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Free Agency, Mock Drafts, Camps, Roster Predictions, 2018

My impression, though, is that Hankins is ONLY about the money.

Whereas I think Bryant is prideful enough to want to show the Cowboys they made a mistake and after having made as much in recent years as he has, may be willing to sign a contract that is more realistic vis a vis his real value circa 2018 not 2014.

Also, from the Redskins standpoint drafting #13 or trading down a few spots in Round 1, that the team can come up with a DT like Payne who is a better two-way performer.

That way the team gets the DT, running back in Round 2 and then a veteran WR in free agency to help out a rather lackluster group in Doctson, Richardson, and Jamison Crowder - none of whom have ever solidified themselves as a true starter in the NFL.
 
Without question, the single worst off-season in ten years.

We've downgraded positions across the board. QB is yet to be seen.

If we panic? Then sign Dez in a futile attempt to hide garbage.

It's much more likely that he ends up in a place like Buffalo.
 
The offseason is only half way over brother :)

Free agency isn't even over.

I can't agree with your perspective. We've addressed several crucial needs, namely WR and QB - and we'll address a couple more (DL, RB, and hopefully safety) in the draft.
 
The off-season continues and is far from over. After the draft, players from other teams will be released. Some could help us and would be a welcomed addition. We may have a couple players released after the draft and rightfully so. So many things could still happen. Your patience will be rewarded.

I hope.
 
To me this offseason has been a 'push' so far.

Yes, we traded for a quarterback in Smith that finished in the top 5 in QB rankings last season. But he is 33/34 years old, and the reason we had to trade a #3 pick and Kendall Fuller is that we didn't take care of business with Kirk Cousins by signing him two years ago OR trading him last year during the draft and moving on.

Again, yes the Redskins identified a critical need on offense in adding more speed - via Paul Richardson. The problem is that Richardson has never really established himself as a starter in the NFL since being drafted and is another guy that seems to be injury prone.

On defense, we added two players in McPhee and Scandrick that can help us but neither is slated to be a starter. So, we are looking at adding depth to a defense that was already in the bottom third of the league in most categories.

So, to me the Redskins have only managed to find ONE bona fide starter in the offseason in Alex Smith. And he replaces a starter we lost.

NET we haven't added 'plus' value to the roster, at least not yet.

The draft hopefully will help and a draft like the Redskins had in 1981 could propel this team into a competitive/contending position.

But the moves in free agency didn't allow us to do more at this point than tread water.

Smith for Cousins.

Scandrick for Fuller.

McPhee for Murphy/Galette.

I would feel a little warmer right now if we had gone after a guy like Allen Robinson that like all free agents comes with some questions but also with the talent and upside to be a real difference maker.
 
Alex Smith should really re-think wearing #11 .

Taking the uniform number of a player that was the Super Bowl MVP for the franchise isn't putting too much pressure on himself :laugh:

You can argue about some of the other numbers, but #44 , #17 and #11 for the Redskins' Super Bowl MVPs should be off-limits and not given out to current players.
 
Ryp had the one good year and we were able to get a SB win out of him. Ditto for Doug. 11 and 17 have been worn by other players since and no one complained. 44 is a given though and it should not be worn again for at least fifty more years.

I've never liked the idea of retiring numbers, but putting them on the shelf for seventy-five years should be a policy. 44 can come back at the middle of this century, but not before.
 
I'm reserving judgment on this off-season until June at the earliest. Maybe until after training camp/preseason. Let's see what happens with the draft and UDFA signings. Then let's see what happens in the latter stages of FA. Let the process play out.
 
Something to think about regarding Dez.

 
Yep, I watch all three acts of the play on stage :)

But, in the intermissions between Acts I-II and II-III, I take time to discuss what I have seen so far and how the actors look to me.

Ditto here.

The offseason is not over. But we have seen enough to start evaluating how things look on the edges at least.
 
Yep, I watch all three acts of the play on stage :)

But, in the intermissions between Acts I-II and II-III, I take time to discuss what I have seen so far and how the actors look to me.

Ditto here.

The offseason is not over. But we have seen enough to start evaluating how things look on the edges at least.

And if we're being honest, the team is not better because of the off-season acquisitions so far. Alex Smith might be better than Cousins, but with the surrounding cast he currently has, we'll have to wait and see how the rest of the off-season pans out.
 
To me this offseason has been a 'push' so far.

