So everybody wants "weapons." Well here's how we're gonna get 'em. Rather than having to pay Jake Long, we have Jonathan Martin, acquired during the 2012 offseason. Ditto for Sean Smith and Richard Marshall. Olivier Vernon allows Jared Odrick to move inside and play DT for far less than you'd pay Randy Starks, rotating with Kheeston Randall, a surprisingly good 7th-round pick who makes peanuts. Lamar Miller allows Reggie Bush to either walk or be paid far less to come back in a more limited role. He also keeps you from having to pay a higher-priced free agent running back. Vontae Davis and Brandon Marshall net us 2nd- and 3rd-round picks that can be used to move back into the 1st to get an immediate starter. 2012 was not going to be a successful regular season with a raw, rookie quarterback starting. However, IMO the team has been positioned to make a tremendous jump in performance in 2013 via a deft set of personnel moves that will allow it to improve significantly in many areas. These players will be gone IMO: Sean Smith Randy Starks Jake Long Reggie Bush (or he will return in a more limited role, with a commensurate salary) The salary cap savings on them will net us the following IMO: A starting wide receiver such as Greg Jennings The re-signing of Brian Hartline, who IMO is an integral piece of the puzzle moving forward A starting guard who fits the offensive system, such as Andy Levitre A starting, pass-catching tight end with speed, such as Jared Cook or Dustin Keller And how does that look with let's say a first round draft of Cordarelle Patterson at #12, and the trading of the picks obtained for Vontae Davis and Brandon Marshall to move back into the 1st to get Tyler Eifert. So, the personnel moves involving Jonathan Martin, Olivier Vernon, Lamar Miller, Kheeston Randall, Richard Marshall, Vontae Davis, and Brandon Marshall could possibly be responsible for the following "weapons" for Ryan Tannehill in 2013, for example: QB: Ryan Tannehill RB: Lamar Miller RB: Reggie Bush (with a more limited role and a commensurate salary) TE: Tyler Eifert TE: Jared Cook or Dustin Keller WR: Greg Jennings WR: Cordarelle Patterson WR: Brian Hartline WR: Davone Bess Now how do things look? Without the 2012 offseason, Jake Long, Sean Smith, and Randy Starks have to be re-signed just to stay afloat at those positions, Reggie Bush or another running back has to be paid more than Lamar Miller, and Ryan Tannehill's "weapons" in 2013 look like this: QB: Ryan Tannehill RB: Reggie Bush (or a free agent who makes much more than Lamar Miller and limits your personnel flexibility elsewhere under the cap) TE: Anthony Fasano WR: Brian Hartline WR: Davone Bess WR: Cordarelle Patterson (or another 1st-round WR) Slight difference, eh? This is what we can see when we peer behind the scenes a bit on the 2012 offseason.
Do we let Fasano go too? What about Clay, Egnew? I'm all for adding talent at TE, but do we give up on these guys or keep them around hoping they can contribute and have them all rotate?
A lot of good thoughts in your post. I'm still not sold that we have a stable of RB's that can consistently run the ball. Miller has shown some flashes but I'm not sold on Thomas yet. I like Hartline and think we should resign him for the right price. He has great chemistry with RTH and I think once he moves into a #2 role, he could be flat out dangerous with the improvements he's made in route running. I'd like to see 2-4 players added at the WR/TE group. I'd be surprised if Ireland shells out money for both a TE and WR in FA. He doesn't believe in building through FA. With the rumors swirling about Fasano being gone, I'd like to see us spend a 2nd or 3rd round pick on a TE. Completely agree about letting Starks walk(although I really appreciate what he did this year) and letting Odrick move to DT with Vernon at DE. I don't think Odrick can be a good or great DE but has a chance at DT. I'm not sure what Smith is expecting but if he's expecting top CB money then he is off his rocker. He is not a playmaker. End of story. I'd hate to create another hole but as a GM I'm never willing to overpay and get poor value from a player. I really struggle with Jake Long. He's been a very good Dolphin. He struggled adjusting to zone blocking this year and has been plagued with injuries. I love his toughness, work ethic and leadership. For $7-$9 million, I'd resign him with some incentives on playing healthy. At $10+, I let him walk. Assuming Starks, Bush, Smith and Long walk, that means we need to address these positions in FA and the draft: OT, OG, WR, TE, WR, CB, CB, FS, DE/OLB and RB. I'm not sure what this team does next year but I am excited about the direction of our franchise for once. We have the 2nd youngest team in the NFL, have a QB who has shown potential of being a franchise QB and have several pieces to build around(Wake, Soliai, Dansby, Jones, Pouncey, Hartline, Bess and RTH). If RTH, Martin, Miller and Vernon can continue to develop, we are in very good shape.
