Jon Jansen: Starter Next Year?

Next year, the entire starting line (Jansen, Samuels, Thomas, Kendall and Rabach) will all be 31 or older. Given that stat, at least one or possibly two of them are not going to play the entire season. Which two? God knows, it's kind of a crap shoot. Actually, with five aging starters it's more like Russian Roullette with 5 bullets. While freak accidents are just that, with age comes brittleness, these guys simply aren't as flexible and resilient as they were 3 or 4 years ago.

Thus, cumulatively the likelihood of a "freak" accident occurring is increased. Mark my words - next year one of them will go down for the season, early, with an injury that all will say "Not much you can do to prevent [insert injury here]". I am not hoping for this obviously and will be thrilled if it doesnt occur, I just think its as likely as finding the open chamber in our game of O-Line Russian Roullette.

So while we can plan on Jansen starting, I wouldn't bet the ranch on him playing out the season. So Heyer (or somebody else) better be ready to step in at either tackle position. Same at the guard position and, clearly, they need a guard who can pull.

I don't know what's available in the draft or in the FA market, but I guarantee that this line has maybe one more year as a complete starting unit. In 2009, count on two or three new starters.

Get a line that can get a yard anywhere on the field, and we can win the f'ing Superbowl with the rest of the team unchanged.

JoeRedskin, you bring up some good points. But this phenomenon of injuries isn't unique to the Redskins, not this year and it won't be next year. We're not the only team even this season that have lost two starters along the offensive line. Injuries aren't an excuse in the NFL, they are a reality. So that's just life in the NFL, my man. People get hurt and people will continue to get hurt.

Not one single team in the NFL - NOT ONE - can lose two starters and maintain their running game. Do we realize that Jason Campbell is one of the least sacked quarterbacks this season? It's funny how that stat never comes up when talking about our offensive line woes.

We need to draft some quality depth for sure, but when starters go down life get's rough. And from there you have to coach around and through injuries. But it is what it is.

Jansen is a no brainer, but Samuels is the one I worry about. I wonder if we could get rid of some of our cap trouble by trading his ass away. He makes the pro bowl every year and he is sub par in pass protection. I do think he's good in the run game, but I don't get why he makes the pro bowl every year...

I'd love to see the Skins find a way to move JJ and CS. JJ just isnt reliable anymore and CS might still be worth something to a team that needs a vet OL.

I'd also like to see the Skins focus on drafting (if they figure out how to hold on to their picks) O linemen.

I'd love to see the Skins find a way to move JJ and CS. JJ just isnt reliable anymore and CS might still be worth something to a team that needs a vet OL.

I'd also like to see the Skins focus on drafting (if they figure out how to hold on to their picks) O linemen.


So let me get this straight. We off load both CS and JJ and pick up whom at what price? And better yet, how good are these guys suppose to be?

Jansen is a no brainer, but Samuels is the one I worry about. I wonder if we could get rid of some of our cap trouble by trading his ass away. He makes the pro bowl every year and he is sub par in pass protection. I do think he's good in the run game, but I don't get why he makes the pro bowl every year...

I dont know if I could disagree with you more. Samuels is clearly the better of the two and most would say he excels more in pass blcoking rather than run blocking.

i just dont understand the argument with Jansen, why some feel we need to replace him. He has played at a pro bowl level when he's played, had two injuries that have kept him from playing. other than that he has been a rock, played w/ two broken thumbs (no holding penalties i might add) a torn calf muscle. the guy has been solid his entire career.

Next year, the entire starting line (Jansen, Samuels, Thomas, Kendall and Rabach) will all be 31 or older. Given that stat, at least one or possibly two of them are not going to play the entire season. Which two? God knows, it's kind of a crap shoot. Actually, with five aging starters it's more like Russian Roullette with 5 bullets. While freak accidents are just that, with age comes brittleness, these guys simply aren't as flexible and resilient as they were 3 or 4 years ago.

Thus, cumulatively the likelihood of a "freak" accident occurring is increased. Mark my words - next year one of them will go down for the season, early, with an injury that all will say "Not much you can do to prevent [insert injury here]". I am not hoping for this obviously and will be thrilled if it doesnt occur, I just think its as likely as finding the open chamber in our game of O-Line Russian Roullette.

So while we can plan on Jansen starting, I wouldn't bet the ranch on him playing out the season. So Heyer (or somebody else) better be ready to step in at either tackle position. Same at the guard position and, clearly, they need a guard who can pull.

I don't know what's available in the draft or in the FA market, but I guarantee that this line has maybe one more year as a complete starting unit. In 2009, count on two or three new starters.

Get a line that can get a yard anywhere on the field, and we can win the f'ing Superbowl with the rest of the team unchanged.


The 0-line is "getting old" it isn't old yet. Over 31 is not old. that is considered still prime. I think we have a year or two with these guys, that we can draft some guys and mold them into lineman. Heyer is being one of those guys, I think when these guys are on the field together we have one of the best lines in the NFL. Proven last year when I believe their rating was 5th in the NFL.. I dont understand why people are bashing the oline. It is (was) one of our strong points of last season, and unfortunately we had injuries. No way we throw that away! Thomas is still one of the best guards in the league, Casey one probably top 10 centers, and Samuels and Jansen as bookend tackles is probably one of the top 5 or 10 tandems in the NFL.

Yikes, get rid of Samuels??

And you think we have problems now?

Ugh.

I cannot, absolutely cannot, fathom how we're even having a discussion surrounding Chris Samuels. He's nothing short of a stud. He's not "sub par" in pass protection. He's fantastic at it.

Letting in the occasional sack against the top DEs, when you NEVER get help from a TE, does not constitute being sub par in pass protection.

What's more, we're financially committed to him. Cutting him, trading him, or doing ANYTHING but keeping him would be prohibitive from a salary cap standpoint.

played w/ two broken thumbs (no holding penalties i might add)

Please explain to me, besides tackling someone, with the setup Jansen had he COULD hold anyone. That said, this discussion has come up before, Jansen got a holding penalty, showed his thumbs to the ref and seemingly yelled 'how.' Its not impressive that someone with 4 fingers on each hand didn't get a holding penalty, Id be more impressed if he did =p

Jansen a rock? Next time hes on the field, watch him. When he gets worked all preseason in 1v1 simple scheme type deals, there's an issue. I havent been impressed with him for some time. Regardless of what everyone feels on this issue, I think we can all agree its time to start reloading our line from the draft now. That gives them time to learn and by the time expensive contracts come, they'll be ready to step in and start.

I'd love to see the Skins find a way to move JJ and CS. JJ just isnt reliable anymore and CS might still be worth something to a team that needs a vet OL.

I'd also like to see the Skins focus on drafting (if they figure out how to hold on to their picks) O linemen.

You want to trade Jansen & Samuels, two Skins that we drafted, yet you want to "focus on drafting O linemen?" I understand that you see a need for youth, but these are our 2 bookend tackles that we were able to re-sign & our core players.

I'm all for drafting some O linemen this year, but they'd be to backup JJ & CS, not start for them.

No offense, but the idea of getting rid of those 2 guys is crazy unless we got a herschel walker type offer for each of them.