Rebuilding or Reloading

After the barrage of comments (many of them good comments others pretty bad) about the offered trade for Chad Johnson, I started to think about something...what do we think the Redskins doing as a team, rebuilding or reloading?

Many of us think that the team is one good explosive (offensive) player away from going deep into the playoffs (and some of us homers are saying superbowl...but then again if the Giants can do it...anyway).

However some of you are saying that we should build through the draft, grow some talent, and develop young players. And of course along with the argument is the whole "let's not give our picks away".

So once again I ask, what are we doing, rebuilding or reloading? I honesly don't think a WR receiver at the 21st pick is going to give us that extra push the offense needs, and picking up an OL would only add to depth. These players wouldn't contribute right away, and it would take a year or two to do so. Furthermore, if we were to pick up an defensive lineman (i.e. a Phillip Merling) or a Defensive Back, I think they would initially add to depth.

In regards to our defense, while there have always been needs to fill in this area, I feel that they have been pretty consistent (at least two out of the past three years) and they always seem to bail out the offense (if memory serves me right our inability to score and put the game away contributed some of the losses in close games last season).

So for those of you that feel that we should not trade for an impact offensive player, and advocate for us to build through the draft I ask if you...

a.) feel that Gibbs system held down the offense and we can improve it with our current roster and the Zorn system or...

b.) think we'll get lucky and get a steal at #21 or in the later rounds or...

c.) feel that things may not work out with Zorn and we should rebuild for later years.

Draft a .45 in the first, some bullets in the second, and blow our brains out in third.


Ad nauseam comes to mind in regard to this topic. If you wanted more just troll back over the 20+ pages of the top 5 topics.

...As a sidebar, my opinion is that were rebuilding.:laughing-

I disagree with Skinny Tee in that I think this is an interesting question worthy of discussion (although I must admit to not having read most of the aformentioned 20 pages).

Anyway, assuming we keep all of our draft picks I see it more as a supplementing so as to avoid rebuilding at a later time. That way we just rotate the guys right in when they are ready and don't have to necessarily stink for two years while guys learn how to play in the NFL.

We mistakently thought and behaved as if we were only a few impact players away from contention through most of the Snyder era with questionable results. The problem was not, as so many mistakenly posit, that you can't win with free agents. You can. You can start with the Patriots who have fueled their whole superbowl run with ready to play over 30 veterans. The problem has been that we lacked depth at critical positions and were not able to absorb the inevitable injuries to our older starters when they went down. When we went into the season two years with only two viable starting NFL CB's plus Kenny Wright and Mike Rumph that was folly, and that showed up in one of the worst pass defenses in the league that year.

Anyway, I think you can have your cake and eat it too, can use free agency to firm up your roster while still building for the future. I think we probably veered too far in one direction over the last couple of years, but all you sky is falling people, let's not forget that a team that made the playoffs only once over a decade has been there twice in the past two years, using an excellent blend of homegrown talent and drafted players.

You don't build a team in the first round, that's where you try (and quite often fail) to find superstars). A proven 30 year old/ versus an uncertain rookie doesn't impact our ability to build for the future, imo.

Reloading imo. Rebuilding gets you into the playoffs, we are already there (by the skin of our teeth). I think we need a few key players, and to get healthy, and I believe we have a shot at a good run in the post season.

This team is not really in need of rebuilding but reloading implies they are better than they really are. This team has some glaring problems that IMO once again make it a playoff bubble team.

To be honest I do not think that we ever finished building the team in the first place, so how can we be rebuilding? I think that we might have gotten it built after last season, but we brought in a new architect to finish the job. Don't worry though because the crew and the foreman are the same. On the other hand we have loaded the team with talent and every year we seem to reload on talent outside of the draft. This year we are going to use the draft. That is a nice concept.

Simple answer: We are reloading; the Dolphins are rebuilding and have been since Marino left.

In the NFL today, any team in the league is just two seasons away from being SB contenders or having to rebuild. Look at S. Alexander- '05 league MVP, '08 unemployed.

The Skins may be one player away from having an explosive offense, but that depends on the progress of Campbell, which at this point remains the ultimate question mark. Are we rebuilding or reloading? Before we can answer that question, we need to figure out whether or not Campbell will become a dominate player in this league. I think that will decide which direction the Skins go.

This year we are going to use the draft. That is a nice concept.

Don't be too sure; Skins have already tried their hardest to get rid of two first round draft picks.

Don't be too sure; Skins have already tried their hardest to get rid of two first round draft picks.


The second one was conditional and would have only panned out if Chad had turned into superman overnight and broke all of the season recieving recieving records for us, while propelling us into the NFC Championship game on his way to Canton to be the first player inducted before even being eligible for induction.

A bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

After the barrage of comments (many of them good comments others pretty bad) about the offered trade for Chad Johnson, I started to think about something...what do we think the Redskins doing as a team, rebuilding or reloading?

Many of us think that the team is one good explosive (offensive) player away from going deep into the playoffs (and some of us homers are saying superbowl...but then again if the Giants can do it...anyway).

However some of you are saying that we should build through the draft, grow some talent, and develop young players. And of course along with the argument is the whole "let's not give our picks away".

So once again I ask, what are we doing, rebuilding or reloading? I honesly don't think a WR receiver at the 21st pick is going to give us that extra push the offense needs, and picking up an OL would only add to depth. These players wouldn't contribute right away, and it would take a year or two to do so. Furthermore, if we were to pick up an defensive lineman (i.e. a Phillip Merling) or a Defensive Back, I think they would initially add to depth.

In regards to our defense, while there have always been needs to fill in this area, I feel that they have been pretty consistent (at least two out of the past three years) and they always seem to bail out the offense (if memory serves me right our inability to score and put the game away contributed some of the losses in close games last season).

So for those of you that feel that we should not trade for an impact offensive player, and advocate for us to build through the draft I ask if you...

a.) feel that Gibbs system held down the offense and we can improve it with our current roster and the Zorn system or...

b.) think we'll get lucky and get a steal at #21 or in the later rounds or...

c.) feel that things may not work out with Zorn and we should rebuild for later years.

We're kind of in the middle. We're in transition. With age all over the place it is crucial that we start getting some young guys in the system. Especially on the O-line.

Look what happened to KC once their line got old? They had no one waiting in the wings once they started losing guys to retirement. Now look at them? Their offense is not even functionable because they can't protect the passer and they can't run the ball worth shit. All because of their line. You can bring in all the skill guys you want. But if you don't have a line then you've got nothing.

Also everyone thinks Reed D. is going to step in and be a solid NFL starting SS. I'm not so sure about that and we had better be prepared for option #2. I said this in another post but at some point we're going to feel the loss (on the field) of #21.