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Skins Quotes 12/29/11: M. Shanahan, Haslett, K. Shanahan

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December 29, 2011
Redskins Park


Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan

On if he knows whether or not safety LaRon Landry will have surgery on his injured Achilles:
“There is no update. I know he was still talking to a couple of people. He has not made a decision yet.”

On running back Tim Hightower:
“I’m just thinking that he’ll be back full-speed, ready to go. A lot of people who have ACLs, with the rehab and what they go through usually, they’re usually able to come back full-speed. And we’ll keep our fingers crossed that he goes through rehab and there’s no setbacks and he’s good as new… I like the way he practiced. He was accountable on a day-to-day basis. [I liked] the way he played throughout the preseason and the first four games. He’s tough, hard-nosed, and he was a good addition to our football team.”

On the recovery status of guard Kory Lichtensteiger:
“I feel good about Kory. He’s a worker. With the rehab they have now and how hard they work, I think he’ll be ready to go for OTAs, at least that’s what our trainers feel.”

On the recovery status of tight end Chris Cooley:
“I really don’t know. Chris has been around, but I expect him to be back normal too. Hopefully there’s no setback.”

On if tight end Fred Davis and tackle Trent Williams have reported to the facility:
“Yeah, they’ve had a few workouts in here last week and this week. We’re just making sure they’re in shape and just trying to work them a little bit.”

On if he looks 2011 as a wasted year for defensive end Jarvis Jenkins:
“I mean, when it’s over, it’s over. Obviously it’s a setback any time you go on IR, especially for the season when you’re counting on a guy playing. But after he does go on IR, you’re glad you’re able to get him back early. He’s been to all the meetings. His rehab has gone well. We’re just looking forward to him going to his second year with a lot more experience, not necessarily on the field, but in the classroom. I’ve liked the way he’s handled himself, the way he’s worked, so I think he’ll be a big plus for us.”

On how beneficial it will be to have a normal offseason:
“I think it’ll be great because you’ve got a good feel for the players, No. 1. You’ve been around them for a couple of years. You get a chance to evaluate your draft choices, your free agents, your people that have been here. And then you have, like I said, a normal draft, a normal free agency. Once you do go to OTAs, I think you feel a lot more comfortable with who’s out there because you know them inside and out.”

On if he had to gather information on free agents by phone interviews because of the lockout last offseason:
“You do your homework way before that. You do talk to them right away. As soon as you’re able to talk to them, you give them a call and try to recruit them because there’s a number of teams trying to get these guys. But we feel very good that we were able to land the free agents we landed.”

On evaluating players who are age 30 or older in free agency:
“I think it’s much easier when you have a guy on your football team that you know he prepares, he plays well, [and] he’s been doing it consistently compared to somebody on another team. Sometimes when a guy is a free agent somewhere north of 30, you’re saying, 'Does he get hurt? How does he practice? Is he a pro?’ But when he’s one of your own and you know how he’s handled himself day-in, day-out, it’s pretty easy to make those decisions if the guy is playing at the top of his game at the end of the season.”

On if he has any doubt about returning next season:
“There’s no doubt in my mind. Hopefully there’s no doubt in Dan’s [Owner Daniel M. Snyder’s] mind, too. [Laughs]… Like I talked to him about it when I first got here, I said, 'Dan, if you don’t plan on me coaching here five years and doing it the right way, you’re hiring the wrong guy. It’s going to take some time to get it right.’”

Defensive Coordinator Jim Haslett

On safety DeJon Gomes:
“DJ’s [DeJon Gomes] the kind of guy that he gets better and better every time he’s out there. We like his athleticisim. I think he’s really smart. He’s just hasn’t had a lot of time playing the safety [position]. Even in college, he played a lot of dime. He was a safety, but he played more dime than he did safety, so it’s going to be a learning process. He’s really good in the box. It’s in the space area - he’s in the deep half - we’ve got to work on and have a good offseason with him.”

On if Gomes has exceeded expectations:
“He’s kind of what we thought he was looking at him in college and what he’s done here. I think it’s good experience for him just to get this time these last five or six games - we tried to get him reps. I think it will payoff for him in the future.”

