My thoughts on how the Redskins may fill some voids

[Donthate48]

Sorry guys this is a long one but if you take the time to read it, I'd love the feedback!

The Redskins have always been a team that seems to hog the spotlight and this offseason has been no different. With all of the speculation and press on the recovery of RGIII’s knee after the LCL and ACL reconstructive surgery, many people question whether or not the Redskins will be able to hold onto their NFC east champion title. But lets not forget that the NFL draft is coming up! This is a time to add more power to a team that struggled in many areas. The pass rush, even with Brian Orakpo and Adam Carriker coming back off of their injuries, is still subpar and still lacks an elite presence. The secondary is atrocious, as it gave up many big plays to lose us the game that should have easily been won. (See Giants week 7, Falcons week 5). The offensive line is still very shaky. Although it performed well in the run game, RGIII suffered hit after hit as he delivered passes. Pierre Garcon’s foot injury set the Redskins pass game back for most of the season. When he was playing, he was the biggest playmaker on the field. The Redskins still need a true number 1 receiver to draw the double coverages and bring a level of consistency to the position that we have not seen in years. The purpose of this article is to identify who the Redskins may target in the draft/ free agency that could make immediate impacts.

Lets start off with the secondary and the draft: Remember that the Redskins gave up their 2013 and 2014 1st round picks just to get RGIII. So without the value of our first round pick, the Redskins start the draft off with the 53rd overall pick. This pick will most likely end up a starter for the Redskins so I personally believe they will go for a safety or a corner. According to Gil Brandt’s top 100 draft prospects pre combine (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000140172/article/2013-nfl-draft-luke-joeckel-geno-smith-among-best-prospects) there are two safeties that (currently) fit in between the 40th and 60th picks. (Note: these rankings are his opinion, not fact. I am just using these rankings for the sake of this article) Free safety from LSU Eric Reid and Matt Elam, a free safety from Florida. Elam’s strengths appear to be more in the box presence, almost like Laron Landry. He loves the big hits but can also play man coverage very well. Reid is physical, but not as physical as Elam. His strengths come from his consistency and ability to make tackles in the open field. He is not afraid to cover anyone, and can handle the tough matches against bigger plays like tight ends. If the Redskins take a player like Elam, I wouldn’t be surprised if they attempt to move him to Strong Safety and play him similar to Laron Landry. If the Redskins take a player like Reid, he would most likely stay at free safety and cover the gaping hole in the back end of the Redskins secondary.

Another possible option for the Redskins at secondary is to try their hand at free agency. There are many big names out there in players such as Charles Woodson and recently released Bills safety George Wilson. Charles Woodson may not be a pure safety nor be in his physically talented as he was in his prime but that doesn’t take away the leadership and experience he would bring to the Redskins locker room. The only issue with signing Woodson may be his price tag. Remember that the Redskins will suffer an $18 million salary cap penalty during the 2013 season. George Wilson can play special teams as well as safety. He also may come with a lower asking price than Woodson. He is a veteran presence in the locker room as well as a consistent player both on and off the field. George Wilson may not be as big of a name as Woodson, but may be able to bring the same kind of skills to the team. One other idea for safety that comes to mind is to move Deangelo Hall back to free safety. Lets be honest here, Hall is inconsistent in man , coverage because he likes to make the big play. Although I would be incredibly nervous to see him as our last resort between a receiver and the end zone, a case can be made for his play making abilities and who knows how well he could thrive if given the freedom to rule over the entire field. Side note: Brandon Meriweather may come back this season as well. Assuming he can stay healthy he still can be the player the Redskins signed him to be.

The Redskins need for a shutdown cornerback is real. Carlos Rogers showed flashes of it during his tenure here in Washington, but his rock hands seemed to be the reason we let him go. Josh Wilson to many is considered our best corner. Yet if he played for another team, he would be most likely used in nickel packages over anything else. Deangelo Hall is not reliable enough to be considered a top corner either. As aforementioned, I would not be surprised to see him get moved to safety this off season if the Redskins choose to bring him back at all. The possible free agent market for cornerback is vast. Aqib Talib is available again, and with his past experience with Raheem Morris may be a possibility. However, many expect the Patriots to resign him as quickly as they can. This leads me to a much more realistic option of Sean Smith. He is a larger than average corner who is fairly consistent. He is not the biggest playmaker, but has a propensity to make fumbles happen (he had 3 last year). Another option that may come with character issues is former Cardinals and Eagles corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Brought to the Eagles during their “Dream Team” period, Rodgers-Cromartie has shown flashes of his talent with the eagles, but has not performed consistently enough to guarantee he’s worth it. My last thought about cornerback is we have two young talented corners on our roster already. Richard Crawford has shown he has playmaking ability and decent coverage skills as shown with his interception against Tony Romo in week 17. Chase Minnifield has shown flashes of his talent but his injuries have kept him off the field so far. If he can stay healthy, I can see him being a valuable asset to the Redskins secondary this season. One final note: The Redskins may lose Cedric Griffin this offseason. Depending on if they resign him may determine how the Redskins choose to draft this year.

