The effort to re-sign Fletcher

[Burgundy Burner]

Redskins fans are mobilizing around multiple efforts to get London Fletcher re-signed.

Here is his twitter. Drop a note to him and let London know that we love him in DC and hope he will return.

LFletcher59

http://twitter.com/#!/LFletcher59

 

[Om]

If we were the Steelers, Ravens, Eagles...a couple other long-time successful teams, London would be gone without a second thought. Or at least only be invited back for a short-term, incentive-laden contract. The Skins are still a couple offseasons of smart drafting and grooming from having the luxury of simply cutting ties with long-time fan favorite producers one year early rather than one or more too late.

I'd love to see London back for a bargain contract, but if truth be told, I'd rather see the Redskins find someone on their roster who is 10 years younger for the same price who can be a legit NFL inside 3-4 linebacker. It's time to get the machine up and running.

And maybe invite London to join the coaching staff.

 

[Henry]

Om beat me to it. We need to get younger and Fletcher ... he deserves to finish his career on an established team where he has a chance to win something.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Om beat me to it. We need to get younger and Fletcher ... he deserves to finish his career on an established team where he has a chance to win something.

Well, he already won a Superbowl with the Rams, so I say let him finish his career in the Washington doldrums!

 

[Om]

I think LL needs to get laid.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

I think LL needs to get laid.

Because I want Fletcher to re-sign? Color me confused...

 

[Om]

No, because of the "doldrums" thing you tied it to.

Never mind, bro. No offense, just messin' with ya.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

No, because of the "doldrums" thing you tied it to.

Never mind, bro. No offense, just messin' with ya.

Its not even 9am here, synapses aren't firing at 100% yet. And I don't think it means I need to get laid, I think it means I need a dang superbowl trophy in DC!

 

[Om]

We all do.

Tell you what though....after 20 years of seeing my championship level, flagship franchise Redskins devolve into Suck, largely for lack of a competent NFL quarterback, I'm more than ready to see us return to consistent relevance and playoff contention. As of today I still feel like I'm looking at Super Bowl contention for this team through the wrong side of the binoculars. It's going to take at least 2 years of winning football to reverse that...

One step at at time.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

Not going to apologize for starting this thread. If that is the attitude for Redskins fans, then they deserve a bunch of losers on the roster. FAs and potential draftees lurk in places that we may not realize and when they see an attitude like this on the internet, then we should not be surprised when they would prefer to play elsewhere.

 

[Henry]

I don't think anyone expects an apology BB.

You know what I thought last year watching Fletcher? That poor guy's effort is wasted here. He's at a stage in his career and playing at a level where he should be playing for a ring right now, not stuck on a team in the middle of a youth-revolution.

I don't think anyone here has anything but admiration and gratitude for what Fletcher has done here.

 

[Om]

Not going to apologize for starting this thread. If that is the attitude for Redskins fans, then they deserve a bunch of losers on the roster. FAs and potential draftees lurk in places that we may not realize and when they see an attitude like this on the internet, then we should not be surprised when they would prefer to play elsewhere.

Wow...so where did this come from, brother?

I don't understand the "apology" angle at all....what we've done is take the original thought to its logical next step, i.e., asking if London Fletcher, at this point in his career, is a smart re-sign for the Redskins. And it's not like it's an easy answer question either way since, as far as I know, at this point we have no inkling as to the likely cost.

As to the other things you seem to be suggesting---

1) that anyone who doesn't back the idea of re-signing a 37 year-old ILB, regardless of cost, "deserves a bunch of losers on the roster," and

2) that FA's around the league might choose not to come here because they happened to read some people on a message board questionning whether resigning that 37 year old ILB regardless of cost is not worthy of discussion

... are you serious?

 

[Lanky Livingston]

I don't think anyone expects an apology BB.

You know what I thought last year watching Fletcher? That poor guy's effort is wasted here. He's at a stage in his career and playing at a level where he should be playing for a ring right now, not stuck on a team in the middle of a youth-revolution.

I don't think anyone here has anything but admiration and gratitude for what Fletcher has done here.

The more I think about it, the more I find myself hypocritical. I don't want Peyton here because he's too old for the youth movement, but I want Fletcher back. Quite the conundrum!

 

[CounterTrey]

I can't agree with you at all Om, not this year at least for one very simple reason....there has been zero falloff in his production yet. He just led the league in tackles last year!

I do understand the desperatrion for success though as I'm of course in the same boat with you. I watch the Dan Patrick show on Audience Network everyday and the guy stuck a dagger in my heart yesterday when the Manning discussion was on the table. "Why would Manning want to go to Washington, that's where players go to die".

OUCH. I'm not sure it's true anymore as I honestly believe we've turned the corner with this new FO and Snyder having gone hands off, but it sure was true for a long time. Hell my own kid won't root for them because "they're always losers dad". He was stunned when I told him they won 3 Lombardi's in the glory days. This is why I don't give much of a crap about the future and want them to go for Manning and beef us up for a big run for 2-3 years. If we collapse back again after that I'd take it. We've been "rebuilding" the last 20 years and I'm beyond done waiting patiently for success if there's a possible option to have it right now.

RGIII is no guarantee, Manning if all health progress reports are accurate is going to be close to original form when the season kicks off. That's as close to guaranteed success and franchise QB as we've seen in my lifetime. We haven't had a QB of that caliber since Jurgenson!

 

[Om]

CT, like I said in my first post, I'd love to see London back here.....but not at any cost. Why dont' I turn this around....what would you consider a reasonable contract for the guy? I know he played great last year, and also know he's turning 37 in May.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

It won't take a $25 mil. signing bonus. He's a tackling machine. All I asked for was a campaign to get him re-signed. After another two or so years, he can become a Redskins assistant - but we need to see him on the field now.

 

[Om]

What do you think it will take, BB?

I generally don't sign off on petitions w/o reading the fine print.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

I don't know. Not asking anyone to sign a petition, just send a bit of love via his twitter account. Nothing more, nothing less.

Given how this FO has handled contracts since their arrival, I have no worries about the cap ramifications or over-paying.

 

[CounterTrey]

I'm not a numbers guy Om so I'd have a hard time answering that question without doing some cap research etc. I'd just like to see him get an offer he can live with and return. I doubt he wants to break any banks, just a decent fair market contract. If we need to have a few incentive based escalators in there, fine, but get this guy back, he's our D's QB and still has enough in the tank to lead the league in tackles.

 

[Boone]

CT, like I said in my first post, I'd love to see London back here.....but not at any cost. Why dont' I turn this around....what would you consider a reasonable contract for the guy? I know he played great last year, and also know he's turning 37 in May.

I think Brother Om has it right here - yes, of course we want London back if we can get it done at a reasonable cost. But ultimately teams that are serious about re-building can't afford to let sentimentality drive their decision-making. Look at the Colts - talk about a ballsy decision. Think letting Manning go is popular with fans? Now Fletch is a different scenario, because it probably won't take a king's ransom to re-sign him. But the Redskins need to be smart about it. Father time is going to catch up with London sooner rather than later. I'd like having him on the roster for another seasons or so to mentor his successors (whoever that might be), and think moving into coaching would be a great thing as well.