Smoots Gone, What do we draft?

[SKINSnCANES]

time for me to start my push for the next stud cane...And with the 9th pick in the draft the Washington Redskins select from the University of Miami....Antrel Rolle

[sportscurmudgeon]

Winskins:

After I read that Smoot felt as if he and his agent had been disrespected in the negotiation process - whether they were or were not is immaterial - I knew that if any team came within about $1M of what the Skins offered in a signing bonus, he was gone. If he felt disrespected and then said it to someone in the press, then any situation where he came back here would be a blow to his ego. So, at that point, I figured he was gone in about 99% of the possible scenarios. The Vikes offered him a bit more $$$; I think he'd have gone there for a bit less $$$ than the Skins offered and claimed that it was some "bennie" in the out-years that compensated for the lower signing bonus.


Joe Redskin:

MLB is not a big money position? Ray Lewis? Brian Urlacher?Jeremiah Trotter (here in DC)? Takeo Spikes? When you have a good MLB (or ILB in a 3-4 set) it usually means you pay some significant money to keep them around.



This is supposed to be a very deep year for CBs and the Skins now need to draft one. Since it is a deep yeer for CBs, I'd hold off until the 2nd or 3red round to take a CB. But they do have to get one in the draft...

[MTK]

I'd still go for a WR and look for a corner later on or a cheap veteran in free agency.

Last time I checked the defense did "ok" last year while the offense stunk it up.

It's time to get the offense some new guns.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

Apparently they offered a lot more salary in the first 3 years than us. Probably made the difference.

From the WP:

According to sources, Minnesota's contract offer was structured to pay Smoot an average salary of $6 million over the first three years -- which was significantly higher than Washington's offer.

Ouch

[SKINSnCANES]

yea thats probably true, we give a huge signing bonus but little salary for the first three years. then we make you redo your deal or get cut.

[CRT3]

Looks like we might get another Cane. Gee do I smell a conspiracy brewing, we have a JV team in Miami called the Hurricanes. Here comes Rolle.

[Monk-Fan]

For only .8 mil more i ask myself one question, did Smoot really want to stay in Washington? The answer i come up with is no...

[Paintrain]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

Sorry, but all this doom and gloom over Coles, Pierce and Smoot is simply keveching about spilled milk.

You know what? We are going to be fine. How fine? dunno. But none of the subtractions will hurt us in the long run.

Pierce? Good player, sorry to see him go. He played MLB, a position that simply is not generally thought of (unless your a Skins fan) as a big money position. He can be adequately replaced.

Coles? Hard worker, kept his trap shut but wanted out. Glad to oblige. Cap hit? Yup. but I have always favored the "pay now rather than later" when it comes to cap hits. Take it like a man and move on - Makes the 2006 cap situation that much easier. Again, Coles was not gonna be the difference between the playoffs and staying home.

Smoot? You wanted to be here, but you left for ~800K more than we had on the table? Your a good solid corner and will be fine w/ Winfield in Minnesota. But if your willing to leave a defense that made you look good and fans who adored you for just a little extra cash, hasta la vista baby - don't let the door hit you on the way out.

All of these players were good solid players. None were superstars or essential cogs and all are replaceable. The coaching staff believes they have the depth to have people step up. We'll see.

Who knows, maybe by not "winning" the offseason we have actually increased our chances of winning games.

THANK YOU.. I may have to make good on my plan to abandon the Warpath until draft time because I can't take this 'sky is falling because we lost Smoot and Pierce and Coles' BS much longer..

[SKINSnCANES]

Originally Posted by CRT3

Looks like we might get another Cane. Gee do I smell a conspiracy brewing, we have a JV team in Miami called the Hurricanes. Here comes Rolle.

haha, awesome. i hate to say this, but that JV team that we have in Miami would have probably kicked our ass over the last five years...

[offiss]

We are not taking Rolle in this draft, we lose 1 player and immediatly we have to replace him with another, as Matty said our need is at WR, Smoot is NOT a great CB he's good, and you know what so is Harris, William's has given his aproval's of Wild's, we also have Rufus Brown out there and don't forget everyone's favorite Ade Jimoh, as well as possibly another CB later in the draft, we have right now what New England has, what Philli has, a defensive scheme that you can change personel and still maintain excellence. as bad as our offense was last year and as good as our defense was, like a bug to a floresent light guy's can't get away from bolstering an already top flight defense at the expense of our offense. If the coaching staff thought that we would have a glaring need at CB they would have signed Smoot, rather than let him walk just to draft another CB to pay him similar money? Simply put it ain't happening.

How did the eagles do last year after they let their starting CB's leave? They finally went to the SB, hard to believe considering they didn't go out and sign a big name free agent CB, infact they drafted a O-linemen with their first pick. The pat's seem to do OK with turnover in their secondary every year, let's focus on our weakness's rather than bolstering our strength's.

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

MLB is not a big money position? Ray Lewis? Brian Urlacher?Jeremiah Trotter (here in DC)? Takeo Spikes? When you have a good MLB (or ILB in a 3-4 set) it usually means you pay some significant money to keep them around.

Yes, some teams pay a lot for ILB's. But your statement that you must "pay significant money to keep them around" is applicable to any player (such as Lewis, Urlacher and Spikes) who are perceived as exceptionally talented, regardless of position. I don't (and never did) think Pierce fit into that category - he was a good solid MLB. And according to the franchise player salaries - the franchise tag salary of a MLB ranks 7th out of 11 categories. This says to me that the majority of teams treat LB's more along the "dime a dozen" category as opposed to a must have/need a star position. (The tag does not separate out into IlB v. OLB - if it did, I would expect MLB's to be the lower of the two as OLB's are often perceived as pass rushers - and make more money b/c of it).

Here is the breakdown of franchise salaries:
http://www.askthecommish.com/articles/page.asp?pid=5

Cornerback tops the list.

[John Hasbrouck]

Hey angryssg we draft a corner 1st rd and matt jones 2nd rd.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

So far, I'm all for taking a WR in the draft and worry about more depth at CB later on. Develop Wilds, Brown and take a rookie in the later rounds.

[KLHJ2]

Originally Posted by celts32

We still need a WR more than a corner. Patton & Moss as starters...are you kidding me?

Wow! Pulling up old stuff is fun.

[hesscl34]

But only confuses people and creates a thread that means nothing.... Where are the post cops when you need them?