Mega-Merge: 2010 Free Agency Rumors and Reports Thread

When you look at he weak UFA class this year, it just makes sense that many teams will be stongly considering making trades to improve their teams. We don't have enough draft picks to pull off many, if any, significant trades, so I think the FO may need to take a cold, hard look at which players they could make available in the right trade. I'd think that the following players could be valuable trade chips.

Andre Carter - He had a very good year in 2009 and he could help a 4-3 team. He didn't fare well as a 3-4 linebacker with the 49'ers, which is how we got him to begin with.

Chris Cooley - I did say a cold, hard look. With the development of Fred Davis, Cooley could be traded. He would have high value to the right team.

LaRon Landry - I think he's not much better than average as a FS but he is very valuable as a SS. We have two players who can do a good job at SS and we have two decent prospects at FS. If we were to trade Landry, I think we'd need an experienced FS in the short term, which we should be able to acquire.

Santana Moss - If he stays, I think he'll be moved to the slot and he'll play fewer snaps. He's still a very good WR who could start for a lot of teams.

Carlos Rogers - First of all, he doesn't want to be here. Beyond that, he's a starting CB in this league who would have good trade value.

I'm not knocking any of these players. The question is "Do we need starters at other positions more than we need them"? We really need a solid LT, for example.

Anyone else read this? I couldn't disagree more with this:

Losing the offseason*|*Warpath Confidential (http://web.warpathconfidential.com/?p=3230)

I actually agree with it 100%. Given our needs, we should have gotten atleast two of Dansby, Rolle, Pashos and Clifton. All of them would have represented upgrades over what we've currently got on the roster in HB Blades, Kareem Moore, Levi Jones, Mike Williams, and Stephon Heyer, just to name a few. Letting Pashos and Clifton BOTH walk are the most inexcusable moves of the bunch. Would that have provided a long-term solution? No. But they'd give us time to develop some younger guys and, since there's no cap, there's no reason NOT to have overspent a little to get them here.

I'm not overly excited about any of the guys coming in to redskins park today and tomorrow, but if Larry Foote leaves without a contract, i'll be very disappointed.

so, who is "santana89" on the warpath? Anyone who is members of ES and the warpath who actually prefers the ES has got something seriously wrong with them.

i agree with you Matty. With the strategy suggested in the article, we would be better off for 2010 and 2011, but then be right back in the same spot we are today. cheaper stop gap measures, with intentions on finding young talent is the way to go.

Hard to believe some are upset over losing out on marginal guys like Clifton and Pashos, who in normal years would have barely registered a blip on most teams' free agent radar. I can see people getting upset over losing out on someone like Dansby, but then again if we're turning over a new leaf you have to at least give the new direction a chance. "Winning" the offseason hasn't gotten us anything in the past.

i agree with you Matty. With the strategy suggested in the article, we would be better off for 2010 and 2011, but then be right back in the same spot we are today. cheaper stop gap measures, with intentions on finding young talent is the way to go.

we'd only be back where we were today in 2012 if we traded 2010 and 2011 draft picks for veterans or the new CBA has a grandfather rule that penalizes teams who spent big in the uncapped year by taking draft picks away from them. bringing in free agent veterans in an uncapped year doesn't hurt the team if the players fit the system.

Hard to believe some are upset over losing out on marginal guys like Clifton and Pashos, who in normal years would have barely registered a blip on most teams' free agent radar. I can see people getting upset over losing out on someone like Dansby, but then again if we're turning over a new leaf you have to at least give the new direction a chance. "Winning" the offseason hasn't gotten us anything in the past.

I was a little upset myself just because these would have been nice band-aide fixes while we got younger in the draft. Now if we kept drafting skill position players after this draft THEN I might start questioning the process a little bit, but I don't find a whole lot wrong with signing these guys.

If we end up going QB with our first pick, we're going to get him killed in my opinion.

Maybe I'll be surprised by the end result, but those would have been nice stop-gaps to help with the rebuild for the time being.

So here is the official Redskins stance:
Redskins Insider - Under Bruce Allen, free agency for Redskins may last for months (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/bruce-allen/under-bruce-allen-free-agency.html)

Finally, after what might've been a few frustrating days for some Redskins' fans, General Manager Bruce Allen offered an explanation for the team's slow-play approach to free agency.