On if he thinks defensive end Jarvis Jenkins will be ready for OTAs:
“Yeah, obviously missing the year, it’s important for him. Knowledge-wise and knowing what he’s doing, I don’t think that will be an issue. He’s just got to get out there and do it. I think it will be good to have him back and add him to the group.”

On if getting Jenkins back is like adding another draft pick or a free agent:
“That’s how I look at it. It’s like getting your second-round pick this year instead of last year. It would be nice to have him because, like I said, the group is a good group and adding Jarvis to it just makes you stronger.”

On if he would encourage management to re-sign linebacker London Fletcher, defensive end Adam Carriker and defensive end Kedric Golston:
“Yeah. I don’t have much say in it, but obviously as football players, I think they’re all good football players. Obviously, [they] will help the organization.”

On linebacker Perry Riley’s development:
“He’s another guy kind of like DJ. We stuck him in there. I think it’s a learning process. I think Perry needs a really good offseason, sit down with [linebackers coach] Lou [Spanos] and myself and just kind of go over and start from square one and kind of get him acclimated to everything. But that’s a hard position to play because there’s not a 'Jack’ position. There’s strong and weak inside linebackers and you’ve got to know both of them based off formations, personnel groups and then he plays dime. He does a lot of different things, so it’s a learning process and I don’t know too many guys that come in after a year and just go in and start. But you see one thing, he’s athletic, he’s got good speed [and] he’s a willing tackler. We’ve just got to get him to have the knowledge of what you’re doing and what other teams are going to try to do against you. I think that’ll come because he’s a playmaker. He’s done a lot of good things.”

On what areas specifically Riley has improved in:
“Every day he’s out there, he gets better from understanding what offenses are trying to do. It’s not like college where you’re seeing the same type of offense every week and, all of a sudden, it’s an option team. To here, every week it’s something different. You change your style of defense and what you do to try to fit what teams are doing to you. I think that’s the learning part that Perry will get better and better at.”

On making progress:
“It’s an ongoing process. I think Coach [Mike] Shanahan hit it with you guys earlier – the cupboard is not bare, but when you make changes like you’re doing from a 4-3 to a 3-4, I’ll use my standpoint because I can’t really speak for the offense, you’re changing not just one guy, but all 11 guys. It’s not the same body type guys you want. You’re looking for different type of players. You’re looking for two-edger guys. You’re looking for inside guys. When you’re looking at a 4-3 defensive end, you want somebody from 6-1 to 6-3, 6-4 [and] 250 [pounds] and up. We want 6-3 to 6-6 [and] 315 [pounds] and up. So those 6-6 guys don’t fall out of trees. I think you start from square one and you really start it over from square one last year and we made great progress, but we’ve got to keep working at it [and] we’ve got to keep getting better it.”

On if next season is a reasonable timeframe to expect results:
“Yeah, I hope so. You like to have them from the first time you’re out there, but I think this team should get better and better and we should get better and better every time we go out there.”

On if cornerback Kevin Barnes being active and not playing was a coaching decision:
“Yeah, it was a coaching [decision]. He actually did play a little bit, but we actually started [Byron] Westbrook at the nickel spot to see what he could do. Again, evaluate for the future and see if he’s a possible candidate there. Those guys contracts are up and you’ve got to start taking a look at everybody.”

On cornerback Byron Westbrook:
“I thought he’s played well. I thought he did a nice job. He’s got great speed and good covering ability. He’s another guy that just hadn’t had a lot of reps and time. For time he’s been here, he’s been more of a special teams player. I think this game he’ll have a good receiver in the slot, so it will be a good evaluation for us.”

On if there has been a player this season who hasn’t received the recognition that he deserves:
“I’m biased, so London [Fletcher] not making the Pro Bowl obviously is one. Ryan [Kerrigan] has been good. For a rookie to step in and do what he’s done, to never play that position, to never cover anybody, to do what he’s done to me is outstanding. For Barry [Cofield] to play a three-technique and a one-technique to go and play the nose in your first year – he’ll tell you, if you watch his early tapes and watch his now, he’s night and day how much better he is. Stephen [Bowen] is the same thing. So I think all those guys have made great improvement.”

