Finally some good news!

Samuels new deal seems to be in the works. Pierce said his first choice is Washington, but also wants to test the market. He said he's very confident that the Skins will match any offer.

I think I'm finally starting breathe normally.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48596-2005Feb23.html

so money right now

Pierce is saying all the right things-he wants to test the market but his first choice is Washington. That's completely understandable

All things considered, how bad has this offseason really been so far?

We've resigned Marshall. Wynn, Jansen, Thomas and it looks like Samuels have all restructured

True, Smoot may leave but Walt Harris is a proven starting CB in this league and the team is high on Garnell Wilds. We saw guys like Clark, Marshall, etc. seemingly come out of nowhere to excel in Williams' D so why not Wilds?

And yes, Coles and Gardner may both be gone but most everybody has wanted Gardner gone since week one (if not before) and let's say Coles and Gardner walk out but Mason and Mike Williams walk in? How bad would that be?

I needed this...I was getting really, really down (as evidenced by my frantic posts).

Pierce is saying all the right things-he wants to test the market but his first choice is Washington. That's completely understandable

All things considered, how bad has this offseason really been so far?

We've resigned Marshall. Wynn, Jansen, Thomas and it looks like Samuels have all restructured

True, Smoot may leave but Walt Harris is a proven starting CB in this league and the team is high on Garnell Wilds. We saw guys like Clark, Marshall, etc. seemingly come out of nowhere to excel in Williams' D so why not Wilds?

And yes, Coles and Gardner may both be gone but most everybody has wanted Gardner gone since week one (if not before) and let's say Coles and Gardner walk out but Mason and Mike Williams walk in? How bad would that be?

I agree Smootsmack. Things are at a sensitive point right now, but I'm optimisitc. Coles could turn into John Abraham. Samuels could well resign. Gardner could turn into Troy Williamson. I don't know if we are going to be able to sign Mason, but I think we will get a free agent out there who will do good things for us. Pierce may yet resign, but we do have Barrow if he doesn't.

Then again we could lose Samuels, Pierce and Smoot. Barrow might not be able to make it back to full speed due to health. Coles could stay, and continue to have an enormously negative effect on the atmosphere of the locker room with his depression and anger. :laughing-

However, I am optimistic.

I think we should start scouting MLB's, as well as free agent MLB's, but let Pierce know he's our first choice we would just like to see if we can find someone better and cheaper!

Maybe they can take me off life support now.... I really hope Pierce comes back here; I really dont see anyone in the market paying an amount we couldnt or wouldnt match. I still think he'll be back. Hopefully Samuels will come through again too.

I really hope that Samuels does restructure. I actually might be able to sleep a little bit tonight as a result of this post.

I think it is also very understandable of Pierce wanting to find his true value, but just as long as his value elsewhere isnt a huge deal, and he comes back to us :twocents:

On Samuels, I'm getting the sense that the Redskins feel they have no choice but to resign him. Samuels holds a lot of leverage:

1) Walter Jones just got 7 years, $50+ million.
2) The Coles situation figures to hit the cap a bit.
3) Keeping Pierce won't be cheap, and he will hit the market on March 2.
4) If any moves are going to be made, cap space needs to be cleared by March 2, so Samuels has the clock on his side right now.

I'm thinking the Skins know they've got to pay Samuels what he's worth and I'll bet they will end up paying a pretty penny. But they have no choice since there's only a week left to get things done, and they still have so much to deal with in Coles. Samuels will be worth a $7 or $8 million a year deal, if he gets healthy and fulfills his potential. I think the Skins will get him signed because they know they have to. Once they do that, the dominos will fall into place because signing Samuels will free up cap room, and then they'll be comfortable with signing Pierce. Then they'll see how much cap room they have left, and they can look into replacing Coles. Really, Samuels is the key, once they know how much cap room they'll save, everything else will start falling into place.

I have total faith it will all get done; I just hope Samuels justifies the big contract he's bound to get.

I'm ok with losing Smoot actually; I think Harris is better than average, and at a cap hit of $1.5 million I'd rather have him than Smoot at like $5 million. Even though I love Smoot. And smootsmack is right, Gregg Williams LOVES Garnell Wilds.

Everyone take a deep breathe, hold it, now release! LOL

The Coles situation has us all on edge and undertandably so, but there's alot of offseason to go, things can change from day to day, so let's just take it a day at a time.