It's Time For The Skins' Super Bowl Starting With Free Agency

Wasn't our defense last in the NFL in sacks? Do either of these guys put any type of pressure on the QB? It's time to move on already. New leaders need to develop. I think it's time for Sean Taylor to take more of a leadership role.

I'm not advocating either way, I'm just saying the front office seems to have sown a lot of animosity in the locker room by letting some liked guys go. Given that, it will be interesting to see how they handle this kind of situation.

As a long-time 'Skins fan (since '66), I've experienced the gamut of emotions in following this team (exilerating highs in '82, '83, '87 and '91) and humbling lows (most of the Norv Turner years). And yes, it appears that, at least under the current FO structure, the coming months are our time of year!

That being said, is it too much to hope for that we'd begin to take a more measured approach towards FA! Let's review for a moment, shall we, last years key signings ...

Andre Carter, DE - had some ??? regarding his skills as a full-time DL, and durability was an issue. But as the year wore on, AC became more of a force.
I go back and watch the tapes of the last month or so of the season, and he's making more and more plays, on a consistant basis. And he's still young enough to be a solid pick-up. He's not a feature DE, but he's a very good complimentary DE, if we had a real "stud" DE across from him.

Brandon Lloyd, WR - What, in the name of Vince Lombardi, were we thinking here? BL's reputation was well known around the league (a poor man's TO), and he's always been shy about running the crossing routes. He basically runs two routes ... a go route, and a 12 to 15 yd. curl ... and he made enough drops in crucial situations once JC got in the game (the drop to open the Tampa game was just brutal) to get his rear-end sent to the bench.
IMO, a boneheaded move by whoever is making the personel decisions here.

That said, can he rebound and be a viable part of this emerging offense in '07? It's all up to him ... perehaps he can take a few pointers from SM on how to be a team guy. He came here known as a guy who could make the spectacular catch ... uh, next year would be a good time to start makin' some.

Antuan Randle-El, WR/KR - I was on board with this signing from the start. ARE is, IMO, the consumate team guy, and made some nice plays down the stretch. His biggest value to the team is in the return game, but he acquited himself nicely once we had to go to him more in the passing game.
He's not a true #2, but he's serviceable, and would be a really dangerous #3
(ala Ricky Sanders). And he's probably got the second best arm on the team, after JC. I think we see him more comfortable in the offense next year.

Adam Archuletta, S - Can someone please explain to me how, after all of the alledged "hours of film study that he did with GW prior to signing here, we could so totally mis-use a player?? Here again, a players rep was well documented and known prior to coming here, and yet, when PP went down in the opener, we had no idea how to maximize AA's skills with our shemes and pkgs.??

But call me nuts, but I want to keep him here and make this work. And that task falls squarely on the broad, large shoulders of one Greg Williams. Haven't heard much out of Redskins Park from the coach's as to what they've taken from their review of last season's train wreck, and that's a good thing ... I prefer the quiet approach, for a change. GW needs to go back and take a cold, hard look at how the schemes were drawn up, how AA coould have been better utilized, how things could have been adjusted to allow AA, and others, to play to their respective strengths. A truely great coach accurately assesses his players' skills, and comes up with ways to get as much out of everyone as possible. When we were winning consistantly back in the '80's, the one thing that was always a trademark of this team was how well the coaches made adjustments to fit the personel available.

If I left anyone out, sorry ... it's early and I've gotta' get to work.

I remain optomistic that we will get this thing turned around, and we will be a solid, play-off caliber team in short order. Watching JC play last season, and with the skills he brings to the position, has to excite anybody who saw him play ... the kid has "onions"! A healthy CP, a more confident LB, a determined RC, a solid (and hopefully healthy) OL, and a re-dedicated WR corp, and this offense could be fun to watch. And the defense will rebound, because I believe that they were embarrassed last year, and now somebody's gonna' pay!!

Hail !!

Are you serious? The FA way does not work. It never works. But I guess even some of the fans are buying into it.

Several points:
Yes, I'm serious
Because they have not had the intended success they wanted yet, does not mean they won't.
I don't believe I suggested the FA works or does not. FA is DEFINATELY a useful tool.
I do think I made a call for more conservative choices.
Basically, I just stated, I like the excitement generated by the whole thing.
I'm not sure what you think I am "buying" in to?.............Do you?

Several points:
Yes, I'm serious
Because they have not had the intended success they wanted yet, does not mean they won't.
I don't believe I suggested the FA works or does not. FA is DEFINATELY a useful tool.
I do think I made a call for more conservative choices.
Basically, I just stated, I like the excitement generated by the whole thing.
I'm not sure what you think I am "buying" in to?.............Do you?

I just hope it's ALOT more conservative. It's not useful the way we do it. Overpay for guys who don't deserve to be paid and let what we call core guys play elsewhere.

But what pisses me off most is when March 1st hits a plane will be sent to Buff. and a big signing bonus will be offered to Nate C. And while we are there we are going to pick up Fletcher too. Meanwhile Dock is sitting on the outside and is not signed yet. Always chasing other teams players when one of our core guys is not signed yet. Sends are real bad message in the locker room.

I just hope it's ALOT more conservative. It's not useful the way we do it. Overpay for guys who don't deserve to be paid and let what we call core guys play elsewhere.

But what pisses me off most is when March 1st hits a plane will be sent to Buff. and a big signing bonus will be offered to Nate C. And while we are there we are going to pick up Fletcher too. Meanwhile Dock is sitting on the outside and is not signed yet. Always chasing other teams players when one of our core guys is not signed yet. Sends are real bad message in the locker room.

on the brighter side, anyone who's been here the last few years has already gotten that message loud and clear.... oh wait.

So should the team just hold off on all free agents until Dockery is signed?

I'm sure negotiations will continue regardless of what we are doing in free agency. It's not a situation of since we are chasing free agents we can't also keep working on Dockery's deal.

Are you serious? The FA way does not work. It never works. But I guess even some of the fans are buying into it.

Are you serious? Of course free agency works. Dallas used it in their glory years, St. Louis, New England, Denver......all of these teams have won Super Bowls using free agents.

Are you serious? Of course free agency works. Dallas used it in their glory years, St. Louis, New England, Denver......all of these teams have won Super Bowls using free agents. Dallas built its team with draft picks , Emmit , Irvin , Aikman , harper , johnson ,,, the d line < traded for Haley > the lb's and the DB's ,,, minus prime rib sanders . Not sure about the Rams , but the Pats were built through the draft , except for a few players like Harrison and dillon < won 2 SB's without dillon > . FA is a tool , but it will be very hard to win year in and out without strong drafts most years .

well, its about price/performance, and the draft is much better at that and allows many many more mistakes, since they're cheap. FA only works well when you don't make any big money mistakes.

Skinsfan69 has a point that, rightly or wrongly, there is a perception in the Redskins locker room that the front office does not reward its home-grown players (e.g., Smoot and Pierce) and has a "the grass is greener on the other side" mentality. Losing Dockery would certainly contribute to that perception and frustrate many Redskins players and fans.

Where I differ with Skinsfan69 is when he says that "free agency does not work." EVERY team in the league uses free agency to build its roster. So, free agency can "work." Moreover, I wouldn't pin the Redskins losses all on free agent acquisitions for several reasons. One, some of our best players in recent memory have been free agents (e.g., Coles, Thomas, Griffin, Washington, Springs). Two, some of our biggest offseason busts have been draft picks (e.g., Ramsey, Jacobs, Arrington). Three, we had some poor coaching staffs (e.g., Spurrier). The list goes on and on. I agree that our free agent acquisitions haven't solved all of our problems, but they haven't created all of them either.