On if linebacker Brian Orakpo still needs to progress in order to be an elite player:
“I think he’s got to understand that no matter where he lines up, they’re going to have two guys on him. Either they’re going to chip him or they’re going to have two guys on him because they’re going to slide to him. And that’s kind of way it’s been and he gets frustrated. He’s got to learn, like the other great rushers in the league, the Jared Allens or the [Dwight] Freeneys, they’re always going to have two guys on them. He’s not going to get around it and he’s going to have to learn how to beat two guys. He’s going to have to learn how to take a chip off of him. He’s going to have to learn how to work the edges a little bit more and be better under control a little bit more. I think that’ll come. He’s targeted. When you add another rusher to that, they’re going to take one of them out of the game. He’s the guy they’re looking at right now.”

On how he would rate Orakpo’s season as a pass rusher:
“I think he’s had a really good season. I really do. I think he’s had an excellent season. I think he’s gotten better in the run and his coverage has been excellent. He’s just got to take that next step and learn that there is going to be a guy there for him, there’s going to be a chip guy, there’s going to be a running back, there’s going to be an extra tight end.”

On how cornerback Josh Wilson has played the second half of the season:
“I think Josh has been outstanding. I thought Josh early, like anybody else that’s never been in the system or you change systems, it doesn’t matter whether it’s ours or somebody else’s, it’s a learning process. You miss training camp. He came in late because of the lockout. I think he’s been outstanding the second half of the year.”

On how much having an offseason will benefit the defense:
“I think it’s big time, especially for young guys – a guy like you said, Jarvis, Perry. I think it’s big for Perry, DJ and all those type of guys. We’re really playing right now with Ryan who’s a rookie, DJ who’s a rookie and you can add Perry because Perry didn’t get any playing time last year. So you’re talking about three young guys out of 11 that they have a ways to go, but they’re going to make great strides.”

Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan

On running back Evan Royster’s performance against the Vikings:
“I thought he did a real good job. Any time you go against a good run defense like Minnesota, I think they’re a top 10 defense in stopping the run, he averaged seven yards-a-carry, which is pretty good.”

On what stood out about him:
“Royster just has a good knack for finding the right hole. He’s a very natural running back and what you mean by that is he does it with ease. He doesn’t have to think about it. He doesn’t have to press the situation. He just really slow plays it and finds it and presses it and gets to the gap they’re not in. He goes one gap at a time and it doesn’t look real flashy, but he’s always going in the right spot. Usually when you’re like that, you’re going to be a good yards-per-carry guy.”

On having two good rookie running backs:
“Yeah, it’s real nice. The consistency [Roy] Helu’s had over the last five weeks, I know he didn’t play last week, but prior to that. And for Royster to step up and to do what he did, it makes you excited. You feel like you have two guys who can help you in the future.”

On why running back Ryan Torain wasn’t able to produce:
“Ryan had his moments. It was a tough decision to move on from him. I really enjoyed Ryan as a guy, as a person and as a player. Just the consistency lacked and he was a little up and down. He had his games – he’s capable of having good games and being a good player in the NFL. But when it just comes to numbers and stuff, the other guys showed more consistency and you knew a little bit more what you were getting out of them.”

On why the team released Torain:
“I think it was a numbers issue. We brought Aldrick [Robinson] up and you know we had to let another guy go and he was the one that we decided.”

On what improvement he has seen in wide receiver Aldrick Robinson:
“Aldrick’s a talented guy. He’s got a lot of upside. He’s not quite there yet. I think someone was trying to steal him off our practice squad and he’s a guy that’s got a lot of upside and talent that we hope can help us in the future. We weren’t willing to let him go.”

On if the team is set at the running back position if it decides to re-sign running back Tim Hightower:
“No, I don’t think you’re ever set. I think you’re always trying to improve yourself. You always want to find that Pro Bowl back and, with those guys, you feel guys are capable of it, guys who have shown some promise. Every year, you’ve got to bring in some competition and you’re always hoping to find that big time player. I think with all three of those guys, they have a chance to do it. We’re still waiting to see if they can.”

