Basically, he gives a run down of the entire team by position. He mentions that the 'Skins and Chad Johnson have mutual interest in making a deal. I like the talent of Johnson but not the attitude. Not sure how good that move would be if it were pulled. I can imagine Johnson getting upset at JC as he tries to learn another new system.
He also wrote about us again being interested in Lance Briggs. Again, we could use him as he is one of the best LBs in the league and with Washington getting older and often injured and McIntosh coming off of ACL surgery, he could certainly help.
Blache also mentioned that he wants Springs and Griffin to come back. He talked about perhaps moving Daniels to DL and developing Chris Wilson into a more complete DE. I like that move as Daniels still has a little in the tank and he has the build of more of DL and since he has slowed down some that might be a better fit. Wilson is a talented speed rusher but is undersized to be an every down DE. If he could put on some weight, he certainly has the talent to develop into a solid DE.
I like that both Cerrato and Snyder say that JC is the QB and his development is a priority. I like that they are committed to him. I also like that they rave about Portis and that they seem him as our true #1 back and not platooning he and Betts. Not sure if Collins will be back since Saunders is gone. Whether he stays or goes is fine with me. The eight spot is most likely gone...thank goodness.
Rock Cartwright may jettison and that would be a shame since he was an emotional leader, particularly after the Sean Taylor tragedy. He proved to be one of the better return men in the league but they spoke of Betts taking over those duties and he was very good when he had that role a couple of years ago.
All in all, I was pretty pleased with the article and the state of the team. We'll see what kind of moves they make and what they can get in the draft.
HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!!
19 comments:
Like I have said, the Redskins will have 20 new players on their roster.
So a bunch of new coaches, a different offense, some core Redskins will go, and they will have a bunch of new players (more than most other teams).
Given all of the changes, people should not expect much this coming season. Redskin fans are going to have to allow the all new team to gel. Of course, then next year they will have 20 more new players as a result of the cap issues, and a bunch of new coaches as Zorn re-sets his staff.
You say that every year yet I have proven to you the 'Skins have no more turnover than any other team.
A bunch of new coaches? I have told you that 75% of the coaches are staying. If the 'Skins had their choice, it would have been 100%. It was Gibbs that decided to retire. With that, you have to expect some change. Yes, Zorn was hired as head coach and he needs to backfill his position of O coordinator. He brought in a guy to help out as offensive assistant and there is talk that Stump Mitchell may join as well. So we might end up bringing in say 4 guys to revamp the offense. I wouldn't classify that as a bunch. Frankly, it didn't matter who was going to become head coach, Saunders was gone so we would have had to get new offensive coaches in place. Also, it's probably a good thing. Saunders was a mistake. He is a quality coach but his philosophy did not mesh with Gibbs' philosophy. It just didn't work. Now we get guys that all understand the same offense and are all on the same page. Hopefully it works better.
Core Redskins will go? Do you mean Rock? I would love to keep Rock but I know that he is interested in getting more touches and becoming more of RB and not just a special teamer. That won't happen in D.C. I don't know what his salary demands are but I am not willing to break the bank on the guy. I hope we can keep him but if we have to let him go, that's what we'll have to do. Who are the other core guys? Brunell? Lloyd? Who?
Other changes are done out of necessity. Whether it is looking to upgrade or replace aging players, that is the way sports works.
The Bears are the ones that let REAL core guys loose. They let T. Jones go last year. He was a good locker room guy, a team player that cheered Benson on, and a solid RB. They are now most likely going to let their best defensive player in Briggs leave. Their top WR in Berrian quite possibly will be moving on. They may end up losing Grossman who I suppose is their starting QB unless they end up drafting 6' 6" Joe Flacco. The Bears will most likely see much bigger changes than the Redskins. Good luck with Flacco!
I doubt there will be more changes for the Bears than the Redskins. The coaching changes alone ensure that.
I was strictly speaking of players. Any time a head coach leaves, you have to expect some degree of change. The fact that Lovie is still there would all but ensure that the Bears coaching staff will remain largely intact. Although Hardy Nickerson quit after one year to attend to his sick mother so they had to back fill that position.
Still, you can expect the Bears to lose more "core" players than the Redskins.
I truly doubt that, but we'll see.
Briggs and Berrian are the two big names that are free agents. Frankly, neither of them is worth the huge money that they want in my opinion. Plus the Bears have adequate depth to cover their departures.
Losing Briggs would be a MUCH bigger deal than losing Cartwright. Would you not agree?
Briggs is one of the best LBs in the league. He is a perennial Pro Bowler and a playmaker in his prime. Cartwright is a solid special teamer. I think the difference is obvious.
