Another Spending Spree

New posts 2 days in a row! Told you I'd be back more frequently.

After my long rambling Vegas story yesterday, I thought I'd get to some sports, specifically the NFL, and more specifically, the Washington Redskins.

I admit I have been a fan of the team for close to 30 years, primarily because my favorite team, the Baltimore Colts, made like the Mayflower moving company and took off for Indianapolis in the middle of the night. In those days, the only games you got were the local team, so it was the Redskins or nothing for me (for the record, I have forgiven the Colts for leaving and they became my favorite team again after just a few years).

Being a Redskins fan has had its ups and down over the years, from the success of Joe Gibbs version 1.0 until 1991, and then with the utter and complete debacle of a once-storied franchise since then. And don't tell me about the 3 times they've made the playoffs since 1999. The 1999 team was good, but not great, and the 2 teams from the Gibbs 2.0 era barely crept into the playoffs and simply weren't that good.

Most of the people critical of the Redskins blame owner Dan Snyder and GM/President/Residential Asshat Vinny Cerrato for the mess, and I won't disagree a bit. I won't go into a long diatribe about those two because everything has already been said; Snyder is the kid who got picked last in gym class and is having his revenge by owning his favorite football team and hiring all the guys who beat him up in school to work at his concession stands, and Cerrato has a proven history of incompetence, but because he lets Snyder beat him at raquetball, he gets to stick around.

If you look at the teams who have won continuosly over the past decade, Pittsburgh, New england, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia, you'll notice they all have 1 thing in common; they drafted well. Sure, they signed 1 or 2 impact free agents, but for the most part, it's been their ability to utilize the draft from rounds 4-7 that has been the key to their success.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the guys you take in rounds 1-3 should be starters by year 2 or 3 (even though the odds are that 1 of them will be a bust), but the role players, special teamers, and depth comes from those later rounds. When was the last time the Redskins drafted somebody who could contribute (yes, I will give you Chris Horton, but answer this; if Sean Taylor hadn't been murdered, would Vinny have drafted Horton)?

Exactly. Heck, when was the last time they drafted somebody who had an impact in rounds 1-3? Hard to answer because they've traded so many players away. The 3 2nd rounders were all busts this year, and 3rd rounder Chad Rhinehart didn't even step on the field. Carlos Rodgers came back well from a bad knee injury, but faded down the stretch and still bites on double moves, while Jason Campbell, well, the jury is still out on him, isn't it? LaRon Landry has been good, but not great; you can't fault them, obviously, for the death of Taylor, but Rocky McIntosh can't stay healthy, and I can't name you another starter on the team from the early rounds. Instead, we have this list of players Vinny and Dan have broken the bank for or traded draft picks for:

Deion Sanders
Bruce Smith
Jeff George
Durant Brooks
Rian Plackemeir
Derrick Frost
Mark Carrier
Adam Archuletta
Refusing to pay Antonio Pierce
TJ Duckett (3rd round pick)
Brandon Lloyd
Taylor Jacobs
Jeremiah Trotter
Jesse Armstead
John Hall
Fred "Alarmclock" Davis
Jason Taylor
Patrick Ramsey
Jacquez Green
Chris Doering
Riddell Anthony
Trung Canidate

Trading Bailey AND a pick
Rookie WRs who don't run routes or catch (credit to firecerrato.com for this list)

What about Ryan Clark? They let him go because he wanted a couple of hundred thousand dollars more than what you were willing to spend because you would rather have Archuletta. Last time I looked, Arculetta was banging a former Playboy model while Clark was winning a Super Bowl ring w/ Pittsburgh (okay, for Archulleta, that's probably a wash). But you get my drift...

Anyway, the point of this whole thing is to try and analyze the latest batch of free agent signings and what type of impact they'll have on the team. Let me answer you right now; they will have little to no bearing at all. Haynesworth will be pretty good, but not great. He was playing for a big contract this year, and he got his money, guaranteed. Does Dana Stubblefield ring a bell? Besides, with no legitimate pass rushing DE (I'm looking at YOU Andre Carter), teams will be able to effectively double and triple-team Haynesworth and make him a non-factor.

DeAngelo Hall as your new $54 million cornerback? The guy got cut halfway through his first year in Oakland...let me repeat that, OAKLAND!!!!!! A team in more dire straights than the Redskins over the past several years, right? Again, playing for a big contract year, and he got it. But the guy's got a lot of people skeptical about whether or not he can stay out of trouble. Maybe not PacMan Jones trouble, but bad things nonetheless.

Derrick Dockery. This is actually one signing I can almost get on board with, although I still think they signed him for more than he's worth, which is what the Redskins always do. Dockery is still pretty young and has a few good years left in him, which is more than you can say for the rest of the 'Skins O-line. They'll be applying for Social Security before you know it... Anyway, Dockery is a good but not great lineman who seemed to like playing here until the Redskins actually wouldn't pay him an exorbitant salary to stay. That was a surprise, huh?

As for the draft, they've got a #1 pick (the 13th) and a 3rd rounder. The 2nd is gone in the Jason Taylor debacle. I'll get to what I think (hope) they should do as we get closer to.

Maybe i didn't add anything original to what's already been said, but as I was in Vegas last week and heard about the signings from my friends, these are the thoughts I formulated on the plane trip back. Let me know what you think...