Burner's Burning Questions: Free Agency, The Mock Drafts, 2016 (Continual Updates)

Matt Forte anyone?

Washington Redskins

In some ways he's a fit for the Redskins because he has a lot of what they want: a running back who can be a threat as a runner or receiver. But he's also 30 years old and that would be a sticking point. Now, though, they don't plan to re-sign Alfred Morris. Even if he somehow returned because other teams weren't willing to sign him, the Redskins want more from the position. Forte could give the Redskins' running game a boost in case Matt Jones can't handle the full-time load. They would prefer a younger player here, so the hesitation absolutely comes from his age and his potential price tag. But he'd be a good fit for most teams. -- John Keim

I'd prefer Lamar Miller mainly due to his age, but Forte could be a possibility as far as FAs go.
 
Some end of the week updates.

It's looking more like Jason Hatcher will retire or be cut.

Dashon Goldson looks like he may take a restructured contract - a very team friendly deal.

The chances of Terrance Knighton returning have increased just a tad. BBQ puts the situation at neutral or unknown.

There is no chance that Alfred Morris returns. The team is likely ditching the zone blocking/running scheme to more of a power blocking/running offense. Passing game should remain the same. Therefore, the chances of Morris returning are way less than one percent.

It looks as if the Redskins may have a very strong interest in Lamar Miller at running back.

All of these changes will be reflected in a BBQ free agency update early next week. New changes, should they become known, will be updated as well.
 
Here's a list of all the top FAs at each position, as ranked by rotoworld.

Obviously, many will stay with their current teams. Von Miller isn't leaving Denver, nor will Josh Norman leave the Panthers. But it's a pretty complete picture of the players that teams will be trying to sign.

Also, reports out of Tampa are that Doug Martin wants to test the waters. The more RBs, the better. That will hopefully keep the prices down a little on the group as a whole if McLovin wants to go that route.

2016 NFL Free Agents - Free Agency Update - Rotoworld.com
 
Have no idea about the FA rb's and who we should target. I know the sommonabitch better be able to block....CP style.
 
Mike, no one here likes seeing Alfred Morris in this situation. He's a great teammate and his character is what we all like in a player. However, we must recognize that it truly is time for a change. Also, no one is recommending Forte in lieu of what will happen in the coming weeks.

I stated yesterday that the Redskins appear not to be interested Forte. The only media member who suggested that the Redskins could take a look see was Keim. Could it happen? Maybe, but I seriously doubt it.

The Redskins are likely going to a power scheme starting next season and understandably so. The zone blocking scheme will be history and only one player on the OL fits that system - Lichtensteiger.

Major changes are coming at C (in FA or the draft) and possibly LG. The running backs will need to be a fit in the power scheme. It's not a fit for Alfred. It's a fit for Matt Jones. It's a fit on passing downs for Chris Thompson.

Is it a fit for Silas Redd? No. He is geared to zone blocking systems. So yes, we will likely add two and possibly three RBs in FA and the draft.

BBQ is void of emotions in these offseason blogs and looks at situations with an objective point of view. I'm going to be honest and forthright about FA and the draft. That's my job here and I take it seriously as it benefits the membership. I'd rather be honest and get it right. Emotions do not factor into any of these blog entires. Well, a measured sense of excitement or frustration can occur, but that goes without saying.

Trust in Scot and his scouting team. We no longer have Vinny and Dan running the football show. That's a good thing.
 
This is a rare Saturday update for you.

Here are some changes and these will be reflected in the upcoming blog entry early next week.

Perry Riley could stay and is a possible candidate for restructuring.

The team is leaning toward keeping Jeron Johnson.

BBQ believes that the potential FA guards that we had listed are now out of the picture. It will likely be addressed in the draft and in-house.

Update coming next week.
 