Who else is "core" that you expect will be gone from the 'Skins?
I think your basic premise is wrong. The issue is whether the Bears or Redskins will have more significant player turnover. I say Redskins.
It doesn't really make any sense to just compare Rock to Briggs, because there will be other players who will turnover.
I will say this with respect to your question. Briggs is not an emotional leader on the team. Just like their last two weakside linebackers who left in free agency, Briggs is easily, EASILY, replaceable. The Bears D creates a lot of opportunities for the weakside linebacker to make plays - Jamar Williams is ready to take over.
Berrian drops too many balls and runs too many poor patterns to be paid so much money in my opinion. He is a speedster, but I do not consider him an elite player.
My biggest concern is Urlacher's neck. He had surgery and we'll see if he can recover. That would be a major loss.
You mentioned in your first post that we would lose "some core" players (I guess you are changing the "basic premise" now by saying who will have more significant player turnover. My mistake as I was going with your earlier comment on "core player."). I am asking who. I was debating that statement. I will agree that Rock may very well be gone because I said that he wants more touches and he had a good year and probably wants bigger money. We can't spend that much on Rock. Betts can take over the kick return duties that he held two years ago. He was successful in that role too. So I was asking you what other "core" players were we going lose?
Briggs seems unlikely to come back. Would you agree? Given that he was your best defensive player and one of the better LBs in the league would you not agree that he is a core Bear player?
The same is true for Berrian. He may not be back and he is the Bears #1 WR. Wouldn't that make him a core player?
I thought we were talking about core players.
As far as Urlacher, I would be concerned as well. He is 30 years old, had surgery on his neck, has an arthritic back, I think it is fair to say that we probably have seen the best of Urlacher. Sure, he finished last season very strong and a decent Urlacher is better than most LBs but I think we can expect to see a decline in his play.
I don't know who the Redskins are going to lose, but I am sure they are going to lose a bunch of core, emotional leaders for the team as well as some major contributors. Just because the one Post article mentioned Rock, does not mean he is the only one.
As for Briggs, I said what I think. He was not a leader on the team, he is EASILY replaceable, and on top of that the Bears players have known that last year was likely to be his last year. It won't have much of an impact.
I said what I thought about Berrian. I hope he comes back, but I don't want to spend elite money for a better-than-average NFL receiver.
We'll see who leaves the Redskins (and the Bears) and then we can comment.
I'm glad you think Briggs is "EASILY" replaceable. Being the best player on their defense, I am sure he is a leader in some way on that defense. It will definitely hurt the team knowing that their management will let him walk. I know they know he is leaving but that doesn't mean his team is happy that he is leaving.
With no Berrian and an old Muhammad, who are you going to throw the ball to? I guess it doesn't matter that much because you need a QB that can actually throw the ball to them. I guess that doesn't really matter either because you need a quality O line that can protect the QB. That said, I suppose you're right...it doesn't matter if Berrian is gone. GO BEARS!
I certainly don't think that Briggs is the best player on the D. There is a guy named Brian Urlacher on the team that seems pretty good to me. Look up the stats for Roosevelt Colvin and Warrick Holdman when they played weakside linebacker next to Urlacher and you will see that they were tackling machines when they were in Chicago. They never achieved similar stats once they left via free agency.
If you think Berrian is so great, then I hope the Redskins sign him to big money so that you will be happy. Muhammad, Devin Hester, and Mark Bradley are all fine. They will draft or bring in another receiver for additional depth. Having Dez Clark and Olsen at tight end gives them enough receivers.
They need to bring back Rex, but just as important they need to get younger and better on the O-line. I've been saying it for months and still stand by that.
If Berrian goes somewhere else he will average 850-900 yards and 4-5 TDs per year. Solid numbers that show that he is a good receiver, but he is not a great or elite receiver (hands and poor routes doom him).
FYI, I posted up info on Briggs, Colvin, and Holdman. You'll see that all three had great years when they played alongside Urlacher, but the first 2 saw their stats diminish once they left Urlacher's side.
A lot of people don't realize that Briggs is relatively slow and is not much of a difference maker on the field. He gets tackles, but that is what a weakside linebacker is supposed to do. Lovie's D is predicated on taking away the long ball and pushing plays toward the weakside.
Bottom line is that Briggs is a good player, but he is not an elite linebacker.