Yes, we traded for a quarterback in Smith that finished in the top 5 in QB rankings last season. But he is 33/34 years old, and the reason we had to trade a #3 pick and Kendall Fuller is that we didn't take care of business with Kirk Cousins by signing him two years ago OR trading him last year during the draft and moving on.

Again, yes the Redskins identified a critical need on offense in adding more speed - via Paul Richardson. The problem is that Richardson has never really established himself as a starter in the NFL since being drafted and is another guy that seems to be injury prone.

On defense, we added two players in McPhee and Scandrick that can help us but neither is slated to be a starter. So, we are looking at adding depth to a defense that was already in the bottom third of the league in most categories.

So, to me the Redskins have only managed to find ONE bona fide starter in the offseason in Alex Smith. And he replaces a starter we lost.

NET we haven't added 'plus' value to the roster, at least not yet.

The draft hopefully will help and a draft like the Redskins had in 1981 could propel this team into a competitive/contending position.

But the moves in free agency didn't allow us to do more at this point than tread water.

Smith for Cousins.

Scandrick for Fuller.

McPhee for Murphy/Galette.

I would feel a little warmer right now if we had gone after a guy like Allen Robinson that like all free agents comes with some questions but also with the talent and upside to be a real difference maker.

I wanted Robinson and agree with most of your comments BD - although you just got done criticizing Richardson for being 'injury prone' while advocating for Robinson who's coming off an ACL tear :)

We just don't know what we have in Richardson - but he's just 26 and very fast. I think it's logical to assume he'll get more targets in DC than he did in Seattle. If he proves to have a much higher upside, we will have filled 2 crucial needs in FA and that's pretty good in my book. Where I differ from most of you is that I believe we have a lot of existing talent. We were looking very good until the injury bug coupled with an extremely tough schedule took their toll in 2017.
 
And if we're being honest, the team is not better because of the off-season acquisitions so far. Alex Smith might be better than Cousins, but with the surrounding cast he currently has, we'll have to wait and see how the rest of the off-season pans out.

What are the impact losses we've supposedly had that make us worse? Fuller is the only obvious one for me - and if Moreau proves to be the player the Redskins thought he was when he was drafted, we may not remember Fuller's name in a couple of years.

No team is 'better because of the off season acquisitions'. There's only conventional wisdom regarding which teams got 'better' and which got 'worse'. Until live action begins we will have no idea. The Redskins will be significantly improved this year if they manage to have a reasonable degree of health alone. Any upgrades in FA/draft will just be bonuses.
 
The Redskins are better with full health. No revelations there. I agree.

But this team healthy is still not a 13 win type of team. In order to advance/progress to where that type of 16 game outcome is possible we need to do more than bring guys back and tread water replacing one free agent loss for a corresponding gain.

We need NET to add a number of value, 'above replacement' level performers on both sides of the ball.

WR is still a question mark. Ditto for RB. LG is a deep hole right now. Roullier may be the answer at center but he looked rough at times last season and is still in learning mode, so the OL is only partially settled.

We have an injury prone TE in Reed that is backed up by a 33/34 year old in Vernon Davis whose performance really nose-dived in the second half of 2017. He may have hit a wall. Behind them is a guy Jeremy Sprinkle that has size but doesn't seem to be an effective, dependable blocker (yet) or a threat in the passing game.

On defense we really have TWO defensive linemen in Allen and Ioannidis.

Stacy McGhee, Terrell McClain and Hood are replacement level players. To improve we need to find at least one if not TWO impact players up front.

At linebacker we have a pair of competent performers inside in Foster and Brown. We can win with them. We need a bit of depth. Spaight is a special teamer, i don't see him as a consistent contributor on the regular defense.

Outside, Kerrigan is consistent and solid. On the other side, Preston Smith is not. He has more physical upside than Kerrigan, but this guy is as inconsistent as they come. 5 or 6 games a year this guy looks like the future and in others he disappears almost completely.

McPhee is a good 'get' for the 3-4 defense and he will be an asset vs. the run. So, he can be used on all three downs.

But we really need to bring in someone to push Smith into showing himself to being either the top shelf performer his talent indicates he could be or the guy who is simply happy making decent coin as an NFL player.

The backfield is in flux. We don't yet know that Quinton Dunbar is an everydown player. We also don't know if Scandrick has that much left in the tank to be the slot corner. At 32 and coming off major injuries, he is a question mark.

