Build the Redskins for 2012

Ok so the seasons over for the Skins. We are not going to the playoffs, we all can accept that (if you can't then just click the back button because you're not gonna like this post). We're a little more than halfway through the season but we can already tell a lot about this team.

YOU my friend, are the Skins GM, Bruce Allen and Your also Mike Shanahan, You have complete control of the Skins and all their decisions (see where this thread is going). What are you going to do? Who do you retain? Who do you say Goodbye to? How do you build this team through the draft? What do you do in the draft? What about Free Agency? Whats the first thing you do once this season is officially done in terms of re-signing/extending?

Resign. :)

1) Re-sign LaRon Landry
2) Re-sign London to $4.5/1 year deal
3) Cut Beck and Doughty and Jammal Brown
4) Tell DeAngelo Hall to take a pay cut or be cut
5) Give Cooley a take it or leave it deal
6) Re-sign Kory L and Will Montgomery

Free Agency
Go after Vincent Jackson, Ben Grubbs, and one of the premier CB's (Brent Grimes, Cortland Finnegan, or Brandon Carr)

Draft
Make the trade for Luck. IF the trade is demanding too much (more than 3 first round picks) you go for plan B.

Plan B
Draft Vontaze Burfict in the first. Draft Nick Foles in the second. OLine, CB's, DL for the next couple of rounds. Get Kellen Moore if he's there in the 4th-6th round range. Get a TE in the later rounds because Cooley probably won't take my deal.

draft a franchise qb in either luck, or trade down, pick up a 2nd rounder or 3rd rounder and get RG3, get a true number one receiver, and draft a bunch of guards and tackles. Leaver defense as is.

Cut Grossman, cut Banks, cut J. Brown, cut K. Barnes, and cut Doughty

try to trade Deangelo Hall for a 3rd, pick up the best CB we can get via FA.

I say the Redskins need to keep their top defensive players on the roster. They also need to add a corner back. Josh Wilson hasn't shown me that he's a reliable option opposite D. Hall. The Redskins are basically very good at every position on defense. I'm not so sure that Kevin Barnes is a good nickle corner but he does play hard.

Offense needs to be totally retooled with new players. I like the running backs the Redskins already have. I like the TEs. But the Redskins need to draft a QB, a WR, and strive to get draft quality offensive linemen. I like Jamaal Brown, but let's face it, his play is erratic. He's good and he's less than good at times so the right tackle position needs to be looked at.

I think a long term project should be a total rebuild of the secondary. With that said, I would try to extend Landry to something reasonable that doesn't commit the Redskins for more than a year or two. I think you look at the contracts of Hall and Atogwe and try to determine what sort of production you are getting and if it's worth it to have either back next year. I would be totally okay with Wilson, Landry, and a bunch of new faces next season. But I don't think we should cut people just to cut people, I think we need to consider the production against the cost.

We need more depth on the DL. We can probably get away with ignoring that position early in the draft, but not late. Just getting Jarvis Jenkins back isn't going to completely fix the depth issues.

Offensively, I'd like to get someone to pair with Hankerson to threaten teams on the outside. But the real job should be to come away with a right tackle, a running back, and a quarterback in the first four rounds of the draft. If you have to rely on the current group of receivers for another year, you can likely get away with it.

I will elaborate later when I have more time but here are some guide markers:


1. There are no quality QBs on the roster. NONE! The Skins need to draft a QB plus they need to get someone in free agency to back him up/mentor him.
BIG CHALLENGE HERE: Whomever the Skins draft as the next QB cannot be a bust. No Colt Brennans; no Patrick Ramseys; no Heath Shulers.


2. The position of running back may be a relatively high priority IF Tim Hightower signs elsewhere or is slow in returning to football form. Gotta wait until about March 2012 to check that one out.


3. At least one new body has to be added to the OL - - and preferably two. It does not matter if they come from the draft or free agency but there have to be changes there.


4. Unless Landry wants to sign a VERY short deal with only a little guaranteed money, I would wish him well in his future endeavors in the league.


5. Unless Fletcher wants a jillion dollars guaranteed or a 5-year deal, I'd sign him up the day after the signing period starts.


6. Getting a top-shelf free agent WR would be nice. I would settle for someone out of free agency who is a step up from Gaffney/Armstrong/Paul.


7. Brandon Banks is a luxury this team cannot afford.


8. I would still be looking for a nose tackle for this 3-4 defense that has been mandated from on high.


9. Most of all, I would find a way to get Kyle Shanahan a job somewhere else where he had plausible deniability that he had been fired from this job because the place he is going is something he always wanted to do. That is probably the toughest one of all...

Resign both Landry and Fred Davis. Restructure Cooley and look to bring back. London should be resigned. D Hall likely can be restructured as well.

Priority number 1: New Starters at ILB, LG, C, WR1, QB and CB (nickle or starter). I would look to free agency for C and WR1.

Questions at Oline is whether to shift Chester to C and look for 2 new Guards and Can Kory return? I believe Kory and Montgomery are both free agents and I dont see them as anything but average. We should look to improve there.

Depth at Safety, D Line and Tackle should be looked at as second level priorities and movement there is likely.

There is no question, QB is number one priority.

Im lost on the RB situation, but Hightower should be considered to be brought back and Helu is a solid number 2 back. Torain looks done. I would consider Hillis as a free agent, or a look at another Shanny special in the draft.

Find next year's Andy Dalton and focus almost exclusively on Offense. O-line, O-line, O-line.

Without making a single change, the Defense would be improved if they could play with the lead every once in a while and had an Offense that could keep opposing Offenses off the field. Turnovers tend to occur more frequently when teams are playing catch-up and have to pass every down.

You can win Super Bowls with pretty good Wide Receivers and Running Backs (See Patriots x 3, see Willie Parker, see Joseph Addai, See Ryan Grant, etc.)

QB Play + O-Line + Solid Defense = playoffs every year.

First things first, I do not know which prospects are better than others.

But first, you look at all the potentially interesting candidates you can find from FA, draft, and trades.

I would consider making about 1 big splash and a bunch of little splashes in free agency. Bowe, Wayne, Solail would be the big splash. Otherwise, the rest of the players are those "unknown bargain bin players".

Draft-wise, I'd scout out the QBs heavily, and if one of them is "worthy" and he falls to us, we take him. If no, then we take the BPA at any other position besides RB, TE, P, and K. The rest of the draft should be BPA, since we in desperate need of long-term "gotta lock them up for 5+ years" type of players.