We've had lots of them, just not in recent memory
And McNabb was incredibly cheap by former Pro Bowl QB standards. I didn't love the move at the time, so I hear you on giving up any picks. But getting a starting quality (love his play this year or not, he is that) QB for what we paid for him - I think it's hard to argue we paid a whole lot.
I very respectfully disagree with you here. I think we paid entirely too much for McNabb. We're currently in the process of overhauling both our offense and our defense, and who knows, maybe long snapper, punter and kicker... Although it's too early to make that call.
Giving up two draft picks to pick up McNabb was a major miscalculation. McNabb is not the type of QB who is going to put a bad team on his back and carry them anywhere (heck, not many quarterbacks are). By the time we have put pieces in place to make our offense, defense and special teams quality units, McNabb will be on the back end of his deal, assuming he stays that long. At that point, his skills will be even further diminished.
Defensively our needs are vast if we stick to the 3-4:
Defensive End (4-5) - We have two guys who are okay, Golston and Carriker. Golston is in a contract year and I doubt he reups. But, he may. The rest of the defensive ends are too old at this point, which is shame because I love me some Phillip Daniels.
Nose Tackle (1-2) - If we want to keep Kemo as depth, with the thought process that he'll be much better next year due to recovering from his injury, than I'm all for it. But he cannot be our starter while running the 3-4.
Inside Linebacker: (2) London Fletcher, for the time being, is fine. He's getting older and will need to be replaced soon, but he's still a quality player. Rocky McIntosh will probably not be resigned and he hasn't had a great season anyways. Perry Riley is a major question mark and HB Blades has shown that he doesn't at all fit in the 3-4 defense. We need another starting caliber inside backer. Perhaps Lorenzo Alexander can move to the inside role as depth? If so, the need may drop to one.
Outside Linebacker (3): Brian Orakpo is a decent linebacker and a very good pass rusher. He still has time to grow. We have NOTHING else at the outside linebacker position. Literally.
Cornerbacks (2-3): If Carlos Rogers and Phillip Buchanon aren't resigned we're left with DeAngelo Hall, Kevin Barnes and Byron Westbrook. We'll need two more corners, one of which needs to be starting caliber. If Rogers resigns (I doubt it, but, I've been wrong on that front before) we need one nickel corner. I don't see us resigning Buchanon.
Free Safety (1): Kareem Moore is a backup quality player at best.
Strong Safety (1): No back up quality players besides Doughty. I'd say Horton fits, but the coaching staff seemed pretty sour on him, but that can change.
Offensively we have the following needs:
Guards (2): We need two guards, preferably of starting quality. We could manage for a season with just one starter and a better backup player. I didn't forget about Mike Williams, but blood clots are a possible career ending injury. We must plan for the worst there.
Center (1): Rabach must go. Cook or Montgomery can play the backup role.
Tackle (1-2): If we keep Jammal Brown we can sign one or two guys for depth purposes.
Wide Receiver (1-2): I'd say Armstrong has solidified a spot. I don't know that Santana Moss is going to be back in a Redskin uniform next year, though. That leaves us with a corps. of Armstrong, Williams, Kelly, Austin, Banks, Johnson. Of that group, I'd say you'll see Austin on the team in some capacity and Kelly, if he's healthy, as well. Brandon Banks will be on the team almost definitely, but may not play a huge role as a receiver. I'm comfortable with Armstrong in the slot more than anything else. If Kelly can emerge as a number 2, and that's a big "if" we still would need a number one receiver. And those don't grow on trees
Quarterback (1): McNabb, Grossman and Beck are not the answer. This need may not be filled this year.
Running back (1): We need a third guy. I don't know who the first two will be. It can almost be any combination of Portis, Williams, Davis, and Torain. I'm guessing Portis is gone, unfortunately. If we go into next season with Williams, Davis and Torain we better have a very good offensive line in front of them. This may be the best strategy going into next season. Torain's injury history scares me. This is going to be a running back by committee if those are our three.
We have a ton of holes, McNabb is not going to lead this team to the promised land by himself. He's not a bad quarterback, but he's certainly not the same as he was in Philadelphia, either. You can say he doesn't have the pieces and I agree... Which is why we never should have traded for him. We could have stunk with Grossman at QB. We still could have received picks for Campbell and went in with Grossman and kept those two picks. They could have helped our rebuilding process tremendously.
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