Huge FA Class in 2011 - But will anyone want to come here?

Gtripp, didn't Breaston lead the league in dropped passes? Thought I saw an article on this somewhere.

That's top 3 dumbest things I've see on this site. So you'd bypass the best, deepest FA class in the HISTORY of the NFL to tank a season and draft a college kid. Vinny Cerrato mocks you while Matt Millen scoffs at you.

OK...let's chase around a bunch of free agents. How's that worked? How many playoff games have we won since Snyder took over? See, I'm tired of the same old routine around here. It never works. It's never worked and it's not going to work. So I'd get rid of every single guy that's over 28 or 29, either trade them or just cut them. That includes McNabb, Haynesworth, Portis, Cooley, Fletcher, Carter, Sellers, Moss, Rabach and so on. 10 wins the last two years and a 5 and 6 win season under Gibbs. Enough!!!!! We simply don't have good players so it's time to gut the team and have 2-3 solid drafts, then add guys when we have a solid foundation. Right now our foundation isn't good enough.

Deep, for sure, but I'm not sure how many available players actually help us build.

In free agency, we can improve with:

- a starting RG
- any defensive player with experience in Pittsburgh's system.

But beyond that, I'm not sure whats out there that makes us a better team. The receiver class is very deep, and we certainly need some help there, but which player would come to Washington to be part of a rebuilding project? Breaston, maybe? Rice would be a killer signing, but he's possibly the most sought-after free agent on the market, if not the Vikings' franchise player.

The easiest position to improve through free agency would be the quarterback position, but there are no great names out there. All QBs who were once drafted in the first round and will be available in FA include:

Peyton Manning
Michael Vick
Matt Leinart
Byron Leftwich
Alex Smith
Kerry Collins
Rex Grossman
Kyle Boller

Plus one name I find to be most intriguing for the Shanahan system if/when he hits the market: Drew Stanton.

Vick and Manning obviously aren't coming here. Maybe we're interested in one of the other 6? Or Grossman plus one other.

I would not resign Grossman. I would bring in ONE of those free agents above, and draft TWO quarterbacks in the draft. That's how I would handle it.
I'm by no means advocating a 'gas up Redskins One' spending spree like years past, more focused and aggressive.

For example, this is what I suggested earlier in this thread:
RB-Tim Hightower
WR-Malcolm Floyd or Jacoby Jones
OL-Deuce Luitui, Davin Jospeh or Ryan Khalil
DL-Aubrayo Franklin or Barry Coefeld
LB-David Harris or Manny Lawson

We will be much improved at those positions without breaking the bank OR getting older at any of those positions. That's the way to do FA.

I'd disagree about Rex however. I don't think he's the answer at all for us at QB long term (or even really short term) but he's a placeholder until whichever QB we draft early is ready, be it 8 games, full season or into year 2.

Dude must not care about winning that's for sure

No I care about winning but chasing other teams players has proved that it doesn't translate into wins. The best season we've had was the 05 team that barely got in as a wild card and won one playoff game cause of a defensive TD. So I'd rather get some young guys, let them learn how to play together, grow together and then add guys later on. Kinda how Tampa Bay and the Rams are doing it.

Anyone remember the 81 draft class around here??? Mark May, Russ Grimm, Charlie Brown, Clint Didier, Daryl Grant, Dexter Manley. Enough said....

Deep, for sure, but I'm not sure how many available players actually help us build.

In free agency, we can improve with:

- a starting RG
- any defensive player with experience in Pittsburgh's system.

But beyond that, I'm not sure whats out there that makes us a better team. The receiver class is very deep, and we certainly need some help there, but which player would come to Washington to be part of a rebuilding project? Breaston, maybe? Rice would be a killer signing, but he's possibly the most sought-after free agent on the market, if not the Vikings' franchise player.

The easiest position to improve through free agency would be the quarterback position, but there are no great names out there. All QBs who were once drafted in the first round and will be available in FA include:

Peyton Manning
Michael Vick
Matt Leinart
Byron Leftwich
Alex Smith
Kerry Collins
Rex Grossman
Kyle Boller

Plus one name I find to be most intriguing for the Shanahan system if/when he hits the market: Drew Stanton.

Vick and Manning obviously aren't coming here. Maybe we're interested in one of the other 6? Or Grossman plus one other.