Josh Norman at 30/31 has not necessarily been the player here in DC that I had hoped based on the contract. He was signed to play for more than Patrick Peterson and for that type of coin I expect a guy that just stands out across the field.

Norman makes plays, he forces fumbles and can tackle. But he also gets beaten in man coverage more than one would expect of a 'top' corner.

Moreau like some other guys on the roster is a dream we hope comes true. But right now we are wishing rather than seeing and believing.

At safety, Swearinger is solid. He is probably better suited to playing strong rather than free safety. Nicholson is the best athlete in the secondary and could be a player with the upside to be special. We will have to see if he can stay healthy.

A veteran #3 safety would be nice to have on board. Everett is a special teamer.

So, overall this roster if all goes well with injuries and we get some elevated performances from some youngsters will be better than 2017.

I was hoping that in addition to these natural improvements from better health and internal growth/development we would add 2 or 3 players that could help tilt the field in our favor against the Eagles, Cowboys, Rams, etc.

A number of other teams in the NFC have made moves for 2018 such as the Rams and Vikings that look to keep them ahead of the Redskins.

The Eagles are better just from getting Carson Wentz back on the field.

The Packers are getting Rodgers back and were somehow able to fit Sheldon Richardson under their tight cap at $8M for 2018, unfortunately the Redskins evidently couldn't or wouldn't do the same. So, we are still looking there.
 
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This site has ranked the 2018 draft personnel by how deep each position is. Not saying it's right just what THIS site is going by.

By position from weakest to deepest...

TE
Edge Defender/pass rusher
CB
OT
WR
G/C
QB
LB
RB
S
DT/NT


https://www.google.com/amp/s/draftw...8-nfl-draft-ranking-every-position-group/amp/

All of our weakest positions seem to be on the bottom half, or deepest quality so as long as the Bruce sticks to that 1/2 we should be good.
 
What are the impact losses we've supposedly had that make us worse? Fuller is the only obvious one for me - and if Moreau proves to be the player the Redskins thought he was when he was drafted, we may not remember Fuller's name in a couple of years.

No team is 'better because of the off season acquisitions'. There's only conventional wisdom regarding which teams got 'better' and which got 'worse'. Until live action begins we will have no idea. The Redskins will be significantly improved this year if they manage to have a reasonable degree of health alone. Any upgrades in FA/draft will just be bonuses.


Lets start with the DL...needs a lot of help and a 2nd tier kind of guy like Dontari Poe signed a reasonable contract and would be an upgrade over 70% of our current DL. We may still end up with Hankins, and Vea or Payne, but we are not better along that line when there was a few DL who moved around this off-season we could have gone after.

WR - we had 2 possibilities to upgrade at a major need, instead we go with some unproven 3rd year WR who missed a lot of playing time. We should have signed Robinson, didn't even entertain the idea. His contract was not outrageous and I'd like to think we're a better landing spot than Chicago.

RB - do I really have to say anything? Chris Thompson is the only starting caliber RB we have on this team. The rest are 3rd or 4th string material at best.

LG - There is still talk that Shawn Lavauo will be re-signed. How does that strike you?

C - Spencer Long is no barn buster, but better than anything we have going forward right now.

CB - I am getting a little tired of hearing, "He's a steal if healthy" The one time that actually panned out in our favor, we traded him.

ILB - I like Brown, glad we re-signed him. But that's not an upgrade. Mason Foster? Hopefully the rumoprs about Ryan Anderson moving inside are true, and he lives up to 2nd round pick expectations.

Edit: I hope you all know I do/did not expect us to sign every one of those positions through FA. It's not possible, but we could have filled 2 or 3 of positions of need, especially the 2 biggest glaring needs, WR and DL.
 
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And as Boone said, even if we signed every player some of you guys are pining for, we still wouldn't know if they were good signings until the rubber meets the road.

Tickles me how every move we make is automatically poo-pooed, and every move we don't make is the biggest mistake in franchise history.

(Hyperbolic for emphasis)
 
And as Boone said, even if we signed every player some of you guys are pining for, we still wouldn't know if they were good signings until the rubber meets the road.

Tickles me how every move we make is automatically poo-pooed, and every move we don't make is the biggest mistake in franchise history.

(Hyperbolic for emphasis)

Or lack of moves for proven players.
 
Until he signed with us, Haynesworth had been a proven player.

There's no more guarantee someone you desire would continue to prove themselves, here, as there is to an unproven player not being able to surpass your expectations.
 

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