Richard Marshall was supposed to be the adequate replacement for Vontae Davis. That's certainly debatable whether or not he is or isn't adequate replacement. What isn't debatable is that he cannot be the replacement for both Vontae Davis and Sean Smith. You can't get rid of Sean Smith without creating another hole. Ireland can't afford to lose Smith, IMO. Not so sure I'm ready to say Jonathan Martin is an adequate replacement for Jake Long, but that's also debatable. While I love Reggie Bush, I tend to agree with you there. The position he plays, along with inconsistent production this season makes him easily replaceable.
Was Marshall supposed to the the "replacement" for Vontae? I don't think he was. He was brought in to be the nickel back well before Vontae was traded.
Same. he's still young too. too much upside to just let him go. Solia and wake both took reasonable deals, im hoping the same for starks. Vernon is not ready to start. kid made a few nice plays mid season and not much else.
I have to believe, as has been stated by plenty on this board, that one of the biggest reasons VD was traded is that Richard Marshall was deemed an acceptable replacement by Ireland (and perhaps also Philbin). Anyway, it doesn't matter what the original reason was for bringing in Marshall. Fact remains he cannot replace both Vontae Davis and Sean Smith. As a GM there is no way you can get rid of your top 2 corners in back to back years without creating more needs at the position.
I'd still like to re-sign Randy Starks. I'd hate to weaken that part of our game. I think the reason we were able to get by this season with a weakened Secondary was because we forced teams to become 1-dimensional. I don't know the exact stats. I'm sure some do, but I think we were able to stop the run effectively in Nickel packages probably better than most teams.
There is no way...you can tell me, that the Redskins or the Colts, anticipated making the playoffs this season with two rookie QB's. The general consensus would have been that both teams would have finished somewhere we did. In fact...we werent even supposed to win 7 games.
What do expectations have to do with it? And for those who are saying that the QBs for those three teams aren't as raw as Tannehill, I would remind you that Russell Wilson was still there on the draft board long, long after we took Tannehill. And I am sure that we could have worked out a deal for RGIII.
I didn't forget anything. Apparently some people forget that we had the chance to draft Wilson and could have traded up to get RGIII if we'd been willing to pay a steep price.
I do wonder if Ross has asked Ireland about any efforts to trade up and get RGIII. Maybe we couldn't have topped the Redskins offer, but I wodner if we even tried. Beyond his impact on the field, which was tremendous, RGIII would have had such an impact on the overall health of this franchise that I have to believe an extra 1st round pick would have been worth it. We get RGIII, Steven Ross doesn't have to buy thousands of tickets every game
Agreed... a lot of people are overlooking and under valuing the contributions of Alfred Morris and Marshawn Lynch to the success of RG3 and Wilson, as well as their team's respective defenses. Both those backs rushed for over 1500 yards and a dozen TDs each and their teams had outstanding defenses this season.
For the short term? Maybe... But, Im of the opinion that we will be just as good with Ryan Tannehill, AND...we didnt have to give up the bountiful number of draft picks we have to use this year to get it. I mean...literally...the Skins and Colts played one more game then us. Yippee. I agree with Shou's post....we have the flexibility to make a drastic improvement in 2013.