On if there are similarities between the playoff-bound Houston Texans and where the Redskins want to be in the future:
“I think you just have to keep getting better. I know our record is not showing it now, but I strongly believe we’re a better team than we were last year. I know it showed numbers-wise on defense. We’ve had a lot of injuries this year on offense, but I still think we’re a much better group than we were last year. Some of the ways these guys have rebounded since those injuries and since our lull earlier in the season, I think we’ve really improved. You get better or you get worse. As long as you keep getting better and you keep the same continuity with guys, you’ve got a chance to do something. You’ve got to get the right guys in and continually try to improve the team each year and keep competition. But when guys are doing the same stuff year-in and year-out, it shows and people grow together. It becomes easy. You see it in Houston.”

On if it’s difficult to believe you’re getting better, when the record isn’t showing it:
“It’s real difficult. You put your life into this. You put everything in it – players and coaches. You work extremely hard and you know you’re improving, but you are what your record shows though. We know that doesn’t show to everyone else, but we do believe in ourselves. We believe we’re going in the right direction and it does give our guys confidence. We can’t wait for next year. Once you’re out of the playoffs, I’m looking forward to getting the season over with so we can start regrouping and get to next year. And getting an offseason to work with some of these guys in more detail. And hopefully [we] bring in some competition to improve these guys or to get better with other guys.”

On what he has learned about his father during the past two years:
“He doesn’t change much. I’m a little up and down. I get frustrated. But he’s always pretty even keel. He doesn’t waiver. He’s the same day-in and day-out. He’s got a vision. He never gets too caught up in the moment. He always looking into the future and he’s a pretty confident guy. He’s got a vision where we’re going and makes you believe in it.”

On what one area he would like for the offense to improve in:
“Turnovers without a doubt. If you look in every category whether it’s the run game, the pass game, we’re pretty much right there at the midway point in every section, even third downs. I think last year, we were like 31st in third downs. I want to say right now, we’re like 14th. So we’re improving in a lot of areas, but you can’t win games when you’re turning the ball over like we have. That makes you struggle to score points when you turn the ball over and you struggle to win.”

On where he’s improved as the offensive coordinator:
“It’s been good for me to just have to adjust. Adjust with different players. Adjust with injuries. I was with the same group in Houston for a while. I coached all those receivers when I was receivers coach – I had the exact same group. When I was the quarterback coach, I had [Matt] Schaub. It was his first year. Then when I moved to coordinator, it was all the same receivers that I coached and was the same quarterback that I coached. As a coordinator, I had all the same guys for two years. I was very used to the group. They knew exactly what I wanted. I knew what they could do. Coming here, I never had that time in the position rooms, so it’s been a group effort – coaching coaches to get them to know what I want. I’m working with the players and we made a lot of strides. We didn’t have as much injury trouble in Houston either. To learn how to adjust and when you lose some guys like Fred [Davis] and Trent [Williams] and to change personnel groupings to try some certain things out there we haven’t done in the past, it’s been a good experience for myself.”

On if he’s enjoyed the challenges he’s faced:
“Yeah, you definitely enjoy it. It’s tough when you’re losing. You’d rather everything be perfect. You enjoy just winning a lot more, but I want to be as good as I can be and this is the way you do it. It doesn’t just happen - by not going through it and going through some of these up and downs. I said it to the players a while ago, but it’s tough on us coaches and it was tough on them, but what do we do about it? Are we going to feel sorry for ourselves? Are we going to be better for it? I think we’ve shown that in the last five weeks that we’ve gotten better for it. We’ve had to step our game up in certain areas. We’ve had to do different things. I think it’s shown on the field and I think it’s made guys more confident that you don’t just have to depend on one thing. We’re capable of winning. We’ve got to start doing it, but we can do it in other ways than the ways we planned.”

On if he would like a quarterback that manages the offense more:
“I don’t think Rex [Grossman] is ever going to be a guy that you want to put in there just to hand it off and to manage the game. Rex can make some plays. That is the one thing that I do like about Rex and it does happen. Rex has made a lot of plays for our offense. He’s in there, he takes some hits, he doesn’t flinch. He’s not scared to go down the field and that’s why we have been able to make some plays these last few weeks. I feel like he feels a little pressure to make a lot of those plays and get it going. When that happens, he does make some bad decisions when he should have pulled it back. What you do love about Rex is he competes, he lets it go, he’s not scared of the moment, he’s trying to win the game. You hope we get a better supporting cast, you get some leads in some games and then you can start doing things different. He’s a smart guy. I think you can calm him down a little and make him feel like, 'Hey, you don’t have to try to make all these plays to win the game. We’re in the game. We’ve got a lead. We can run the ball. We can do this. We can do that.’ Then, you don’t have to do as many risky decisions that he has done in the past.”

