O-Line Edition: Free Agency and the Draft

The way FA has gone, we need to address multiple positions with that 3rd rounder. I still have RT as our top priority, but im confident there will be a quality RT prospect in the 3rd round. Match him up with Collins or injury ridden McNeil and go from there. We were never serious about Winston.As much as it sucked to get screwed out of $18 million of cap room and get stuck with just 17.5 million remaining, that's a ton of cap room to improve the team. By my estimates, we've spent around 13 ish million, which is a lot.

And it's just not clear where the team has improved. For all that money, we have a lot more competition at the Z receiver position, and we're healthier overall (though weaker) at safety. We don't yet have Fletcher back in the fold, and at this point, would seemingly have to create some cap room to get him signed.

There's still plenty of time to get around to actually improving the team: both the LB and the OT markets are still pretty robust, and the Redskins can create cap room by borrowing money from future seasons. The Trent Williams contract has a lot of base salary in it. Beck can be cut. Cooley and Davis can be extended, etc. Hall can be released if that $10 million isn't enough. I don't doubt they'll make another move.

But spending so much on so little isn't a good plan to build around RG3, no matter how desperate things looked after the NFL docked us cap space.

Tulloch is still available at ilb, and he's good, but fletch is better. I don't get why we overspend either, but really I think the only 2 overspent contracts are Carriker & Garçon. I feel like they could have kept Carriker for half that contract. Was someone else high on Carriker?

Don't forget that June 1 cuts may leave us with viable RT, ILB, and S candidates. And by that time we might have more cap space back via appeal.

lofton is still out there too

Tulloch is still available at ilb, and he's good, but fletch is better. I don't get why we overspend either, but really I think the only 2 overspent contracts are Carriker & Garçon. I feel like they could have kept Carriker for half that contract. Was someone else high on Carriker?Carriker's contract was market value, and essentially boils down to about 1 year/4 million or 2 years/7 million. That's a starters salary, and Carriker is more of a priority backup in both skill and on our depth chart, but it's a team-friendly contract. Team friendly (when I use it) basically just asks two questions: 1) can the team get away from the contract one year in without significant cap implication, and 2) are there enough cheap years on the back end where the team might actually want to hold onto the player at the terms agreed upon. In Carriker's case, the answer to both questions is yes (although he holds an option to get out of the contract after one year).

Garcon's contract was market value as well, but the Redskins bought in a sellers market, and bought an asset that was priced like a top receiver (like Sidney Rice a year before), despite the obvious difference that Garcon has never played like Sidney Rice did in 2009.

If you can stomach it, you can look and see what Seattle got for their investment in a no. 1 receiver a year ago:

Sidney Rice NFL Football Statistics - Pro-Football-Reference.com (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/R/RiceSi01.htm)

And keep in mind that Garcon has not yet proved he can perform at that level, although he also hasn't missed significant time with injury.

The way the receiver market is these days, you have to be able to draft and develop, or you need to be able to pluck good ones in trades (like we did with Gaffney). You can't use the free agent market. It's just pissing your cap dollars into the sewer.

That goes for Tampa Bay and Jacksonville as well, obviously.

How do we know the plan isn't to draft a RT in the 3RD?

Don't forget that June 1 cuts may leave us with viable RT, ILB, and S candidates. And by that time we might have more cap space back via appeal.The way agents structure deals these days kills June 1 as a meaningful cut date. I suppose cap-strapped teams like the Cards, Steelers, and Jets might cut a guy or two after that date, but contracts are being written to include roster guarantees within a week of the league year beginning. Those clauses are just being written in to prevent teams from holding onto a guy for three additional months if they know he's not going to be back.

The Raiders and Kam Wimbley are a great example. Under the prior CBA, Wimbley would have either been a June 1 cut, or would have been paid a roster bonus by the Raiders. But now agents are smart enough to pull that option away from the team, and force a decision in March.

The only position where June 1 still might matter is with quarterbacks who get $20 million+ signing bonuses and then have a disaster season that causes the team to find someone else one year into the contract. But it has to be a position or a player who the team is making a significant financial committment to. Like, for example, if Peyton Manning were to be horribly ineffective in 2012.

How do we know the plan isn't to draft a RT in the 3RD?

For that I'd nominate the following.

Brandon Mosley - Auburn
Levy Adcock - Oklahoma State


And possibly the cream of the potential third round crop, Andrew Datko - Florida State
"Not a mauler. Lacks lower body strength to drive blocks. Will leave his feet on occasion and fails to finish a bit too often. However, he is a very effective zone-run blocker. Has a quick first step and does an outstanding job with his blocking angles. Consistently gets into position and plays with good balance in the run game. Is a technician in the run game. Shows some upper body power. Very good awareness in space and consistently hits the moving target. "

Datko actually reminds me of Eric Winston's situation coming out of college. Tons of talent, but injury concerns led to him falling.

I think that everyone is forgetting, we have three RT candidates on our roster now. Tyler did a pretty good job for us, in the games he played in. He is also 27 this year. Willie Smith also did a good job. I think in the four games the were in, they gave up 12 sacks. 2 a game. That was pretty good considering they played the best pass rushers in the game. Not to mention, we are paying a guy 6 million dollars this year that is on the roster. If he is finally healthy, he could be the answer.

I think that everyone is forgetting, we have three RT candidates on our roster now...See post #123
We know there are inhouse candidates but I would hope the FO aims for a more certain solution and upgrade at the RT position.
Afterall we have our franchise QB to protect.