Free agent safety Oshiomogho Atogwe has signed a five-year, $26 million contract with the Washington Redskins, upgrading a vital position on a defense that ranked 31st last season.
Atogwe signed the deal Thursday, two weeks after he was cut following six seasons with the St. Louis Rams.
Kareem Moore started 11 games at free safety for the Redskins last season but was inconsistent and finished the season on injured reserve. He is recovering from right knee surgery.
The signing reunites Atogwe with Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. Atogwe spent three of his seasons in St. Louis playing for Haslett, who was the Rams' defensive coordinator and later interim head coach.
Atogwe has 22 career interceptions, including three last season.
Love the signing. Huge need. Big upgrade. I'm sure Robs will find reason to criticize but if Atogwe had signed with the Pears it would have been the deal of the century (of course until the next Pear move).
8 comments:
This is an excellent pick up. Not only is it an upgrade, but the contract is fiscally responsible. I really like the approach to free agency as well. Atogwe interviewed here and left without a contract. He probably met other teams as well and we still got him. It seems that the approach is, we'll offer you X and if you don't like it or you want to keep shopping around...no problem. We'll keep X on the table in case you come back. This is a huge improvement over the Snyderatto days.
Kareem Moore was the best FS on the team last year and he pretty much sucked. Having Atogwe as the starter allows Moore and Keith Barnes to compete for the backup spot. The better player will stay and this process translates to depth in the secondary.
Interesting note...Ron Rivera was the D coordinator for the Chargers - last year's #1 ranked D. He says in the 3-4, your best players have to be your Nose Tackle and your Free Safety. Looks like we're half way to vastly improving the D.
No doubt we need a NT. He is the guy that does the grunt work that allows the other guys to make the plays and get the credit.
The other great thing about Atogwe is that he is a playmaker. Over the last few years, he has been at the top in terms of making/creating turnovers.
Great pick up.
Very good player - good pickup for the Deadskins.
Actually the 2 most positions in the 3-4 are the NT and the rush linebacker.
WOW!!!! Robs approves of a Skins move.
HALLELEUJAH and AMEN, BROTHER!!!
Let us not forget this happening!
Unbelievable. For once, we have a sign that Robs isn't just a 'Skins hater, although I'll probably have to see it again to believe it might be true.
If rush linebacker is key, then we're in good shape with Orakpo. He needs to learn to prevent O-linemen from holding him though. He seems to get stood up more often than he should.
There's been talk about the 'Skins going after a guy like Von Miller out of Texas A&M to be the other rush linebacker. I think we need to address the O-line and NT spots first, but another rush linebacker is needed as well...unless Chris Wilson's role can be expanded...That dude is fast.
This is a good signing. Atogwe is solid.
That leaves:
QB
HB
2 WRs
about 3 OL's
DE
DT
1 maybe 2 LB's
CB
and K.
Snyderatto isnt finished... just renamed.
i hope you guys dont buy into the "are you in" junk again this year.
Take it easy, JSR. No question we are rebuilding mode. That is a good thing. The mentality over the last several years has been the quick fix. It hasn't worked.
To get a few pieces in place this year will be big.
The biggest need is O line/D line. Ideally, we get a NT and a couple of O linemen. Would love to trade down in the draft and get a couple of picks. Apparently, the draft is loaded with guys that can get to the QB so get one of those guys. We could use some Guard help and those guys can be found later in the draft as opposed to the more highly coveted Tackle position.
I'm fine with Rexy being the starter this year but he certainly isn't the long term answer. Same with Torain so not worried about those positions this year.
We're looking at resigning Moss and getting back Malcolm Kelly. Austin and Armstrong are serviceable but would be nice to get another real go to guy. Still, this is not a priority this year.
Could certainly use another LB. Fletcher and Orakpo are solid. Not sure if McIntosh will be back but Perry Riley will fill in nicely in that position. Need to figure out the other outside LB position. Alexander is okay but he is more of a special team specialist.
Not expecting Los Rogers back but I'm fine with our secondary. Landry, Atogwe, D. Hall, and either Buchanon or Barnes will be fine.
Kickers are a dime a dozen so no big deal there.
Again, years of personnel mismanagement and squandering of draft picks will not get fixed overnight. We need to start in the trenches and build out around that. We'll see what other moves they make but the only one that I would thoroughly disapprove of is drafting Cam Newton.
Yeah lets see what happens. I think the Skins are at best two off-seasons away from filling the holes with decent enough players to make them competitive in the NFC. I just hope for sake of all the Skins fans, that things have changed and will be done differently this off season, and the next and however long it takes to build a winning team from the ground up.
I think it will be another tough season for the Skins. I just dont know if Danny Boy can stay patient and let Shanny do his thing for two more seasons. Who knows, maybe he learned his lesson (even if it took him 12 years of pure mismanagment). I doubt it though. Shanny has got to win atleast 8 games this season, or hes going to be on the hot seat, maybe fired. After reading that City Paper article and Danny Boys reaction to it, I just cant bring myself to believe that Danny's mentality has all of a sudden turned on a dime and changed into what Redskins fans have hoped for.
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