"Free agency isn't a day, and it's not a weekend. We think free agency runs 'til the first day of training camp," Allen told Sports Illustrated's Peter King on Sunday. "Let's see who you have a couple of months from now, not just who you have after a couple of days. What difference does it make when you sign them, if they help you?''

Also in the article, interesting that BA still isn't giving the Post an interview.

Patience is something Skins fans aren't used to. Good read here

Julius Peppers, Antrel Rolle, NFL free agency, Five For Fighting - Peter King - SI.com (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/03/07/freeagency/index.html?eref=sihp#ixzz0hb0WM79s)

Anyone else read this? I couldn't disagree more with this:

Losing the offseason*|*Warpath Confidential (http://web.warpathconfidential.com/?p=3230)

1000% wrong. This article should have been shelved as soon as the author pointed to the Bears as who we should emulate. The Bears are the same team that traded a starting quarterback, two first round picks, a third round pick and a 5th round pick for a guy who was an absolute disaster. The Bears are in panic mode! Their entire front office is fighting for their jobs and they had no first or second round pick. They had no choice.

This person does not understand what they are trying to do at the park. If it was just about having the most talent on the field, then we probably wouldn't have cut most of those guys. This year is an organizational change where a new philosophy is being implemented.

First step (executed) - get rid of the offensive contracts where the player was significantly overpaid for their production to date and likely future production. The pundits would say "What about Portis!!" Well, Portis has $7 million guaranteed and despite all of the critics, he is/was the best runningback on the roster. No available FA is clearly better than him. Cutting Portis and paying him 7 million then having to pay a few million to a different guy who may or may not be better that Portis just does not make sense. Plus, Portis was ridiculous in Shanny's system. Isn't it worth trying to see if he can regain the magic?

Second step (in process) - Use free agent WISELY. Washington is no longer where you go to get paid. The new regime wants Washington to be where you go to win. This free agent class just isn't that talented. To say that they should be throwing money around is poor analysis. The author is just as impatient as "joe the fan" who is upset that we didn't have 4 guys signed in 24 hours. That approach is gone because it doesn't work (see the last 10 years as evidence).

Third step, the draft (upcoming) - Washington definitely needs to improve here. We have 5 picks and we need ALL FIVE to contribute. No punters, no deadweight linemen or fullbacks who will never see the field. And for the love of Pete....If we draft someone like Cody Glenn and Antonio Dixon, is it too much to ask for them to remain on our roster? I don't want to see them in playoff games helping out other teams.

Bad article all around. Just an example of they are damned if they do, damned if they don't.

1000% wrong. This article should have been shelved as soon as the author pointed to the Bears as who we should emulate. The Bears are the same team that traded a starting quarterback, two first round picks, a third round pick and a 5th round pick for a guy who was an absolute disaster. The Bears are in panic mode! Their entire front office is fighting for their jobs and they had no first or second round pick. They had no choice.

This person does not understand what they are trying to do at the park. If it was just about having the most talent on the field, then we probably wouldn't have cut most of those guys. This year is an organizational change where a new philosophy is being implemented.

First step (executed) - get rid of the offensive contracts where the player was significantly overpaid for their production to date and likely future production. The pundits would say "What about Portis!!" Well, Portis has $7 million guaranteed and despite all of the critics, he is/was the best runningback on the roster. No available FA is clearly better than him. Cutting Portis and paying him 7 million then having to pay a few million to a different guy who may or may not be better that Portis just does not make sense. Plus, Portis was ridiculous in Shanny's system. Isn't it worth trying to see if he can regain the magic?

Second step (in process) - Use free agent WISELY. Washington is no longer where you go to get paid. The new regime wants Washington to be where you go to win. This free agent class just isn't that talented. To say that they should be throwing money around is poor analysis. The author is just as impatient as "joe the fan" who is upset that we didn't have 4 guys signed in 24 hours. That approach is gone because it doesn't work (see the last 10 years as evidence).

Third step, the draft (upcoming) - Washington definitely needs to improve here. We have 5 picks and we need ALL FIVE to contribute. No punters, no deadweight linemen or fullbacks who will never see the field. And for the love of Pete....If we draft someone like Cody Glenn and Antonio Dixon, is it too much to ask for them to remain on our roster? I don't want to see them in playoff games helping out other teams.

Bad article all around. Just an example of they are damned if they do, damned if they don't.

You can't help but think that had the Skins signed Pashos, Clifton, Dansby, etc. we would be reading an article from this guy saying here we go with the same old free spending Redskins.