Bill B Presents TMC's Pick the Position Poll

Agreed, and over the last two days, you've changed by opinion from "we need to draft a DE" to "we need to draft a DT." I still believe that we need to inject some youth at the DE position, but anchoring DEs can be found on the draft's second day. Also, we are pretty much stuck with Carter at the RE now and IMO he doesnt really fit in to Grilliams' scheme, although he can be a decent player for us for years.

I think we should scour free agency for a shutdown corner, but if we don't find one, we might as well stick with what we have. Sure it's risky to look the thing that killed you this season right in the eye and say that it can't screw you two years in a row, but if Nate Clements slips through our fingers, who are we going to bring in that would be an upgrade to Shawn Springs?

Clements is the only guy in free agency that would be worth pursuing. He fits Grilliams' style, big and physical.

I'm thinking we've got to draft a DT or a CB with our real high pick (or trade it down and try to get both).

OK well those numbers are just blatantly wrong...

It was a joke. Some of you guys scare me with the way you keep cap numbers ready at a moment's notice.

OK well those numbers are just blatantly wrong. We're currently 5 million under the cap, we can easily shed $5 million by cutting guys like John Hall and clearing TJ Duckett's voidable season off our 2007 numbers, and there is about $20-$25 million in base salaries that can/will be restructured to free up cap space.

We should have $10-$15 million in space, at minimum, to work with this offseason. Hell, we could even cut Archuleta, absorb the huge cap hit, and still grab a free agent or two.

And there's no way three players will take up $21 million in cap space. ARE, Carter, Lloyd, and Archuleta combined to take up $6 million in cap space in 2006.Don't forget that Ladell's cap number for 2007 will be in the ballpark of $3 million.

Here's the problem with that. We already have Andre Carter who has great physical pass rushing skills. So espicially in GW's defense, the LE has to be able to anchor the run. If we can find a guy who can anchor the run and rush the passer and do both as well as anyone in the league, I'd love to have him, but I'm not sure such player exists.

Yeah that's the thing. With DE, we have Carter who has the mad pass rushing skills, but I don't think Grilliams is ever really taking the reins off Carter. He's not going to have 15 sacks in Grilliams' system. If Freeney were a Redskin, he wouldn't get more than 10 sacks here because Grilliams makes them play gap control to be mindful of stopping the run.

Our DEs have good talent to stop the run (I was nervous about Carter but he's showing me some things lately) and they can rush the passer OK. It's the age of Daniels and Wynn that's a bit concerning; they're both still effective now when healthy, but they don't have too many years left. Two-way DEs are indeed very hard to find, and if we get a shot at one it's hard to pass up. But same goes for DTs, and a true shut-down CB is nearly impossible to find these days, the only one alive right now is Champ.

Don't forget that Ladell's cap number for 2007 will be in the ballpark of $3 million.

Sounds to me it'll be more like $1.5 mill, but yeah I get what you're saying. Gotta factor him in.

Plus we have to plan to resign Dock, and if the 'Skins were smart they'd resign Cooley too.

I love the Betts contract by the way. That's a relative bargain all around. Great move by the 'Skins. See what happens when we retain our players? If you resign them before they hit the open market, you're getting to them before the agents start filling their heads with grandiose expectations of massive paydays. Players are like anyone else, they like to feel settled and secure. Betts was willing to trade a chance at a bigger payday for the knowledge that he'll be here for the forseeable future.

I love the Betts contract by the way. That's a relative bargain all around. Great move by the 'Skins. See what happens when we retain our players? If you resign them before they hit the open market, you're getting to them before the agents start filling their heads with grandiose expectations of massive paydays. Players are like anyone else, they like to feel settled and secure. Betts was willing to trade a chance at a bigger payday for the knowledge that he'll be here for the forseeable future.

Careful, you're likely to invite a tsunami of criticism by suggesting Betts has any value to the team other than to hold CP's jock when he's not using it. :oink:

Some guys truly don't think that Ladell wouldn't have gotten PAID on the free market. As if we're the only team that reaches hard and vastly overpays for FA's. We just do that for every position, indiscriminately. A lot of other franchises do it once every few years or so, usually at RB or QB.

After 13 games, "mad pass rushing skills" gets you three whole sacks?

Careful, you're likely to invite a tsunami of criticism by suggesting Betts has any value to the team other than to hold CP's jock when he's not using it. :oink:

Some guys truly don't think that Ladell wouldn't have gotten PAID on the free market. As if we're the only team that reaches hard and vastly overpays for FA's. We just do that for every position, indiscriminately. A lot of other franchises do it once every few years or so, usually at RB or QB.

Well I'd be very interested in engaging anyone who thinks that in a debate on the subject, because trust me, the league is taking notice of what Ladell Betts can do. Philly, Atlanta, and Carolina are all acutely aware of his skill set.

Betts is a good backup/marginal starter. We paid him good backup money. Everyone needs to remember that the salary cap will be 109 million in 2007, it's like 20% higher than it was in 2005. So if people are comparing contracts to pre-CBA negoatiations, they need to adjust their perceptions of contract value by 20%.

After 13 games, "mad pass rushing skills" gets you three whole sacks?

Yeah. If Grilliams took the reins off, he'd have a lot more. Carter's gotten near the QB on lots of occasions. If our secondary was worth a crap and could give him a split second more time, he'd probably have 8 right now. But our secondary blows and lets QBs throw at will; they don't hesitate to unload and consequently Carter just misses.

Plus, we're not in too many 2nd and longs and 3rd and longs this year. We haven't been great against the run, so the DEs aren't getting to pin their ears back in obvious pass rushing situations.

Sack numbers are an incredibly misleading way to look at DE production.

i have this stupid, funny feeling that Carter is going to pick it up next year, so I voted DT. Even with Golston we haven't been the same in the middle this year. I have to admit I facgtored in that our draft pick is high. I would rather add a Jamal Williams than a Peppers (i know, i'm dreaming. leave me, it is all i have left).