Redskins Expected to Release Coles

I don't know about you guys but I'm getting tired of this annual ritual of overhauling the roster.

I know the Coles situation is a unique one that we couldn't plan for, there's not much you can do about a disgruntled player that doesn't buy in to what's being built. Right now Coles is a cancer that was caught in the early stages but needs to be cut out right away.

We've got some major concerns right now, we still have to re-sign Pierce, Smoot is a longshot but I'm sure the team is still interested in retaining him if possible, Samuels needs to be restructured, and we have a handful of our own lesser known UFAs and RFAs that need to be inked.

Should be yet another interesting offseason in Redskins land. This Coles thing sure has gotten things started with a bang!

Damn Coles. what a huge let down. being a man all season (and recognized as such), and a baby in the offseason.

I love when someone wants to leave our club and does so in a tactfull manner (trying to keep it behind closed doors) they turn into a baby.

I give Coles alot of credit for staying tight-lipped on all this especially during the season. In that way he's gone about things like a man.

Naturally there are going to be fans that feel betrayed and angered no matter how this situation is handled. I think what angers people most is the difficult situation this is creating regarding the cap, and the fact we gave up a 1st rounder to obtain him in the first place, and two seasons later he's out the door.

If the cap implications aren't taken care of, I'll also be pissed. I just have a feeling he'll take care of them.

I read this yesterday and like you I was totally shocked. I was hoping it was some kind of joke, but I guess we're beyond that.

You guys have summed up the ramifications pretty well from what I can tell. As Schneed pointed out, Coles needs to give back like $6M to make it "wash". Giving back $6M will lower Coles 2005 cap hit to around $3M which is what it would be if we kept him. So from a cap perspective it is a wash, except for one thing - we no longer have a receiver to go with that $3M cap hit. To be a true wash he'd have to give back $9M to totally clean our books.

From what I've read it seems Coles is willing to pay back some bonus but only if he becomes a free agent, not so they could trade him. So trading him might be a non-option.

All in all this is very sad news, especially coming from a "stand-up" guy like Coles. He's my favorite Skin and I can't understand how he wouldn't want to play for Gibbs. I'll give him credit for handling it with some class, but it still hurts.

I always dreamed of hearing "Ramsey to Coles for the TD!" in a Super Bowl, but I guess not.

On the bright side, cutting Coles will save us $7M against the cap in 2006. :rolleyes:

On the bright side, cutting Coles will save us $7M against the cap in 2006. :rolleyes:

I know that doesn't mean much now, but that's huge for next year.

So instead of us saying 2005 will be the year, I can be like, "Redskins in '06 baby." :)