I never said that I thought Berrian was an elite WR. You are putting words in my mouth. As usual, pay attention. I only said that Berrian was the Bears #1 WR and there is a good chance that he will be gone. Seeing how you don't think highly of him and the Bears have him as their #1 WR that should give you some concern over their WR corps. You are basically saying that you can drop Berrian and go with a guy that will be turning 35 years old in a couple of months and had 40 receptions last year, a guy that has a career 38 receptions in three years, and a speedster with great athleticism but doesn't know how to run routes. Good luck with that. You may not think highly of Berrian but in reality he is probably the best they got.
As far as Briggs, he is better than Holdman and Colvin. I will believe you when you say that those guys had better years when they were on the Bears but they were never Pro Bowlers. You can try and belittle Briggs but in my mind, he is still a quality player. Another reason for Colvin's dropoff in play was that once he signed with NE, he had a potentially career ending injury to the socket in his hip. It's been a long recovery but he's made it back. I'm sure he is not the same player that he was but he can still play.
You seem to be arguing (and have argued before) that the Bears players are interchangeable. That they have SO much depth it doesn't matter who they put in. We saw last year that that wasn't the case. They had injuries to the entire secondary and the guys that filled in weren't nearly as good. They had injuries on the D line and lost a couple of guys to free agency last year and their line wasn't nearly as good. Briggs is the one guy that had a very good year for that defense.
I agree a healthy Urlacher is one of the best defensive players I have ever seen. However, he wasn't healthy for much of the year last year and his play reflected his injuries. Sure, he came on strong at the end of the season but we'll see what his condition is this year. At 30 years of age and coming off of neck surgery and having an arthritic back are big concerns. I said before that a semi productive Urlacher is better than most fully healthy LBs. That is how highly I think of him. However, it remains to be seen how healthy he is. I don't know if he can carry the defense like he used to.
Dude, calm down. If Berrian gets big money great for him. I just don't think they should franchise him or paying him elite money. The Bears receiving corps will be just fine without him if he moves on. You don't know Mark Bradley, but he is very, very good - fast, big, and a better route runner. He tore up his knee a couple of years ago when he was emerging as a big play reciever. He is now completely healthy and ready to emerge.
Briggs is a very good player. But I've made my arguments about him. I am not belittling him. I am giving you my opinion that he is not an elite player.
One other thing. I don't think that all players are interchangeable. I just believe that Jamar Williams is a quality guy who can take over for Briggs. I also think that Mark Bradley can take over for Berrian.
I probably wouldn't pay top dollar for either of those guys either. I actually don't have too much problem with the Bears D other than some of the guys are getting a little older and they have had injuries to their quality starters. They aren't as good as they used to be but when healthy, they are still a solid unit.
The real issue is their offense. We agree that the line sucks. After that, there are pretty much question marks across the board. There isn't a firmly entrenched starting QB. Benson has not showed that he can be the feature back. WRs are a question mark. TE looks to be stabilized. There are just too many issues and questions on that offense to feel comfortable about them. Now maybe the stars will align just right and Bradley ends up being a super star. Maybe Grossman emerges with great confidence and a stellar year. Maybe Benson will bounce back. Maybe they will draft some O linemen and some other guys will step up and all will be okay. However, that is a lot of "maybe's." We'll see what they can do.
They need to sign Rex. He has shown himself to be mentally tough and he has shown flashes of greatness. No need to give up on him and draft a new QB that they need to work through.
They need to bring in at least 2 newer linemen (draft or free agency) and they need another RB (draft or free agency) for depth. I still think Benson can be good if they have better line play.
I wouldn't give up on Rexy either. I just don't know how much he is going to ask. The other thing is I don't know how mentally tough he is. He pretty much collapsed at the start of the season. He played better when he got a chance at the end of the season. That has been his problem his entire career though. VERY inconsistent. I think getting an opportunity to step back and watch and have the pressure taken off of him and allowing everyone to see what they have in Griese and Orton has helped him. Hopefully that relieves some of the pressure off of him. We'll see what they do. There's always Joe Flacco.
We agree line needs help. They need someone that can challenge Benson for the top spot. There was some chatter about bringing in the Chargers backup who is a quality back and is looking for a starting job. He played alongside Garret Wolfe in college I believe. Still think they could use an upgrade at WR if they lose Berrian.
Flacco - just say no!
I don't think Rex will get huge money from anyone, and if I were him I'd test the market. I'd like to see the Bears offer him a 2 year contract where he makes about $3.5M a year, plus add in a bunch of bonuses. If he can get better than that on the market then the Bears will have to look at whether they want to match.
I'll just say this. Most of the Bears players will return, hopefully there won't be as many injuries and if they have a decent draft and pick up 2-3 mid-range, solid free agents, I think the team will compete for a playoff berth.
Depending on the QB situation, I expect them to be a serious contender for the NFC championship.
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