Stand Pat or Balls to the Wall at Trade Deadline?

[Neophyte]

Interesting numbers:

Sweat - 377 snaps, 6.5 sacks (1 sack every 58 snaps)
Young - 407 snaps, 5 sacks (1 sack every 81.5 snaps)
Toohill - 108 snaps, 4 sacks (1 sack every 27 snaps)

So tell me, who is the impact player again?

 

[Knightingale]

Not advocating, for what it's worth. Just gathering intel.

I think my thinking here was...

Did the new Brain Trust look at the upcoming draft and say to themselves...

"We're not an elite defense with these two, there are options coming up in the draft that we can get over the first few rounds that could help, so let's cut bait on Sweat and Young with an eye to the draft next year."

I'm not thinking we take Edge in the first round or with our first pick, but I wondered how deep a draft it was for Edge players. Hence a replacement would be fairly easy to come by on a rookie contract. Maybe not someone generational (I think we learned out lesson there!) but at least someone who can step in and be a starter in '24

I think when I looked last there seemed to be a fair few OLine players quite high on the draft board, but wasn't sure about Edge.

 

[Chris]

Yep - definitely some smart takes. On firing JDR and/or Rivera, I can’t agree. It might make fans feel good, but what other benefit would it provide? ‘Deserves got nothing to do with it kid’ to quote Clint.

It would inject an element of chaos into the remainder of the year that I can’t see as helpful in any way. And who takes over for the rest of 2023? JDR could if you only go halfway. But if they both go, you cannot promote Bienemy for a lot of reasons.

Firstly, Bienemy has his hands full with the offense with very mixed results. There’s not a lot of evidence he can handle more on his plate.

Why pull EB away from our young QB when arguably his biggest impact on this 2023 team is going to come from how far along he can bring Sam Howell entering the 2024 season?

It would be dysfunctional - a Snyder-like move - because it would put tremendous pressure on the next GM to ‘give Bienemy a chance’ when that might end up being a horrible call and it certainly isn’t the way to start out with a new GM.

And it would be patently unfair to Bienemy himself to thrust him into a role under bad circumstances with no off-season to build a supporting cast and plan.

And if not JDR or EB, who?

As far as it giving you ‘a head start’, I don’t follow the logic - a head start to what?

A full blow up is coming next January. All we can do is ride this out until then and rebuild this organization the right way.

I agree wholeheartedly that no coaching changes should be made this season. Let the new anointed leaders, whoever they are, start fresh in the new year.

I must admit that I loved the phrasing about ‘Rivera and the Harris group are not on the same page but that Rivera is not even reading the same book’.

Ron’s presser today should be a fun one. 🤣

 

[burgold]

There's really only one reason I can think of for an in-season firing and that's if you are really serious about considering Bienemy for the job. If you are this gives the owners hands-on data about what he would do and how he would operate.

 

[Boone]

‘Uhh uhh I think we made the decisions that are felt to be in the best interests of the organization, I really do’

 

[Om]

On local sports radio yesterday I heard one of the hosts ask the other people on the show to do their impressions of Ron answering the first question about Chase being traded. One guy did a so-so impression "best interests ... really do ...", etc.

The other guy said, "He's been traded?"

 

[DixieFlatline]

I imagine a few of you have seen this. Go figure when you didn't have the big front 4, you did other things to get pressure.

 

[Chris]

On Keim’s podcast last night he was pretty frank with what he shared about Young.

1. That the team has been interested in getting him out the door since summer and were actively interested to listening to offers all along. Crickets from other teams.

2. At the deadline they were looking for the best they could get. SF’s was it. They would have taken less if necessary.

3. Rivera’s ‘Do Your Job’ messaging was largely aimed at Chase specifically.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I imagine a few of you have seen this. Go figure when you didn't have the big front 4, you did other things to get pressure.

So the coaches actually coached when those guys were out. Amazing isn’t it. That has been on of my biggest pet peeves since the start of 2021. Del Rio just assumed he could rush 4 on most plays and it would work. The D line was stuck in perpetual preseason mode. Just beat your man. Well, the offensive coaches on the other side of the ball get paid too. And most of them figured out how to beat a predictable defense.

 

[Chris]

On local sports radio yesterday I heard one of the hosts ask the other people on the show to do their impressions of Ron answering the first question about Chase being traded. One guy did a so-so impression "best interests ... really do ...", etc.

The other guy said, "He's been traded?"

Hey Ron- What did you have for breakfast this morning?

Ron- I really like the young quarterback.