On what his preference is for a type of quarterback:
“My preference is a quarterback that is going to try to win the game and is smart enough to do that the right way. If we’re playing with a lead – you bring up Alex Smith – I think they’ve had the lead in a lot of games [and] Frank Gore has done a real good job for them. When you have it there, don’t lose it. Don’t give that team a chance. Their defense gave up one rushing touchdown in the last year. They’re winning a lot of games just not messing it up on offense. When it gets to that point, you hope your quarterback is smart enough to say 'Hey, we’ve got this in the bag.’ That’s how I saw us versus the Giants. Our defense I felt like dominated the Giants. I know Rex had those two picks early, but we had a good lead in the second half. You could tell the Giants weren’t doing much to our defense and that’s when you end up getting 40 carries. That’s when I thought Rex was smarter with the ball in the second half and I think he’s capable of doing it. Rex, when he feels like he needs to make a play to win the game, he’s going to try to and I do like that also.”

On wide receiver Donté Stallworth’s resurgence since re-joining the team:
“Donté got a few opportunities early in the year and he didn’t capitalize on them. And when you get a few opportunities and you don’t capitalize on them, it was a tough decision to let him go that week. I didn’t want to do it. Other people in the building didn’t want to do it, but it was something that we had to do because of our numbers. Then, I think it was [Leonard] Hankerson who got hurt, so we were allowed to bring him right back. I think, since he’s come back, he’s capitalized on all those opportunities, which has gotten him more opportunities. Right now, Donté’s playing as good as any of our receivers. I love having him out there. He’s a great guy. He’s great out here in the meeting rooms [and] on the field. On game day, he gives people energy. You guys see when he catches the ball, he’s physical out there [and] he’s trying to run through people. I think he’s been a big difference [maker] the last month and a half.”

On how quickly he knows in the draft process if a quarterback fits what he wants:
“I don’t think it’s necessarily what we want to do. I think when you evaluate quarterbacks, you look at 'Are they comparable of winning in the NFL? Do you think that guy has what it takes to take you to the playoffs? Does he have what it takes to get you to the Super Bowl?’ There is no specific, 'Hey, I only want someone who only can do what we can do.’ I want someone who can win and help a team and move the ball. There’s lots of different ways to do it, lots of people do that in college and it doesn’t transfer over to the NFL. What you do as a coach is you try to evaluate what are guys skills. What makes them successful in college? Do you think they’ll be able to do that in the NFL? And if they can do that in the NFL on a consistent basis, not to where is just wins them a couple of games, but you actually feel they can take you to the playoffs, be able to do what they need to do on third down in the playoffs against a good defense. Those are the type of guys you want. You can adjust to anybody. But you want to make sure it’s the type of formula that wins.”

On if he prefers a guy that’s more experienced in his system:
“No, not at all. You don’t need a guy that’s experienced with your system. When Schaub came into Houston in his first year, he played at a very high level. I don’t think it’s a system that takes a long time to learn. You can get better at it, but everyone in the league runs similar plays. You’re going to run what they’re good at and the better they are, the more you keep doing it. Everybody’s looking for a franchise quarterback. You want one of those guys that there’s no question about. There’s probably only about five or six of them in the league. Then, there’s a lot of guys who can play and a lot of guys who need to be replaced. You’re always trying to find that one and [we’re] still looking to do it.”