MikeSr619 said:
You want to dump Morris because he is getting old and broken down...but want to sign Forte who missed 3 games, had under 1000 yards, and is going to command big dollar from whomever he signs with?
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Who said anything about Morris being old or broken down? I don't think he's either. He's just not a fit for this scheme, and keeping him wouldn't help him or us.

Forte is too old for my liking.

I'm much more interested in a guy like Lamar Miller--much faster, younger and better hands than Morris. His cost might also be fairly reasonable. I think he's the guy Scot would kill for.

And we might be able to get him if Doug Martin comes out. But that's a big if.

Taking a RB in FA would also allow Scot to use the saved draft pick on a good Center or DB. The only question will be to see how many teams go after him. I imagine Dallas also wants him badly.
 
Well, as I've said before. Until they prove otherwise, I have little reason to believe this offensive staff would know how to use Jim Brown.
 
I wanted to trade both Morris and RG3 prior to last season because it was obvious that the chances of either being back were 1 in 500 million.

Morris would never fit in this scheme and cheaper options would be available in the draft, and Scot would never build around RG3 for the next four years due to injury concerns.

Once that became very clear, for any team looking past just the next twelve months, the obvious course of action was to trade both immediately. Both were going to walk at the end of the season, and two 4th? round draft picks would be better than where we are right now.

As for Forte, no one doubts that he'd be great in Washington.

Mark Bullock ‏@MarkBullockNFL · 22h22 hours ago

Forte would be a terrific fit for what the #Redskins want in a running back, but money/age the issue.

John Keim ‏@john_keim · 3h3 hours ago

Matt Forte could help Redskins, but age, money remain concerns Matt Forte could help Washington Redskins, but age, money are concerns - Washington Redskins Blog- ESPN

49. Name a few great fits for Matt Forte.

My top five: the Patriots, Packers, Seahawks, Redskins and Raiders. He brings value to all five offenses as a No. 2 back. He could go play for a ring in New England, Green Bay or Seattle. And he's an ideal fit for the schemes in Washington and Oakland. -- Matt Bowen

But Forte is too old. Would he be great for one year? Probably. I'd be much more interested in 3 or 4 years from Lamar Miller or Doug Martin.

That's if we even sign another top RB. Based upon where we drafted him, Scot very likely feels that Matt Jones is the future here. I doubt that he's ready to just write him off.

Jones may be our Devonta Freeman next year.
 
McD5 said:
I wanted to trade both Morris and RG3 prior to last season because it was obvious that the chances of either being back were 1 in 500 million.

Morris would never fit in this scheme and cheaper options would be available in the draft, and Scot would never build around RG3 for the next four years due to injury concerns.

Once that became very clear, for any team looking past just the next twelve months, the obvious course of action was to trade both immediately. Both were going to walk at the end of the season, and two 4th? round draft picks would be better than where we are right now.
Click to expand...

Would it? Griffin is an easy call in retrospect, but what if Kirk had sucked? We'd have been stuck with Colt and whatever Scot could have gotten off the scrap heap. Not great.

I've said it before, and apparently I'll keep saying it for a while. I personally don't think we make the playoffs without Morris this year. Despite Gruden's lack of ability or desire to use Morris correctly, he was easily our best performing RB this year, and he succeeded in taking a lot of pressure off Kirk. I'm not sure Kirk develops as well without Morris and I am certain we don't make the playoffs without him.

So if you really want to trade the playoff trip for a 4th rounder, I guess you could argue that.

I just think that argument is stupid.
 
Goaldeje said:
Would it? Griffin is an easy call in retrospect, but what if Kirk had sucked? We'd have been stuck with Colt and whatever Scot could have gotten off the scrap heap. Not great.

I've said it before, and apparently I'll keep saying it for a while. I personally don't think we make the playoffs without Morris this year. Despite Gruden's lack of ability or desire to use Morris correctly, he was easily our best performing RB this year, and he succeeded in taking a lot of pressure off Kirk. I'm not sure Kirk develops as well without Morris and I am certain we don't make the playoffs without him.