 

[Bulldog]

What Josh Harris is thinking watching the losses to Chicago and Philly:

"At 3-5 and with the Eagles and Dallas in the division we are not competing for anything realistically reachable in 2023 so let's start the rebuild now instead of waiting for the offseason. It's clear Ron is taking the club to another Jekyll and Hyde 7-9 type finish and there is no reason to carry Young and Sweat only to lose them and have to wait a year for a comp pick or two."

My guess is that Harris has a 'shadow' GM or NFL consultant, well-respected in league circles, who his helping Josh behind the scenes to chart a course for the future of the club. He will come out of the shadows when Ron and Co. are fired.

That NFL personnel guy has looked at this team and given up on it based on the current coaching staff and roster management.

That probably synched with what Harris was seeing on Sunday and so you have the two trades.

But that's just the beginning. By getting a #3 pick for Chase Young now instead of waiting for a comp pick from the league, Washington can use the entire $92M in cap space to improve the club in the offseason and already have those pick(s) in house.

 

[DixieFlatline]

What Josh Harris is thinking watching the losses to Chicago and Philly:

"At 3-5 and with the Eagles and Dallas in the division we are not competing for anything realistically reachable in 2023 so let's start the rebuild now instead of waiting for the offseason. It's clear Ron is taking the club to another Jekyll and Hyde 7-9 type finish and there is no reason to carry Young and Sweat only to lose them and have to wait a year for a comp pick or two."

My guess is that Harris has a 'shadow' GM or NFL consultant, well-respected in league circles, who his helping Josh behind the scenes to chart a course for the future of the club. He will come out of the shadows when Ron and Co. are fired.

That NFL personnel guy has looked at this team and given up on it based on the current coaching staff and roster management.

That probably synched with what Harris was seeing on Sunday and so you have the two trades.

But that's just the beginning. By getting a #3 pick for Chase Young now instead of waiting for a comp pick from the league, Washington can use the entire $92M in cap space to improve the club in the offseason and already have those pick(s) in house.

That's likely a good thought. Hopefully he's doing something like that. It makes me wish this was a Madden game. I'd simulate the rest of the season so I can start the firing and get new people in the house.

 

[Boone]

What Josh Harris is thinking watching the losses to Chicago and Philly:

"At 3-5 and with the Eagles and Dallas in the division we are not competing for anything realistically reachable in 2023 so let's start the rebuild now instead of waiting for the offseason. It's clear Ron is taking the club to another Jekyll and Hyde 7-9 type finish and there is no reason to carry Young and Sweat only to lose them and have to wait a year for a comp pick or two."

My guess is that Harris has a 'shadow' GM or NFL consultant, well-respected in league circles, who his helping Josh behind the scenes to chart a course for the future of the club. He will come out of the shadows when Ron and Co. are fired.

That NFL personnel guy has looked at this team and given up on it based on the current coaching staff and roster management.

That probably synched with what Harris was seeing on Sunday and so you have the two trades.

But that's just the beginning. By getting a #3 pick for Chase Young now instead of waiting for a comp pick from the league, Washington can use the entire $92M in cap space to improve the club in the offseason and already have those pick(s) in house.

And we already know Eugene Shen was involved in the decisions this week. Guarantee you he provided analytics on likelihood of getting to the playoffs with the remaining schedule this year, on top of risks/benefits of the trade scenarios.

 

[DixieFlatline]

But that's just the beginning. By getting a #3 pick for Chase Young now instead of waiting for a comp pick from the league, Washington can use the entire $92M in cap space to improve the club in the offseason and already have those pick(s) in house.

Could this include signing Sweat as a FA to get him back in the house?

 

[Boone]

Could this include signing Sweat as a FA to get him back in the house?

That would be something, wouldn’t it?

 

[burgold]

Could this include signing Sweat as a FA to get him back in the house?

I can imagine us kicking the tires. My guess is Sweat will want too much, but I wouldn't mind asking... though it might make the "rebuild" feel less real.

 

[Bulldog]

I think it all depends upon the new Head Coach and GM.

Are we going to hire a name GM who then hires a younger head coach?

Are we going to hire a younger GM who comes from the personnel director ranks and get a veteran Head Coach who has 'been there before'?

My guess would be that Washington uses #2 and/or #3 draft picks on a DE/edge rusher and may reach into free agency for a proven veteran.

The biggest signings and our #1 pick, unless we are moving up for a quarterback, would seem to be targeted towards the offensive line and the cornerback position - both position groups are among the worst in the NFC.

I think we have seen enough of Nick Gates and Saadiq Charles.