The Official Warpath Sign Tim Rattay and Cut Todd Collins Thread

I agree with some of my Skin Brethren, Rattay in the burgundy and gold wold suit me just fine. He also has the arm to come in just in case JC falters for some reason. Brunell personally cost us a nice 3 year playoff run with his weak ass arm. In '05 he neutered our run when his arm went limp going into the playoffs. Collins is in the same boat. Rattay would come on fine with learning the offense in my opinion. JC did fine with it last season, why can't Rattay?

So you'd rather watch a journeyman like Rattay who would be in his first season in this offense which takes a full year to learn?

Makes sense.Matty, I think most offenses take a year to completely learn. I understand your reservations.

Truth is though, most QBs can play just fine in a new system right away. Sure, they may say they aren't completely comfortable with the offense yet...because complete comfort takes time to achieve.

A good, veteran QB who is not entirely comfortable will still play well. If he didn't, he wouldn't be a good QB. Rattay is in the prime years of his career, and thats the whole point here. Minnesota, Oakland, Atlanta, Carolina, maybe even Buffalo would be instantly better if they signed Rattay and played him.

At the end of last year, he was money in Tampa Bay. I don't blame Tampa Bay for going with Garcia, another good QB, but it just means that someone is going to end up with a pretty good QB in the prime of his career without having to pay market value for him.

Why shouldn't we be the ones to benefit from this deficiency?

As far as comparing a potential contract to the one that Carr/Harrington got, I think thats a bad comparison. Carr and Harrington both had a market for their services, despite consistent below average play. Rattay has been consistently above league average for many years now, is still getting better, and has no market.

Someone is going to end up with quite a steal, and I started the thread to present the case for it being us. We don't need him as bad as some teams do, but other teams aren't my concern.

In fact, under my original proposal, he'd be the third stringer in his first year here. So he probably wouldn't see the field.

It's not like we'd have to "groom" him. He's 29 and in the prime of his career.

It's just good value. That's all. We already have two of the leagues 32 best QBs on our team, and Rattay would be the third. Doesn't do us a whole lot of good for next year, but one thing it DOES do is keep another good QB out of the hands of one of our opponents.

Might be worth it to ensure we play the Tavaris Jackson led Vikings, and not the Tim Rattay led ones.

In fact, under my original proposal, he'd be the third stringer in his first year here. So he probably wouldn't see the field.

It's not like we'd have to "groom" him. He's 29 and in the prime of his career.

It's just good value. That's all. We already have two of the leagues 32 best QBs on our team, and Rattay would be the third. Doesn't do us a whole lot of good for next year, but one thing it DOES do is keep another good QB out of the hands of one of our opponents.

Might be worth it to ensure we play the Tavaris Jackson led Vikings, and not the Tim Rattay led ones.

If you feel he is this good and for the moment I'll go along with your assessment, then wouldn't it stand to reason that he thinks he's even better. What would make him want to sign on as a 3rd string QB? Why wouldn't he wait until the end of pre-season in hopes of catching on with a team who's starting QB went down with injury?

I guess you could wish he were on our team at minimal salary cap expense but the reality is that if he's as good as you believe then he would be a fool to sign with us. If he's not as good as you believe then we would be fools to sign him.

If you feel he is this good and for the moment I'll go along with your assessment, then wouldn't it stand to reason that he thinks he's even better. What would make him want to sign on as a 3rd string QB? Why wouldn't he wait until the end of pre-season in hopes of catching on with a team who's starting QB went down with injury?

I guess you could wish he were on our team at minimal salary cap expense but the reality is that if he's as good as you believe then he would be a fool to sign with us. If he's not as good as you believe then we would be fools to sign him.

That has got to be the most intelligent thing I have read this offseason. Go ahead tell them some more. Kudos.

If you feel he is this good and for the moment I'll go along with your assessment, then wouldn't it stand to reason that he thinks he's even better. What would make him want to sign on as a 3rd string QB? Why wouldn't he wait until the end of pre-season in hopes of catching on with a team who's starting QB went down with injury?

I guess you could wish he were on our team at minimal salary cap expense but the reality is that if he's as good as you believe then he would be a fool to sign with us. If he's not as good as you believe then we would be fools to sign him.Very good points.

It's April, and nobody appears to want to give him a starting job. We can't promise him the No. 2 job next year. But we can give him a contract that is of the value of a No. 2 guy, and promise him the backup role for the year after.

Of course, there is no guarentee he would take it, but theres no way the Redskins would know that without investigating.

3 years, 3.5 million SB, base salaries of 750,000 (or whatever league min is), 1 mil, and 1.25 mil.

Total value of contract: 6.5 million for 3 years. Carr and Harrington got 6 million each for 2 years so using that as a standard, this is a great deal for us and one he might accept.

His cap number this year would be 1.9 under my proposed deal. We free up 1.2 mil by releasing Collins. So the net cap cost in 2007 to cheaply fill our backup role through 2009 is 0.7 million.

If that's not a good deal, I don't know what is.

Not when you feel that you are a starting calliber QB, and there are Open positions in the league.

Not when you feel that you are a starting calliber QB, and there are Open positions in the league.Yeah, but that's the idea with waiting this far into FA to open a thread like this.

At this point, Rattay probably can't land a starter role anywhere. Just because he should be able to, if GMs were smart, doesn't mean he can, because oftentimes, they aren't. The league is FULL of market deficiencies. When you are a team like the Cardinals and have 35 million in available cap room, this doesn't really matter. The Cardinals should just be trying to get the best possible player, regardless of cost. When you are a team like the Redskins, and are consistently restructuring everybody to get under the cap...these are the kind of moves you make to fill needs. The contract I proposed is slightly more than Collins is making, and Rattay is a way better player.

If he's getting 6.5 million over 3 years to play only in injury situations, that may be his best career move.

He is not going to come here unless Burnell is gone now.

Yeah, it's pretty unlikely.

I would still consider it a missed oppertunity at this point, especially if we end up breaking the bank next year for a player of lesser caliber.