Here's the two issues I had with the Smith trade.
One, we were trading for a 34 year old quarterback who had just come off the only season of his 13 year career where he was a top 5 rated passer in terms of qb rating. So, we were buying high on an asset that due to father time was guaranteed to be a declining one within a year or two even if he came in and played well.
Two, we gave Alex Smith a rich contract extension despite the fact we didn't know if his 2017 performance in KC with a very talented offense would translate to Washington where the wide receiving corps was rated
[URL=https://www.bgobsession.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=2]#2 9[/URL] in the NFL before the season by Pro Football Focus.
We could have made the trade and had Smith play out the last year of his deal to show us what we could expect to see.
Did it carry some risk?
Yes. But then again, even after coming off a 2017 season where he was rated a top 5 passer, the list of suitors for Smith came down to teams other than the Redskins that were like the Broncos that wanted to trade the salary of a 31 year old Aqib Talib to KC or a Buffalo team that was also dangling a mid-round pick in 2019.
So, the price on Smith for 2019 as a pending free agent if we wanted to keep him was likely not going to be more than what we gifted him in the contract extension in January.
Now, with Smith's health in question the Redskins are likely to do what I thought they should have done in the first place.
Start Colt McCoy as a transitional figure after Kirk left and draft a quarterback for the future.
Unfortunately, 2018 seemed to be the year of the quarterback and 2019 seems to be a class that is not too deep.
But it's a necessary step.
With the salary cap it is no secret teams like the Rams, Chiefs, Eagles, etc. with quarterbacks playing on rookie contracts are at a distinct advantage and able to go out and surround these passers with solid pickups in trades and free agency.
Teams with older quarterbacks that are true franchise performers like Brady, Brees, Roethlisberger, etc. are able to go into the draft and find guys like Antonio Brown, James Conner, Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara OUTSIDE of the first round and bring them in to supplement their stars.
Here in Washington we are caught once again in between - in 'no man's land'.
We are paying Smith $71M in guaranteed money and while that is not the top salary at the position it surely looks to be above what his numbers and overall play in 2018 seem to be worth.
His backup, McCoy, is slated to make $7M in 2019 if he stays.
So, on a cap basis that looks something like $23M and $7M = $30M for the quarterback position.
On a value basis does the 34 year old Smith and 32 year old McCoy make sense for almost $30M in 2019?
The Redskins always seem to get into these situations where they are overpaying players rather than getting them on the cheap.
And in most cases it goes back to the impulsiveness of Allen, Snyder and the front office.
We simply HAD to have RGIII in 2012 so we traded away 4 high picks to get one player. Rash.
With Cousins leaving in free agency, we did the same thing.
Trying to remedy a past failing with a quick fix.
That doesn't work that often unless you are a VERY shrewd personnel manager and in sports like baseball where there is no hard salary cap.
I point to the Steelers.
Le'Veon Bell is one of the best running backs in the NFL. He is sitting out the season and the Steelers basically told him to stay home after Week 8.
Are they crushed? No, because they used a
#3 pick on James Conner who looks like a pro bowl caliber back.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh in letting Martavius Bryant go a year ago didn't panic at the wide receiver position and simply used their
#2 draft pick to take JuJu Smith Shuster, another highly productive player for the Steelers at age 23.
The Steelers just continue drafting. They didn't go out and overpay a free agent. They didn't make an in-season trade for a running back or wide receiver.
New England did the same thing. They lost Nate Solder and Dion Lewis in free agency, guys that helped them win a couple of Super Bowls, and they just drafted replacements.
Belichick will go out and trade for a player or sign a free agent, but it is almost always when HE wants to do so, not because another team has his back up against a wall to make a deal.
If the deal isn't a value trade then he moves on.
The Redskins don't do that.
We gave Paul Richardson $40M based on one season where in a pass happy league he had under 1,000 yards receiving.
Richardson is a one trick pony, a small guy that can go deep but who also gets hurt almost every year.
Compare that to the Steelers and Patriots who also looked to upgrade at wide receiver.
They got Shuster and Josh Gordon.
The Patriots gave up essentially a
#6 pick for Gordon to balance any risk on their end of Gordon failing a drug test.
Both players count for little against these teams' caps and provide a lot more in terms of on the field potential and production.
That's why these teams are going to the playoffs and winning while the Redskins will probably watch the playoffs at home on TV.
Again.
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