So if you really want to trade the playoff trip for a 4th rounder, I guess you could argue that.

I just think that argument is stupid.
Click to expand...

That's the beauty of this site. Everyone can respectfully express his/her opinion. And not that mine means anything, because Scot makes the calls, but here's how I see it.

It's just a matter of what time frame you care about. I think Shanahan was incredibly "stupid" when he chose one playoff run with RG3 instead of looking at the future of the team for the next five years.

Do you value one playoff run more, or are the next two to six seasons more important? It seems like a pretty easy decision to me.

By wanting to keep Alfred--a guy who was very unlikely to return next season due to cost and scheme--you were focused mainly on one season. I was considering the bigger picture.

If you believe the team should be built around the draft, and that we need five or six core guys to build around for the next five years, I believe both Alfred and RG3 should have been traded.

Two extra 4th? round picks right now could both be used to finally complete the O-line. Or they could be used to fix that defense. Or how about another young receiver to replace Garcon or Jackson in the future? Scot found Crowder in the fourth round.

But instead of all of that potential for the next five years, we got that incredibly important one final year out of RG3 and Morris.

It was a rebuild. Get rid of the guys that won't be on the team a year later. Load up on draft picks. And get multiple young guys who can grow together over the next five years.
 
Yeah. Again, I'm not sure Cousins has the season of growth he had with only a fumble prone rookie and journeymen in the backfield. If Morris isn't there to alleviate some pressure, Cousins might have folded, we don't make the playoffs run and who knows if Gruden survives.

You are welcome to play the what if game about a fourth round pick. I would think your coach's job security and playoff experience would be worth more than a 4th round pick, but what do I know.

Sent from my XT1526 using Tapatalk
 
Goaldeje said:
If Morris isn't there to alleviate some pressure, Cousins might have folded, we don't make the playoffs run and who knows if Gruden survives.
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I don't see how Morris alleviated much pressure off of Cousins. Fact is, he was a below-average back in 2015, so he certainly did not save Cousins' or Gruden's job.
I actually see it the opposite - that Cousins' 2015 performance was that much more impressive, considering such a weak overall running game we had.
If Morris wasn't here, we literally could have gotten someone off the street, to equal or exceed his 2015 output, especially at that position.

This isn't a knock on Morris' talent or character. But no-one can look at his 2015 season, and truthfully deny he was a below-average back. And not just by Morris' past standards. But by overall NFL standards, he was hardly average - for whatever reason.
What's very concerning is, he has declined in his production, literally each and every year, since his rookie season.
 
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Fear, if you could take Morris out and replace him with an average NFL back, I would agree with your assessment. But the fact is that Gruden wanted Jones in Morris's role from game 2 on it appears, yet Jones was unable to unseat a below average RB. Not a great assessment of Jones, and not a great assessment of Gruden.

In the beginning of the year, teams were stacking the LOS to stop Morris, daring us to beat them with Kirk, which he was unable to do consistently until the around the Bucs game. We did win a couple of games before that, despite the fact that Kirk was inconsistent and Morris was not great. If teams had to gameplan for Jones, a fumble-prone, unproven rookie, instead of Morris, we've just made their job a hell of a lot easier. Teams might have backed off the LOS a little more to force the fumbler to beat them, which he was unlikely to do. That would have put more pressure on Kirk earlier in the season, and I have no clue how we would have handled that. Throwing into a defense designed to stop the run game is a lot easier than throwing into a D designed to stop the passing game.

Obviously, this is all unprovable, and probably not worthy of this level of discussion. But I'm not sure Kirk takes that giant step forward without Morris there to keep the defenses honest. And there were already rumors swirling around about Gruden's job security before the Bucs game - Code Red, right? If we had fewer wins up to that point, who knows what would have happened. All I'm saying is that I suspect Alfred helped us more than our coaching staff wants to admit last year.