On if it’s realistic to address all of the offense’s needs this offseason:
“As a coach, you want 11 Pro Bowlers. I’ll never say that we’ll be able to get all of those, but what I do love about our offense [and] our players is we’ve got good football players. We have a lot of guys who are capable of playing and helping. I think we can add some players to a few positions that could really upgrade the overall talent and, when you do that, it makes all those other people so much better too. So I do think we have a good nucleus. It always helps to add some guys. You’d love them to be some Pro Bowl guys, but you never know what you’re going to get, so you’ve got to keep working with the guys you have. When you have football players who aren’t scared of the competition and everything, you always feel you have a chance to compete, which I think we’ve done. But when you have that and you have injuries and stuff, it’s tough to win consistently. I’d like to always work to get 11 Pro Bowlers, but you’re not going to do that, so you hope you can add as much talent as you can. And when you do that, I feel very confident with the guys that we do have. We just want to upgrade some spots.”

On how the receivers have done with yards after the catch:
“It’s huge. It’s something we stress to them all the time. I think they really struggled with it early in the year. It’s something we got on them hard for. They’ve been working at it. I thought they’ve done a real good job of it, better than they have all year in the last few weeks. That was one of the differences in the Giants game. I think we were eight-of-15 on third down that week. There was like three times we shouldn’t have gotten the first down, twice by Donté and once by Jabar [Gaffney], they made good plays running with the ball to move the chains and, if you don’t have that, you’re not going to score many points. You’ve got to get yards after the catch. You can’t just hit people wide open in stride and run in the end zone. You’ve got to make some plays and I think our guys have improved with that as the year’s gone on.”
 
I am glad to see Haslett is addressing the issue that Orakpo is having. You could see a little drop off in his pass rush this year when I expected to see more since he had Kerrigan on the other side. You can see he is frustrated when he doesn't get the holding calls, but he has to do something about that.

Unfortunately, toward the end of the season I believe Kerrigan was having the same issues. Once they started holding him more (not getting called either), getting someone to chip at him, or just double team him, he seemed to get frustrated as well.
 
El, ironically that's an issue seriously hurting the Packers right now as well. They, I think, are just now realizing what they lost when Cullen Jenkins left. CM3 is running into the same problem as Kerrigan only the Packers don't have anything like an answer at the other OLB slot. Fans there are seriously pushing for them to draft a good pass rushing OLB.

Teams have no doubt picked up on Orakpo's inability to handle double teams as yet. I can't help but wonder if the improvement he's shown in coverage may have interfered with his progress in that area. Of course, he still does provide enough of a distraction to opposing defenses that they have to double him-or hold his a$$(Grrrrrr! I'm still p.o'ed at that being seemingly ignored by the guys in stripes. :()
 
serv, I think the NFL as a whole is seeing more holds. They must have changed the rules or something because the holding we see on Rak and Kerrigan is going on in a lot of the games I have watched all year. Maybe not to the extent, but it is happening every where. And since this is my first season with RedZone, I have watched a lot of different games this year.

I also believe a true NT will help these guys tremendously. They get the outside rush and contain the edges (on pass rush), but we don't get tremendous push from Cofield. Yes, he has been solid this season, especially against the run, so has Bowen. Both are very solid acquisitions, but if we had an NT that took a G and C, they would not be able to double team our OLB's as often or they will have less options for the QB. I know a lot of guys tire of Ryman repeating himself, but I have paid attention to his analysis of the 3-4 and how it works, knowing little about it before we switched. Watching other 3-4 defenses throughout the league, the ones who are successful always have a big guy in the middle who occupies the interior of the offensive line, i.e, Ngata, Hampton, Raji, Pouha and Garay. We need that guy. If we have someone like that, our defensive line is going to be NASTY!

Edit: after checking the top defenses in the league, 4 of the top 5 teams run a 3-4 and of the players I named above, all but Raji are on teams that rank in the top of the league.
 
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serv, I think the NFL as a whole is seeing more holds. They must have changed the rules or something because the holding we see on Rak and Kerrigan is going on in a lot of the games I have watched all year. Maybe not to the extent, but it is happening every where. And since this is my first season with RedZone, I have watched a lot of different games this year.

