2009 Free Agents

[Ruhskins]

Originally Posted by The Goat

This is still the FA thread right...

... with Willis signing again in Seattle I'm wondering/maybe hoping we don't make another FA move till after the draft. I see it this way: we're desperate for one starter at LB and probably another quality guy for depth, desperate for a LDE starter, and we probably need a much better option at RT. I guess you could throw center in there too but I have the feeling Buges is far from giving up on Rabach so if we take a center it will only be a depth pick later in the draft. So we need 2 or 3 legit starters between now and opening day and in the best case scenario we trade back and somehow get a couple starters w/ our first 2 picks. Probably we only get one starter from the draft regardless of a trade and in that case we still need 1 or 2 starters acquired in FA. I tend to think the best bet will come after the draft then as teams cut players. We're basically looking for leftovers... but leftovers are probably much better than our current options at SLB, DE and even RT.

... FA IMHO hasn't been real impressive. Dock fell into our laps and that's nice but we desperately need upgrades at RT and LB (and now LDE) and not one of those spots were addressed. Actually what's amazing is this is the 2nd offseason in a row we had these exact same needs and somehow the FO hasn't been able to get it done... actually kind of baffling for a simple fan.

Last offseason the biggest needs (according to many) were among wideouts and the defensive line. Honestly, the FO has been average to me, although kinda hard to judge them since the offseason is not over.

[The Goat]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

Last offseason the biggest needs (according to many) were among wideouts and the defensive line. Honestly, the FO has been average to me, although kinda hard to judge them since the offseason is not over.

The o-line completely fell apart on '07. Jansen and Thomas had their season ending injures. Rabach wasn't very good. Basically we didn't do anything to improve that group going into '08 other than hope and pray Jansen and Thomas had awesome rebound years and Heyer would improve a lot. Heyer didn't improve and worse yet looks to be injury prone for such a young player, obviously Thomas and Jansen didn't rebound. I'm not disagreeing w/ you Ruh on the WR and d-line situations, just making the point we've had desperate needs in several areas that we haven't really addressed. Dock really was a gift even though I totally agree w/ people who also realize he's not gonna solve the whole problem there: we need new talent on the o-line.

... for what it's worth I though the d-line has been in far better shape than it's offensive counterpart over the last couple years and w/ the decline/departure of Marcus I'd thought LB was also a priority over d-line. I just remember Williams saying Monty had the potential to be a dominant player instead of just a decent rotational DT... every year i keep hoping he breaks out and that's part of the reason i thought d-line could be a lower priority than our decrepit o-lineman and an aging LB corp. (BTW wouldn't it be off the hook if Monty has a breakout season now... would allow us to put AH all over the place on the LOS cuz he's so versatile). But i haven't at all given up on the off-season, just hoping we get lucky w/ 2 or 3 gems (surprise cuts maybe) prior to camp starting.

[Ruhskins]

Originally Posted by The Goat

The o-line completely fell apart on '07. Jansen and Thomas had their season ending injures. Rabach wasn't very good. Basically we didn't do anything to improve that group going into '08 other than hope and pray Jansen and Thomas had awesome rebound years and Heyer would improve a lot. Heyer didn't improve and worse yet looks to be injury prone for such a young player, obviously Thomas and Jansen didn't rebound. I'm not disagreeing w/ you Ruh on the WR and d-line situations, just making the point we've had desperate needs in several areas that we haven't really addressed.

... for what it's worth I though the d-line has been in far better shape than it's offensive counterpart over the last couple years and w/ the decline/departure of Marcus I'd thought LB was also a priority of d-line. But i haven't at all given up on the off-season, just hoping we get lucky w/ 2 or 3 gems (surprise cuts maybe) prior to camp starting.

Ah gotcha. I think the problem is that...well I don't know if the FO listened too much to the sports pundits, like we the fans sometimes do. And I tell you that because I was big into the Redskins getting a WR or getting Chad Johnson, thinking that this was the piece that the Redskins needed (a deep threat and/or a possession receiver). Well, all of us that thought this were dead wrong, since it turned out that our offensive line was falling apart.

[The Goat]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

Ah gotcha. I think the problem is that...well I don't know if the FO listened too much to the sports pundits, like we the fans sometimes do. And I tell you that because I was big into the Redskins getting a WR or getting Chad Johnson, thinking that this was the piece that the Redskins needed (a deep threat and/or a possession receiver). Well, all of us that thought this were dead wrong, since it turned out that our offensive line was falling apart.

No not wrong at all IMO. We did need that kind of standout possession receiver and 20/20 kinda seems like we'd been better off getting that talent in FA (last offseason) and using the '08 draft to build the lines. Don't know if Ocho was the answer but just a guy, like what we got in Moss, who could come in and be an immediate factor, which rookie WRs rarely are. I remember thinking after the '07 playoff loss we needed help at WR... but I basically assumed there was no question about the o-line needing new blood.