Current Redskins Salary Cap Status - 2009

The question is how long can we expect to rely on this core group of guys?

Of the top 20 cap hits for the Skins in '09, 17 have played at least 7 seasons already (Landry, Cooley, Rogers are the others). How many more shots can Portis take? How many more years can Fletcher carry our defense? This is not a young group and it's not getting younger.

The Skins have 2 choices IMO:

1. Play for 2010-2011 and make a REAL commitment to youth. Keep Landry, Campbell, Cooley, Rogers, Betts, and the recent draft picks - and jettison the rest. As Gary Oldman said in "The Professional": "EVERYONE!!!" Take the billion dollar deadcap hit in 2009 and set ourselves up with a new young core for 2010 and beyond.

2. Continue with the same strategy and try to make one more serious run with this group. Bring in free agent stopgaps to fill our holes on the lines and elsewhere and hope Campbell and our other young guys progress to the point that we can be serious NFC title contenders within the next 2-3 years.

Hate to say it but after years of painful mediocrity, option 1 is starting to sound really good to me. But we all know the odds of option 2 are about 99.9%.

With our current WR woes I do not see us getting rid of Moss. I do not think that would be a smart move at this juncture.

The question is how long can we expect to rely on this core group of guys?

Of the top 20 cap hits for the Skins in '09, 17 have played at least 7 seasons already (Landry, Cooley, Rogers are the others). How many more shots can Portis take? How many more years can Fletcher carry our defense? This is not a young group and it's not getting younger.

The Skins have 2 choices IMO:

1. Play for 2010-2011 and make a REAL commitment to youth. Keep Landry, Campbell, Cooley, Rogers, Betts, and the recent draft picks - and jettison the rest. As Gary Oldman said in "The Professional": "EVERYONE!!!" Take the billion dollar deadcap hit in 2009 and set ourselves up with a new young core for 2010 and beyond.

2. Continue with the same strategy and try to make one more serious run with this group. Bring in free agent stopgaps to fill our holes on the lines and elsewhere and hope Campbell and our other young guys progress to the point that we can be serious NFC title contenders within the next 2-3 years.

Hate to say it but after years of painful mediocrity, option 1 is starting to sound really good to me. But we all know the odds of option 2 are about 99.9%.


Of those 17, why does it have to be an immediate firesale? Option 1 seems kind of excessive. Can't we just gradually (over the course of 2 or 3 seasons) jettison those older large cap hits based on some hybrid formula of declining productivity and size of cap hit? Maybe that's kind of what you're suggesting in option two.

I say sign stopgaps but make sure they're relatively young and be smart with their contracts, don't piss away draft picks for old and/or questionable talent, and continue to get younger through the draft.

Of those 17, why does it have to be an immediate firesale? Option 1 seems kind of excessive. Can't we just gradually (over the course of 2 or 3 seasons) jettison those older large cap hits based on some hybrid formula of declining productivity and size of cap hit? Maybe that's kind of what you're suggesting in option two.

The problem is we have a lot of age at a lot of positions. So in 2008 a guy like Jansen drops off the cliff and we have to replace him. Rabach may have to go too. Then next year maybe Thomas loses another step and we need an upgrade there. And how long does Samuels have left? We can bring in a couple Kendalls, but in two years we need to replace them again. Our 2010 O-Line is not looking very good right now.

On the D, Griffin, Daniels and Washington might have to go this year. Springs is probably gone. Fletcher's played 11 seasons already so he's gonna need some real help real soon. Taylor is likely gone and/or only has a couple semi-productive seasons left in him. Andre Carter's entering his 9th season in 2009, not exactly a spring chicken.

If you take out all the guys I mentioned in the next couple years what do we have left? And if you keep moving different guys in and out, it's really hard to build a cohesive core.

Plus the Skins track record on trades in less than stellar to put it kindly. We always pay too much, and make dumb moves like spending a 2nd rounder for Taylor, only to trade a younger and more valuable Moss for that same 2nd rounder a year later...

I kind of feel like flushing the system in 2009. Maybe we add a few select vets like Moss, Portis, Fletch, Samuels to option 1 and dump everyone else. Jansen, Thomas, Daniels, Springs, Taylor, Washington, Griffin, Smoot, Rabach all gone. If you're not looking like a solid contributor in 2010 I don't want you here. Eat a big chunk of deadcap this year and clean the books. Try to get as many picks as possible and let Zorn build the team he wants from the ground up. See which rookies stick and build from there. Spend the big money in a couple years when we're hopefully only a couple pieces away.