I also believe a true NT will help these guys tremendously. They get the outside rush and contain the edges (on pass rush), but we don't get tremendous push from Cofield. Yes, he has been solid this season, especially against the run, so has Bowen. Both are very solid acquisitions, but if we had an NT that took a G and C, they would not be able to double team our OLB's as often or they will have less options for the QB. I know a lot of guys tire of Ryman repeating himself, but I have paid attention to his analysis of the 3-4 and how it works, knowing little about it before we switched. Watching other 3-4 defenses throughout the league, the ones who are successful always have a big guy in the middle who occupies the interior of the offensive line, i.e, Ngata, Hampton, Raji, Pouha and Garay. We need that guy. If we have someone like that, our defensive line is going to be NASTY!

Edit: after checking the top defenses in the league, 4 of the top 5 teams run a 3-4 and of the players I named above, all but Raji are on teams that rank in the top of the league.

I agree on the need for and usefulness of a good NT. I check Walter Football out of curiosity and his top two NT prospects look like the Skins might want to take a good look at especially if they don't go in the 1st round.

Alameda Ta'amu, NT, Washington
Height: 6-3. Weight: 330.
Projected 40 Time: 5.42.
Projected Round (2012): 1-2.
12/16/11: Throughout the 2011 season, Ta'amu was a load at the line of scrimmage. He ate up double teams and had success plugging his gap in run defense. Ta'amu has also had some quality plays of collapsing the pocket with a bull rush. Against Stanford, he was neutralized by the Cardinal strong offensive line. After that game, Ta'amu was quiet for some time but finished the regular season on a high note with two sacks, 2.5 tackles for a loss and four tackles against Washington State. This year, he has 28 tackles with seven tackles for a loss and 3.5 sacks.

8/28/11: Alameda Ta'amu was a tough run stuffer as a junior. He recorded 39 tackles with five tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks. In his second year as a starter, Ta'amu was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention. In 2009, he recorded 19 tackles with 4.5 tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks. Ta'amu started 11 of 12 games as a sophomore. He is a powerful force at the point of attack. Ta'amu enters the season as the top 3-4 nose tackle in the nation and a potential second-round pick.




Dontari Poe*, NT, Memphis
Height: 6-5. Weight: 350.
Projected 40 Time: 5.50.
Projected Round (2012): 2-3.
12/16/11: Poe totaled 33 tackles with eight tackles for a loss, one sack and one forced fumble. He did not play well against Mississippi State in the first game of the season and ended the year without a tackle for a loss in the last four games. Poe's best game came against SMU when he registered a sack-fumble and three tackles.

Poe is a space eater who takes on multiple blocks. Even when his pad level is off, he is hard to move at the line of scrimmage. Poe should drop some weight to increase his agility so that he can make some plays that don't go directly at him.

8/28/11: Dontari Poe is a massive defensive lineman who could be a 3-4 nose tackle at the next level. He is a powerful force at the line of scrimmage that offensive linemen struggle to move. Poe recorded 41 tackles and with 6.5 tackles for a loss last season. He got a good amount of playing time as a freshman. If Poe has a strong season, he could enter the draft as their is usually a limited amount of true nose tackles in each draft class.

http://walterfootball.com/draft2012NT.php
 
serv, this is a position I think would best be served via FA. I think you would here loud explosions in Redskins land (People's Heads exploding) if we do not sign offensive lineman with the 2nd-4th or 5th rounds! :laugh:

However there are two top tier FA's this season and a couple who had off years who might be had for cheap. Pouha for the Jets and Garay for the Chargers are likely going to want top dollar. Soliai from Miami might want big money too, but he didn't have a great season this year. The only one I would think twice about before signing but could probably come cheap is Aubrayo Franklin. He has done little in Williams scheme in NO, but he is 31.
 
serv, this is a position I think would best be served via FA. I think you would here loud explosions in Redskins land (People's Heads exploding) if we do not sign offensive lineman with the 2nd-4th or 5th rounds! :laugh:

However there are two top tier FA's this season and a couple who had off years who might be had for cheap. Pouha for the Jets and Garay for the Chargers are likely going to want top dollar. Soliai from Miami might want big money too, but he didn't have a great season this year. The only one I would think twice about before signing but could probably come cheap is Aubrayo Franklin. He has done little in Williams scheme in NO, but he is 31.

Garay appeals to me because of his ability to collapse the pocket even though he is not quite as good against the run as he is pressuring QBs. I'd give him a hard look if available though even if he is expensive.
 

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