No progress in Derrick Dockery Negotiations....

Here's the problem with Dockery. Yes he played great last year and was blowing people up all over the field, but why did he wait until this year to do it? Because his contract was up. He should have been playing like that from the opening bell. Instead he took it easy the first few years which is what he is most likely to do again if he is rewarded with a huge contract.

We should make an offer based on his entire career which would put him somewhere in the middle and if some other team wants to pay more which they most certainly will and he wants to go someplace where he will have to pass protect 35 times or more a game then he can leave. If he wants to stay here he will make less but he gets to mash people 40 times a game and pass protect maybe 20. The choice is his more than it is the Redskins. That's how I would play it.

Dockery's greatest asset right now really is that the rest of the line and the coaches and the QB, etc are familiar with him. That's not to say you can't plug someone in there though, depending on the talent and experience of that player.

On a somewhat related note, what does anyone here know about George Foster, the Broncos OT? I heard he might be on the market this offseason

On a somewhat related note, what does anyone here know about George Foster, the Broncos OT? I heard he might be on the market this offseason

The only thing I know about him is that he, like the other D-linemen in Denver, is well-known for his chop blocks. In fact, I think he ended some Bengal's season in 2005 with a chop block.

Here's the problem with Dockery. Yes he played great last year and was blowing people up all over the field, but why did he wait until this year to do it? Because his contract was up. He should have been playing like that from the opening bell. Instead he took it easy the first few years which is what he is most likely to do again if he is rewarded with a huge contract.

I really disagree.

He's gotten his weight down and improved his technique and he finally blossomed. I really don't think he was just waiting for his contract year to play well.

I really disagree.

He's gotten his weight down and improved his technique and he finally blossomed. I really don't think he was just waiting for his contract year to play well.

I agree...when you watch the video of him in the years past, it wasn't that he was lazy or anything, he just was out of position or getting rushed at the line and couldn't handle it (ie: technique), he came a long way this year. Keep in mind that he was VERY green behind the ear when we drafted him, and even though he was taken high by us, several scouts said he was a work in progress and would take a couple years to blossom. They were right.

Yeah, he's progressing as a player. It's not rare for rookies and young players to be overwhelmed and have the switch just flip for them. Contract years are ALWAYS a great motivator, but I doubt he dogged it to get a pay day, that's ridiculous.

On a somewhat related note, what does anyone here know about George Foster, the Broncos OT? I heard he might be on the market this offseasonFirst rounder in ...02 i think. Borderline bust.

Here's the real problem which exists not only on this board but throughout the Skins organization, why is the first response to personel have to be who do we sign, or who is a free agent, or who do we trade for??????? There is a little something called the draft, some teams actually use it to build championship teams. Reason? If you have a clue on how to evaluate talent then you can find pro-bowl caliber players, or at least players who can fill a role on a championship team at very reasonable cap friendly price. Now if you can't evaluate talent then I would still suggest useing the draft because the players that you draft and sign [unless it's a top 5 pick] will not throw your salary cap out of whack, unlike free agents who demand top dollar. Yes I am sure there is absolutly no one in the draft capable of at least playing as well as Dock let alone better, not that we could find them, so we will just continue to overpay for average talent.

Well, I'll be the first to admit I'm not a talent evaluator, and quite frankly I make no apologies for that. But I do know football.

As far as the Redskins not knowing anything about the draft, I'll have to somewhat disagree there too. We ended the season with 12 starters that were drafted or began their career as a Washington Redskin. That's better than the majority of the teams in the NFL. I would guess not more than two thirds of the teams in the league had that number of guys end the season who began their career with said team.

So the point about letting Dockery walk becasue he's average talent and we can somehow do better in the draft is a moot point. Especially since Dockery is homegrown.

At it's crux, continuity should probably not be much of an issue with this Dockery situation. To keep this franchise out of the gutter, the buck has to stop here. We simply have used up all of our leisure room with the cap and with our draft picks. In many respects, it was a good effort, but the attempts to quick build a winner have failed. We are in cap hell for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. We have a chance to stop it at that. This means we can't give Dockery more than hes worth, we can't give him a seven year backloaded deal, and its HIS decision whether he wants to be a Redskin or not.

We don't need Derrick Dockery to survive, and Derrick certainly doesn't need us. But we can give him a reasonable deal to keep him here. We have to have the leverage. Theres going to be a superior guard in free agency and a guy whos a backup for us right now (Pucillo) who is capable of starting in a pinch. Derrick knows we are tight on cap space and want him back, so he can either accomidate us or hit the road.

His comments make me think he wants to be here. So his agent either makes that happen or both parties move on. No hard feelings on either side if it comes to a split.

At it's crux, continuity should probably not be much of an issue with this Dockery situation. To keep this franchise out of the gutter, the buck has to stop here. We simply have used up all of our leisure room with the cap and with our draft picks. In many respects, it was a good effort, but the attempts to quick build a winner have failed. We are in cap hell for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. We have a chance to stop it at that. This means we can't give Dockery more than hes worth, we can't give him a seven year backloaded deal, and its HIS decision whether he wants to be a Redskin or not.

We don't need Derrick Dockery to survive, and Derrick certainly doesn't need us. But we can give him a reasonable deal to keep him here. We have to have the leverage. Theres going to be a superior guard in free agency and a guy whos a backup for us right now (Pucillo) who is capable of starting in a pinch. Derrick knows we are tight on cap space and want him back, so he can either accomidate us and hit the road.

His comments make me think he wants to be here. So his agent either makes that happen or both parties move on. No hard feelings on either side if it comes to a split.


Great post. I fully agree with this. I like Dockery but he is not worth a big salary/contract. We have greater needs to be paying an average to above average player superstar money.
The Redskins really need to do a better job in the late rounds of the draft. We shoot blanks after the 2nd or third round.