I would not resign Grossman. I would bring in ONE of those free agents above, and draft TWO quarterbacks in the draft. That's how I would handle it.

when's the last time 2 drafted qb's really lasted on a team? I can't get on drafting 2 vs keeping one guy who played averagish

I'm by no means advocating a 'gas up Redskins One' spending spree like years past, more focused and aggressive.

For example, this is what I suggested earlier in this thread:
RB-Tim Hightower
WR-Malcolm Floyd or Jacoby Jones
OL-Deuce Luitui, Davin Jospeh or Ryan Khalil
DL-Aubrayo Franklin or Barry Coefeld
LB-David Harris or Manny Lawson

We will be much improved at those positions without breaking the bank OR getting older at any of those positions. That's the way to do FA.

I'd disagree about Rex however. I don't think he's the answer at all for us at QB long term (or even really short term) but he's a placeholder until whichever QB we draft early is ready, be it 8 games, full season or into year 2.Regarding Rex, a bad placeholder is still a bad placeholder. There is absolutely no reason to play Grossman another game. This is the same thing the Cardinals dealt with in 2010. Just because you don't have a game-ready quarterback on the roster doesn't mean starting Derek Anderson for 10 games is a justifiable decision. Rex is (a bit) better than Anderson, but still. Just throw whatever rookie you drafted into the fire and for god sakes protect him with the gameplan. Don't let him throw 45 times. The Steelers protected Roethlisberger for two years AND won a super bowl doing it.

My problem with the free agent targets you've posted is that it's tough to have that many guys switching systems, and somehow expect all of the signings to work out. Free agency needs to be darn close to 100% hit rate in order to work, and the more aggressive teams are with it, the more likely it is to fail.

Hightower would just block a better player in Williams. Jacoby Jones is maddeningly inconsistent, and more of a frustrating player than someone who is still a prospect. Just to give a couple examples.

I think there is help to be had on the lines on both sides of the ball, but would rather go with what we have as starters on the DL and then bolster our defensive line using our later round draft choices.

The biggest issue is that for every player you sign to a guaranteed contract, that's one less roster spot that's available to win for rookie talent (mostly undrafted) that cost a team nothing and have longterm upside in the system. So while I advocate FA help at positions where the Redskins are very close to fielding strong units (the offensive line, for example, or inside linebacker), it makes far less sense to chase at other positions where there is more young talent to develop.

Quarterback is historically one of the better free agent positions, and I think you should always look for players who are misvalued on the open market. Even though it looks like a weak FA class, there's almost certainly a couple of good players there. More depth at least than in a single draft class, and the benefit of FA quarterbacks is that you don't have to spend time developing him.

when's the last time 2 drafted qb's really lasted on a team? I can't get on drafting 2 vs keeping one guy who played averagishGreen Bay in 2008. They drafted Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn. They had Brohm for a year, and released them. They now have Graham Harrell in that roster spot.

They didn't draft any good quarterbacks, but it ended up not mattering because the incumbent starter turned out to be a great player. Hopefully the next team to employ the strategy has more success.

Green Bay in 2008. They drafted Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn. They had Brohm for a year, and released them. They now have Graham Harrell in that roster spot.

They didn't draft any good quarterbacks, but it ended up not mattering because the incumbent starter turned out to be a great player. Hopefully the next team to employ the strategy has more success.

So it hasn't really? I can't get behind a new QB and 2 draftees. Keep Rex, let him compete with ?????? and draft at least one.

when's the last time 2 drafted qb's really lasted on a team? I can't get on drafting 2 vs keeping one guy who played averagish

Troy Aikman and Steve Walsh...sort of

So it hasn't really? I can't get behind a new QB and 2 draftees. Keep Rex, let him compete with ?????? and draft at least one.Well, I think you're looking at "worked" differently than I am. With two non-first round picks being drafted, "worked" is that one of the two becomes a starting quarterback. Certainly, it is rare for a 6th rounder like Flynn to beat out a 2nd rounder like Brohm, but drafting two QBs in the same draft made it possible. Brohm wasn't as good as the Packers thought, and Flynn was a little better.

It also made it easy to diagnose the development of one in practice, because the other works as a standard by which his development can be measured. Brohm would likely still be a Packer if they didn't draft Flynn, but one could argue that the Packers would be worse off behind Rodgers if he were.

In Green Bay, I think it worked. Obviously, Rodgers never looked back as the starter, but Matt Flynn wouldn't otherwise have made an NFL roster if not for the strategy the Packers used. He would have never risen past third string.