Catching Up With Pete Kendall; Could He Be Back?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/-after-watching-several-offens.html#more

After watching several offensive linemen struggle early in camp, I figured it was time to track down veteran guard Pete Kendall.

Kendall, the Redskins' starting left guard the past two seasons, was not re-signed and the team brought back Derrick Dockery to fill Kendall's former spot alongside Pro Bowl left tackle Chris Samuels. The Redskins turned away from Kendall, 36, as part of their mini-shakeup along the line after quarterback Jason Campbell was sacked 38 times last season, the league's fourth-highest total.

So with that backdrop, I left a voice message on Kendall's phone and hoped he would hit me back. He just did, and we talked about his situation and the Redskins' offensive line play in camp.

Kendall is among the smartest athletes I've covered regardless of sport; the guy just gets it. With some guys, I would have had to explain why I called. Not with Kendall, so we just got right into the matter at hand.

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Not a future move clearly, but would give us good depth. What does the free agent market for OL look like next year?

I really like Kendall, and I think they should have brought him back before minicamp and OTAs. And maybe I'm alone on this one: they shouldn't have released Jansen, either. I have a hard time believing that there is more trust in guys that haven't played for two or three years (or some other as of yet unsigned player) than in a guy who has been on the team for ten years.

The coaching staff/front office seems to be putting a lot of faith in a bunch of young, unproven guys to play if one or more of the starters are injured (but what are the chances of that, right?).

Well, it's their butts on the line. (No pun intended.)

My guess is he will be back. May take him couple weeks to get in football shape, but time missed will be easy on his knees. Just think Thomas isn't going to make an entire year. Kendall could fit in while Rinehart gets up to speed.

Sassy Gretsch said:

I really like Kendall, and I think they should have brought him back before minicamp and OTAs. And maybe I'm alone on this one: they shouldn't have released Jansen, either. I have a hard time believing that there is more trust in guys that haven't played for two or three years (or some other as of yet unsigned player) than in a guy who has been on the team for ten years.

The coaching staff/front office seems to be putting a lot of faith in a bunch of young, unproven guys to play if one or more of the starters are injured (but what are the chances of that, right?).

Well, it's their butts on the line. (No pun intended.)

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The problem is, if we kept Jansen, we wouldn't move forward. Sometimes you have to take a chance on the young guys. One of the most aggravating things Norv use to do is continually develop a player, never playing them, and then lose them to another team. Look at Horton last season, we were forced, for what it's worth, to put him on the field, and he did far better then anybody expected. My favorite was Thrash. He never hit the field till the receiver corps was decimated, and BAM..... his quality was evident. To the point we stupidly lost him to Philly, and got him back for a second run in which he has been nothing but a pleasure to have on the team.

We've had a habit of holding on to players long past their prime. As it was said in Risky Business, sometimes you just have to say what the hell..............

It doesn't matter how much you like Jansen's experience, leadership, etc...if the guy can't stay healthy enough to be on the field consistently - something's gotta give. There was certainly no reason to think he was going to become more durable with another birthday And when it comes to young players, what are we so afraid of - seriously, Jansen has gotten blown up or blasted by so many times in recent memory, it's not like we're risking a lot by giving youth a chance. I'd feel better about it if we'd used some higher draft picks to draft some true heir-apparents on the OL, rather than hoping someone just emerges, but I really think it's hard to argue letting Jansen go represented a loss. There are only 53 roster spots - we all tend to forget that. That means, inherently, you've got to make tough decisions, and at some junctures, your best guess at where you are most vulnerable. Sometimes those decisions work out, sometimes, they blow up in your face.

Boone said:

It doesn't matter how much you like Jansen's experience, leadership, etc...if the guy can't stay healthy enough to be on the field consistently - something's gotta give. There was certainly no reason to think he was going to become more durable with another birthday And when it comes to young players, what are we so afraid of - seriously, Jansen has gotten blown up or blasted by so many times in recent memory, it's not like we're risking a lot by giving youth a chance. I'd feel better about it if we'd used some higher draft picks to draft some true heir-apparents on the OL, rather than hoping someone just emerges, but I really think it's hard to argue letting Jansen go represented a loss. There are only 53 roster spots - we all tend to forget that. That means, inherently, you've got to make tough decisions, and at some junctures, your best guess at where you are most vulnerable. Sometimes those decisions work out, sometimes, they blow up in your face.

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Agreed. Jansen's leadership and ties to the Redskins was never the issue it was his downgrade in play. As many nagging injuries as we have on the Line and clearly will likely have throughout the season, adding Pete Kendall will give us good veteran depth that can step in and with Kendall not playing every game, his freshness will be apparent as well.

Kendall was a free agent and indicated at the end of last season that he didn't want to resign with Washington to come back as a backup until/unless he looked around for a chance to start elsewhere and it didn't materialize.

Well, after sitting home for several months at age 36 I think Kendall is now ready to be more reasonable about his options.

I have no problem with the Redskins resigning Kendall to be a backup OG. He can also swing and play OC in a pinch in case Rabach goes down.

So, he can be a valuable player here. He can still play the game, just not 50 snaps a week over 16 weeks.

Jansen is in a totally different situation. He simply can't field his position anymore, to use baseball parlance. As a career OT, he looked dreadful trying to move to OG and then get snaps as a backup OC, so Zorn went to the front office and recommended releasing him.

As events have proven Jon didn't find a job with a contender. He didn't find a job with another 8-8 crew like the Redskins.

He found a job with the 0-16 Lions who are literally starting over from scratch.