Look I'm just speculating/venting. I'd be very surprised if we did a real housecleaning. But maybe a 4-12 regroup season would serve us best for the long term.

Well, you'll probably hear rumors of Houshmanzadeh. But I think those are bunk, probably being fed from right inside Redskins Park to jack up TJ's value (which is high as it is) since their division opponents are known to be interested.

And I don't think they're trying to get extra picks with the intent on spending a high pick on a #1 WR. So I agree we still would need someone. If healthy, big if, Kelly should be a lock to be the #2 WR this year. Thomas, will be in that 3/4 range in 2009, depending on how much he advances this off-season and what happens with El. And Davis should be much more involved, I would think.

You'll probably also hear rumors of Brandon Jones because of the Sherman Smith connection with Tennessee, I'm not buying those either.I wish we could have a Kelly-Randle El receiver tandem, but unless Kelly shows the ability to make the down the field play, that's at least a year away from happening.

I tend to agree. And if the rumors are true, he's much more actively being shopped and likely to be traded than Rogers. Apparently, the Redskins are eyeing three 2nd rounders again.Well, I suppose they've at least got the whole drafting for value concept down.

They do make it crazy hard on themselves when they pay premium prices for mediocre talent though.

Personally I wouldn't cry over trading Moss.

I like him but he's not what you want out of a true #1 WR. I think JLC said it best so I'll just quote him:

Moss is no longer one of the elite receivers in the game. He is the best playmaker the Skins have, but without a dynamic second receiver to complement him, he's pretty easily taken away. His size is a detriment and unlike, say Carolina's Steve Smith, he isn't going to beat Cover-2 for deep plays with any sort of regularity. And with such a dearth of talent around him, that's generally what it takes for the Skins to have any offensive success. When opponents ignore him early, he reminds them that he can still play with a few big games. Then opponents double up on him and effectively shut him down. That's basically been the story of the past few seasons.

Personally I wouldn't cry over trading Moss.

I like him but he's not what you want out of a true #1 WR. I think JLC said it best so I'll just quote him:

Trading him for a 2nd round pick would make sense from a value standpoint, as JLC said, he's not really an elite guy anymore. But at the same time, we'd have to recognize that trading Moss for a pick would be making the team WORSE in 2009.

It's the kind of move that can pay off in the long run. But trading him would leave us with no WR even remotely proven capable of handling a starting role, let alone a #1 role. We'd easily have the worst WR corps in the league.

If the team made a move like this, it better be coupled with other house-cleaning moves like CC suggested. If you're going to choose the rebuild route, you gotta go all out for it and commit to the youth movement. I'd hate it if Moss were traded and then we went and kept Jason Taylor, something like that would make no sense. We'll see I suppose.

Trading him for a 2nd round pick would make sense from a value standpoint, as JLC said, he's not really an elite guy anymore. But at the same time, we'd have to recognize that trading Moss for a pick would be making the team WORSE in 2009.

It's the kind of move that can pay off in the long run. But trading him would leave us with no WR even remotely proven capable of handling a starting role, let alone a #1 role. We'd easily have the worst WR corps in the league.

If the team made a move like this, it better be coupled with other house-cleaning moves like CC suggested. If you're going to choose the rebuild route, you gotta go all out for it and commit to the youth movement. I'd hate it if Moss were traded and then we went and kept Jason Taylor, something like that would make no sense. We'll see I suppose.

Ironically, the three free agents WRs we had most been associated with last off-season may be available this spring as well-Hackett, B. Johnson, and D. Jackson.

No doubt in my mind though that if they are able to get some 2nd round picks, with Moss being part of the leverage to get those, then you'll definitely hear a lot of buzz about the Redskins offering some package that includes a 1st this year or within the next three for Boldin.

I tend to agree. And if the rumors are true, he's much more actively being shopped and likely to be traded than Rogers. Apparently, the Redskins are eyeing three 2nd rounders again.

What "rumors" are there about santana moss being traded? Thus far, there have been no rumors about ANYONE on the skins roster being traded, unless you count JLC's speculation about Rogers. Even still, there have been no "rumors" about santana moss being traded that i'm aware of - just one fan's idle speculation. There's a huge difference between a legitimate rumor and speculation, even if it is "educated" speculation.