In my own opinion the Redskins offensive line issues will be solved by patience and consistency over signing a big name free agent or drafting a potential starter in the second round. Last draft the Redskins spent their 3rd round pick on Josh Leribeus, an athletically gifted guard out of SMU (Southern Methodist University). While he did not get much play time during the 2012 season, but certainly showed flashes in the five games he was able to play. The biggest concern for the Redskins’ o-line in my opinion is the right tackle. Tyler Polumbus just doesn’t cut it. He is fine as a backup player, but nothing more. Jammal Brown has been injury plagued since being signed from the Saints in 2010 making him incredibly unreliable as well. This is why I personally want the Redskins to target a player such as Andre Smith in free agency. Smith was the tackle for the Bengals this past season and is great at setting up the run. There are more names out there that I could throw into the picture, but many of them (Sebastian Vollmer, Jake Long, Brendan Albert) are injury prone players which I do not believe the Redskins will risk signing. The Redskins could turn to the draft for right tackle. However, if they decide to use the second round pick on a safety, then its very likely that the draftee will be a developmental pick for the future. Don't be surprised to see the Redskins add a lot of depth to the offensive line this off season. Note: Resigning Kory Lichtensteiger and retaining Tyler Polumbus should be priorities.

The Redskins pass rush most likely won’t get very much attention this offseason. I personally believe that Jarvis Jenkins played incredibly well in place of Adam Carriker as did Rob Jackson for Brian Orakpo. However, Jackson will be available for free agency once the period begins and I could easily see another team offering him a deal to become a starter full time. This means that Orakpo needs to make a statement this season. This is the final year of his rookie contract, and unless he can stay healthy all season and put up good numbers he most likely won’t be retained. Carriker on the other hand is better than Jarvis Jenkins at getting to the quarterback. While a 3-4 defensive end isn’t expect to put up elite sack numbers, Carriker’s presence was definitely missed this season as Kerrigan was getting double teams without any pressure coming up the left side. As I said before, I do not believe the Redskins will put too much effort into the pass rush this off season as we have two key players coming off of injury. I still expect the Redskins to draft a new inside linebacker at some point in the draft. London Fletcher is still playing lights out, but he can't last forever.

There are plenty of possible moves the Redskins can make this offseason to help improve the team. I’ve mentioned a few above but in reality, the possibilities are practically endless. My only hope heading into the 2013 NFL combine is that the Redskins go for the best player available strategy, not what we need. Sometimes a better play is more important than solidifying a position. For example, look at how the Vikings drafted Adrian Peterson when they already had a 1,000 yard rusher in Chester Taylor. As for free agency, the Redskins will have to be smart again as the salary cap penalties restrict our possible moves. This means that we may go after a corner that is very underwhelming at first but then blows us out of the water the way Pierre Garcon did his first game as a Redskin. Only time will tell, but I can say one thing for sure- This is one very excited Redskins fan!
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^^ Good looks by Walter on the skin

[MKnight82]

You obviously put a lot of effort into this and it was a good read. However, a lot of the fixes you bring up are through free agency. You acknowledge that we have the cap penalty then seem to forget about it. We will not be able to sign any big name free agents. We simply don't have the cap room. This is going to be a boring offseason where we use the draft to get more developmental players and sign lower tier FAs to fill some holes. We should get better next year just by getting more experience for our younger guys.

[Donthate48]

[MKnight82]

[Woz]

Some thoughts:

A nit: the Redskins have the 51st overall pick (the Saints forfeited theirs due to Bountygate, and the Browns burned theirs drafting Josh Gordon in last year's Supplemental Draft).

My recollection may be fuzzy, but I seem to recall most of Griffin's hits in the pockets coming from the right side. Since Brown couldn't get healthy (and has since had his contract voided), that mainly falls on Polumbus. So, I'm curious as to why exactly we would want make him a priority free agent.

When Garcon was healthy, he was a true #1. The foot injury was a freak occurrence. I am slightly concerned that they didn't go with surgery since I worry it could turn a freak injury into a chronic one.

Hall's contract is a bit of a millstone around the Redskins' neck. It's bad enough to pay him $8M to play corner; to pay him that to play safety would be robbery.

In reading up on Rob Jackson, it seems like he's a restricted free agent as opposed to an unrestricted free agent. I was wrong on that front. The good news is that means we could keep him if we offer him a tender. The bad news is that unless we're willing to pay our backup OLB $2M, it is very possible he's signed away from us because went with a RoFR tender. We would get a 7th round pick out of the deal, though.

It remains to be seen if the Redskins can clear enough cap space to make themselves players in the free agency market. I'm a bit dubious on that front. I suspect we'll see a combination of one year guys akin to Madieu Williams in hope they perform combined with draft picks.

[RSkinGM]

What can we save by cutting D Hall.. Not the entire $8m right --some
( most ) quaranteed? What about June cut --that moves the hit ,,or some of it ,, to 2014.

[Donthate48]

[MKnight82]

[MKnight82]

[RSkinGM]

[footy_29]

[aceinthehouse]

There are legit rumors, that Bruce is still trying hard to get our cap penalty money back.
(I think it's why we haven't seen many restructures or deals yet, as well...Next Owner's meeting is coming up around March ?)

If we could even get 12/16M back? That would be a 1/3rd total savings. (12/36)

My top 3 priorities haven't changed, from my perspective
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#1 or #2 type of WR to pair with Garcon, but through Free Agency
Draft a RT in 2nd or 3rd Round
Draft a CB or Safety & sign a CB or Safety
(Someone had us with signing FA's CB Aquib Talib & Kenny Phillips which would be sweet)

But even if we did that, I would still like to target a CB & or S in the draft as well. Presuming there is good value at our pick.

There are other things I want us to do as well....like drafting a low rd RB with some speed, etc.

But the 3 most important things I want for the team, to get us SB ready is above.

But again...these CAP penalties are going to make it difficult to get what we really want, guys.
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[turtle28]

Rob Jackson is a restricted FA? This is awesome! We can easily keep him because we can tender him and I don't anyone will give up a pick for him.
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mike23md
Days until:Minicamp 20; Training camp 64; Eagles @ Redskins 110 RIP SSF

[turtle28]

[Woz]