Redskins trade for Alex Smith

[mooby]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

This article by Keim brings up such an interesting discussion point.



http://www.espn.com/blog/washington-...for-alex-smith

Was Bruce Allen right all along?

He might be right on the financial part but it's way too early to declare anything about the trade being the smart play. If Kirk goes to Denver or Minny and wins a SB and all we get is 3 years of average qb play for 71+ mil guaranteed it def. ain't a winner.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by mooby

He might be right on the financial part but it's way too early to declare anything about the trade being the smart play.

You're right, ultimately you can't judge this without judging how the Redskins do with Smith at the helm, how well Fuller contributes in KC, and how well Kirk performs with his new team.

At this point all we can really do is wax philosophically about it. How much of your cap (on a % basis) should your QB take up before it ends up hurting you?

And it's really hard to judge based on history. For instance, Stafford and Carr are paid among the highest in the league. Their teams didn't make the playoffs this year. But is that because the QBs are overpaid, or is it because the front office didn't put enough around them with the resources available, or is it because of coaching shortcomings?

It's hard to even form an opinion where the tipping point is for QB salaries because ultimately it's a team game. Maybe that's the biggest case of all in favor of Bruce drawing a line in the sand with Cousins- the thinking being no single player deserves that much money in what is ultimately a team game.

I will undoubtedly miss Fuller. And it remains to be seen what Cousins gets paid. But right now, I'd have to lean towards Smith at $23.5 minus Fuller as being a better deal than keeping Fuller and Cousins at whatever he's going to get on the open market.

I think being the one team willing to draw a line in the sand on QB salaries takes balls, and because it's the Redskins everyone will naturally ridicule the move. But the Redskins might be right.

[mooby]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

You're right, ultimately you can't judge this without judging how the Redskins do with Smith at the helm, how well Fuller contributes in KC, and how well Kirk performs with his new team.

At this point all we can really do is wax philosophically about it. How much of your cap (on a % basis) should your QB take up before it ends up hurting you?

And it's really hard to judge based on history. For instance, Stafford and Carr are paid among the highest in the league. Their teams didn't make the playoffs this year. But is that because the QBs are overpaid, or is it because the front office didn't put enough around them with the resources available, or is it because of coaching shortcomings?

It's hard to even form an opinion where the tipping point is for QB salaries because ultimately it's a team game. Maybe that's the biggest case of all in favor of Bruce drawing a line in the sand with Cousins- the thinking being no single player deserves that much money in what is ultimately a team game.

I will undoubtedly miss Fuller. And it remains to be seen what Cousins gets paid. But right now, I'd have to lean towards Smith at $23.5 minus Fuller as being a better deal than keeping Fuller and Cousins at whatever he's going to get on the open market.

I think being the one team willing to draw a line in the sand on QB salaries takes balls, and because it's the Redskins everyone will naturally ridicule the move. But the Redskins might be right.

IIRC 14.5%. But it's a moot point as it seems Kirk doesn't want to be here. Remember he wanted to be with a winner, and we weren't a winner under Kirk. If he blames that on everybody else it was doomed from the start of the losing.

Of course we'll know how important winning is to him when he goes elsewhere. If he takes less money to go to Denver or Minny, then yeah he's about that life. If he goes to Cleveland because they outbid everyone else, than he's not.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by mooby

IIRC 14.5%. But it's a moot point as it seems Kirk doesn't want to be here. Remember he wanted to be with a winner, and we weren't a winner under Kirk. If he blames that on everybody else it was doomed from the start of the losing.

Of course we'll know how important winning is to him when he goes elsewhere. If he takes less money to go to Denver or Minny, then yeah he's about that life. If he goes to Cleveland because they outbid everyone else, than he's not.

Also true, but if they had offered Kirk 14-15% of the cap back in 2015 or 2016 things would have likely been different. But would we have wanted that?

Smith’s deal at 23.5M takes up 13.0% of a 180M cap. In future years when the cap goes up, his % goes down.

If Cousins gets $30M this year, that’s 16.7% of the cap. You’re right ultimately he didn’t want to be here, but if it took 16.7% of the cap or more to get it done, we’re better off.

With that difference between Kirk’s (assumed) $30 and Smith’s $23.5 is Morgan Moses and Quinton Dunbar, those two guys combine to occupy $7M of our space. That’s an example, just one, of what $7M can buy you.

He didn’t want to be here and it’s all moot but I wholeheartedly support how Bruce is playing this.