Yeah, a UDFA Rb coming off of a knee injury who played -0- snaps will of course replace a back to back 1k rusher. Madness, and I disagree with Shou, the way things work is they will save pennies, miss out on signing premium weapons in favor of guys they hope can play then give fans the nonsense of "wait until you see how the team looks". For the millionth time, you cannot count on signing FA's, especially with Ireland always lowballing players, in some ways we are very much run like the Bengals are run, though people cannot see it...yet.
The funny part is you thinking that not only were there no inquires from our FO but that Ross wouldn't even talk to Ireland about his plans. That is just comical to me.
Based on what exactly? And that one game was a playoff game, at home no less for the Redskins. The fact you're comparing a 7-9 season to a playoff season and suggesting that all that happened was that the skins and Colts "only played one more game than us" is just silly. Unfortunately this is how far Dolphins fans have fallen in their acceptance of medicority or below mediocrity And I tell you this, the Skins don't regret one draft pick they gave up for RGIII. Most draft picks turn out to be garbage.
I never said there were no inquiries. I said I wondered what the inquiries were and whether Ross knew about the discussions. But the fact is, we don't know what happened or didn't happen.
Wasn't it reported that the Rams wanted to deal with the Redskins because of Fisher's relationship with Shanahan?
RG3 has already had 1 concussion and 2 knee injuries. What made him exciting is exactly what cost him the injuries. The Skins are going to have to use him more judiciously in the future - if he is going to have a sustainable career... This helps explain why Philbin and Sherman tried to reserve Tannehill from taking the same sort of risks. He made good progress and I am looking forward to seeing what we have in him in the next few seasons...
Exactly, how is Marshall for Egnew and a 3rd rd pick looking right now? I enjoy the draft but think fans put far far to much hope in it.
Fisher would have taken the strongest deal. One of the reasons Joe Banner gave for immediately dumping Holmgren in cleveland was that he did not put together the best package possible for RGIII
Right, but I don't see how the Dolphins could offer more than the Skins. They were always going to get the chance to match.
Based on how I feel about Ryan Tannehill. Quite honestly, neither of us know whether or not this will end up being the case. We would have had to trade away multitude draft picks to move up for RGIII. Id rather have Tannehill and the draft picks. At the end of 2013, you can blast me for that, or end up eating crow. Either way, we wont know until then. And no, the one playoff game really doesnt mean alot to me. Id rather forego the one, to build a team that will be able to go further consistently. Im sure the Skins dont regret the picks they gave up. But... How happy would they have been to have those draft picks and taken R Wilson?
The knee injuries have nothing to do with his playing style. They could have happened to any player. Certainly he needs to stop taking the big hits while running, but much like Vick he's going to be at a far greater risk of injury hanging in the pocket and getting blasted by 300 pound guys then he is by take a hit from a DB.
Hell, if you want to be technical, Washington was stupid to give all that up for RGIII, when they could have stayed put, drafted some more talent and snagged Wilson.
Yes, their success had to do with good drafting and good personnel moves by their front offices. Something we have not had for a loooong time.
So, you'd rather have the lesser prospect and draft picks that may or may not turn into players, over the transcendant prospect? This is nothing against Tannehill and I think he's good, but he was nowehere near RGIII's level this eyar. And if RGIII stays healthy, then I see no reason to believe that he won't continue being the better player. But you also are overlooking the impact RGIII has had on the Skins besides the wins. He is the #1 selling jersey, he single handedly revitalized that fanbase, which had been waning. The Skins have had some attendance issues the last few years. And I am suggesting that the impact RGIII has on your franchise is worth an extra draft pick or two. So no, I don;t think the Skins would prefer the picks and Wilson. As to the playoffs not mattering, we'll simply agree to disagree as I just can't fathom that type of thinking. But hey, if that's how you feel then great.
