I'll push it further. Imo London wasn't himself last year due to health, not age. But one could make the argument that they go health and age go hand in hand.

But Fletch is a different cat. If he was to return fully healthy I would expect him to play like the Fletch we know and love.

Bring back Fletch.

[SkinsTillIDie]

Obviously can't make a definitive statement one way or another, but I strongly doubt we win 7 games in a row down the stretch and make the playoffs if not for Fletcher.

I think his lockerroom presence, his daily practice presence, how he carries himself -- we only see what Fletcher brings for 3 hours on Sunday, and none of his other value during the rest of the week. There's an old adage, players get paid for Monday through Saturday and they play the games for free.

We've made investments in players like Perry Riley, Keenan Robinson, and RGIII (who, as everyone knows, has a locker right next to Fletcher's) -- I believe another year of Fletch will invariably improve our investments long-term.

On the field, it would be wise to reduce Fletcher's snaps. He shouldn't be an everydown linebacker. He can still run with tight ends stride for stride down the field, which is incredible. Of course, with the evolution of the hybrid TE, Fletcher's lack of size is an ever-increasing weakness. But I feel like his mistakes have been magnified, particularly in the last half of the season, and he's being compared to his old Hall of Fame performance which perhaps is no longer fair or apt.

Most importantly: we're competing for the Superbowl this year. We have a shot -- and Fletcher improves our chances rather than weakens them.

[KCClybun]

Or you could be wrong. You could be relying on anecdotal evidence referring to a minuscule number of his total snaps for last season that's been repeated so often people now take it as gospel.

I don't rely on anecdotal evidence. I rely on film, and my eyes. I don't say disparaging thinks about a great player like London Fletcher just because other people say it, I say it because I can verify it. You found one stat from one site that invalidates pretty much all available evidence, including analysis done by Pro Football Focus where Fletcher near the bottom of nearly every major category for linebackers. Now tell me who's relying on anecdotal evidence now?

You think I want London Fletcher gone? I'd love nothing more than for Fletcher to get one more ring, because I feel like another ring would legitimize him having a shot at the Hall of Fame. But you can't re-watch the games and tell me that London Fletcher was the same guy he was for all 16 games. You just can't. The film doesn't back that up, and advanced stats don't back it up.

$5-6 million for a 12 AV player who's 25 entering the prime of his career is a steal. A $6.2 million cap hit for a 38 year old linebacker on the downside of his career, when you're strapped for cash and trying to put a team around a franchise quarterback? Yeah, not so much.

Economically, it makes no sense to keep him with his cap hit so high. People say he should restructure. The more reasonable thing would be for him to take a pay cut, a substantial one, since I don't know if giving him more money up front really solves our cap space problem. He'd have to come back and play at vet minimum, and I don't think London would want to take that kind of cut.

People say "Oh, well just cut and restructure some other guys". So the cold, hard business of football is too good for London Fletcher...but **** these other guys, we don't like them as much, is basically what people are saying.

[DC9]

Actually, I do think there's a correlation. It's no surprise to me that the first half of the season, when our defense was at it's worst, so was Fletcher. Our Defense in the second half wasn't great, and I think with our secondary problems and pass rush injuries we didn't have a legitimate shot to be "great", but it was noticeably better than in the first half of the year. Again, it doesn't shock me that the time period coincides when Fletcher began an excellent playmaking run and reportedly was getting more power to adjust the defense in game settings.

London Fletcher has been the heart of this defense since he's gotten here. I don't think it should shock anyone that it's going to ebb and flow, in part, with how he's playing at any given time.

Just out of curiosity are you one of those "Jason Campbell checked down because his receivers weren't open" guys? Because the rest of the defense wasn't missing tackles in a 59 jersey. The rest of the defense wasn't getting beat like a drum by TE's.

Did the defense adjust to COMPENSATE for Fletch losing a step and the absence of a pass rush? Absolutely and more likely than you blaming the entire defense for Fletchers drop off.

Come on, you are better than that.

[KCClybun]

I agree. And I'll push it further. Imo London wasn't himself last year due to health, not age. But one could make the argument that they go health and age go hand in hand.

But Fletch is a different cat. If he was to return fully healthy I would expect him to play like the Fletch we know and love.

Bring back Fletch.

Aren't you the same guy who wants to cut Meriweather, a guy who did player because of health, who's only 29, and who's cap hit is $3.3 million less than Fletcher's, with $1.2 million less in dead cap space?

Oh, it's okay because you don't like Meriweather though. Okay.

[darrelgreenie]

Aren't you the same guy who wants to cut Meriweather, a guy who did player because of health, who's only 29, and who's cap hit is $3.3 million less than Fletcher's, with $1.2 million less in dead cap space?

Oh, it's okay because you don't like Meriweather though. Okay.

Yes, I'm the same guy that wants to cut Meriweather. He's 29 sure. But, Meriweather only played 2-3 quarters of football.

He was a castoff FA signing that was cut twice in the prior season for performance issues. He's also coming off a knee surgery on the same knee he injured early in the season. Meriweather was not a contributor on the field and his impact in the locker room as a 1st year FA doesn't compare to Fletch.

In fact nothing about Meriweather compares to Fletch......

Cutting Meriweather and cutting Fletcher are about as diametrically opposed examples as I've ever heard

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

How you treat your team leaders, your great or even former great players carries weight with how the players view the FO/coaching staff.

It behoves any team to do right by players like Fletch.

You're reading my mind. I understand why people want to move on without him, I just don't see the problem with bringing him back for one more year. I might feel differently about it if K Robinson was full healthy and we had a better feel for what we have in him. But...we don't. Get well 59!

[darrelgreenie]

There are some people that can pull a unit/team together. For me its real because I've experienced it; and have felt the vacuum when that type of leadership isn't present.

Fletch imo is that type of leader on this team.

London is the type of player that can hold a unit and team together through tough times or can carry a team on a run for the Lombardi and yes I think we could make a run if everything falls into place this season. So even if its for 1 season as a bridge from the team of the past to the team of the future, it would be something I would have to consider.

Fletch did slip some due to injury, but as he got healthier his play improved and he made some big plays and bigger play calls/audibles over the course of the winning streak. Also, I think London should enter the season with the intent to groom the ILB corps to help assume the mantle and not leave a hole at what imo is one of the more important positions on a football team. Imo, QB, MLB, focal RB, best OL and best DB come w/ leadership duties.