As to McD's point about not caring about playoff appearances - poppycock. We are the Redskins. We have sucked by and large for 20+ years now. Take a Goddamned playoff appearance EVERY time and don't think twice about it. Sure, maybe we would have drafted a 15 year all pro player with that hypothetical 4th rounder. Or maybe we would have drafted a complete bust who was cut during training camp. More likely, someone in the middle. From a fan's POV, I'll take the playoff appearance every time - at least until we're the Colts and the Pats and in the playoffs every year for 15 years straight or whatever. Regardless, playoff seasoning is valuable and shouldn't be so lightly disregarded. Some people were saying (myself included) that some of our early season losses last year were "good" losses because they would teach us to win later - which I think paid off later in the season. The same can certainly be said for a playoff loss.
 
Fear The Spear said:
I don't see how Morris alleviated much pressure off of Cousins. Fact is, he was a below-average back in 2015, so he certainly did not save Cousins' or Gruden's job.
I actually see it the opposite - that Cousins' 2015 performance was that much more impressive, considering such a weak overall running game we had.
If Morris wasn't here, we literally could have gotten someone off the street, to equal or exceed his 2015 output, especially at that position.

This isn't a knock on Morris' talent or character. But no-one can look at his 2015 season, and truthfully deny he was a below-average back. And not just by Morris' past standards. But by overall NFL standards, he was hardly average - for whatever reason.
What's very concerning is, he has declined in his production, literally each and every year, since his rookie season.
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Again, there is no way a coach goes into the season thinking "Well, I'm going to have a crappy run game so I might as well get rid of my best running back."

Especially if that coach is breaking in a new quarterback ... double-secret-especially if that coach is staking his entire career on developing that quarterback REAL quickly against the wishes of the owner. You better believe that coach is going to keep every single offensive weapon he can to protect that QB and help him not totally suck. And guess what? That's exactly what happened. Morris and Jones shouldered the load until Cousins found his game. Could we have done it without Morris? Personally I don't think so. Jones clearly couldn't do it himself, and I don't think trying to get opposing defenses to game plan for and key on a collection of rookies and re-treads would have been a realistic plan in any sense of the imagination.

Fortunately for Gruden, Cousins figured things out quite literally just in time. Had it taken one or two more games, or even one or two more drives, we'd be having a very different conversation right now.

If someone wants to suggest we should have traded Griffin, well, yeah. Gruden was clearly never going to support the guy so we may as well have tried to unload him. Who knows, maybe we did. But in the end we can throw that on the pile of steaming crap that was the Robert Griffin the Third Experience from the moment Ngata landed on him in 2012. Not getting a late-round pick for the guy is, to be honest, WAY down on the list of incredibly stupid things this team has done regarding that kid.
 
And no thanks on Forte. Not unless we think Jones is a bust because they'd fill the same role. I'm not a huge fan of replacing young with old.

Miller I suppose I could live with, if we are seriously going to just half-ass our running game like this forever. He's a solid half-a-running-back. Hopefully he only wants half a salary.

However, if Jones isn't The Guy I'd just as soon try and find his replacement in the draft.
 
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I gotta be honest, the mere fact that Forte's name is being bandied about suggests some may not have truly learned the woes of this team over the course of the Snyder reign...aging vets and all.

The draft is where you find your RB. We found one in the 6th round 4 years ago, we can find one with a much better group of talent evaluators on staff. And as much as Goal seems to have written the book on Jones, the kid is more talented than many RB's we've seen in DC in a long time. He has his fumbling issues, but if you guys remember Morris' first season, he had a few fumbles that made many wonder. He had 4 fumbles his rookie year and 5 his 2nd year. Jones had 5 his rookie year...not much difference. The fumble issue can be fixed. What concerns me more is what the real issue was going down the stretch that kept Jones off the field. Was it injury? Word around DC was there was more to it...maturity issues. I don't know, but that concerns me more than a few fumbles...that aspect of a RB's game can be fixed.
 
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