Players the Redskins NEED to get Rid of

Last week I talked about the players the Redskins need to keep and this week I am going to start the discussion on players the Redskins need to get rid of. These are players that for one reason or another that need to clear out their locker and go home. By the way last week I said Betts was a free agent we need to resign. He is not a free agent so forgive my error. All Salary cap figures are according to Warpath Insiders.com

1.) Rod Gardner: The message boards and the Redskin media in general have been calling for this and for good reason. Gardner is in a contract year and there is no way the Redskins can resign him in 2006 with that being a large Salary Cap year (We are already 10+ million over that year’s cap). And even if he was to play for free, 50/50 does not have the production to waste a roster spot on him. Not to mention him partying all week long and not fully dedicating himself to the redskins. Gardner should be used as a way to trade up in the first round and get Miami CB Rolle if Smoot leaves or try and package him with to get a second round pick this year. Time to go Rod. We can save either 1.4 million in 2005 and not have the distraction.

2.) Michael Barrow: On one hand this is an obvious pick. He never made it back from his knee injury and spent the entire season on injured reserve. Antonio Pierce has supplanted him and is about to sign a lucrative extension with the Skins to shore up the middle for the next decade or so. Barrow though is in the first year of his contract with the Redskins so normal logic would dictate that we could not cut him and risk the cap hit (see Brunell below). However Snyder and Cerrato negotiated a smaller signing bonus for Barrow and shorter contract. We should cut Barrow pre June 1, 2005 and take the entire cap hit (2.1million) this year. Since barrow’s original cap number for 2005 was 2.1 million. It is a wash for 2005 but a large 3.4 million in cap relief for 2006.

3.) Chad Morton: Antonio Bryant, James Thrash, and Ladell Betts are all better special teams players. Morton has never produced on his hefty contract and it is time to let him go. If we do it before June 1st then it will be a .5million cap hit on this year’s roster and a 2.3 million dollar relief for 2006. Or after June 1st we can free up an extra .5 million for this year and 1.3 million in relief for 2006.

4.) Cory Raymer: He had a disgraceful campaign in 2004. He was always losing his battle off the ball and was the first Redskin in the dirt on every play. We can save over a million in 2005 and 2006. Let’s use that money to groom some young guys for the position.

Honorable Mentions:

Mark Brunell: The salary cap really hurts us here. Or more to the point the horrible contract Brunell signed really hurts us. Gibbs has already said he is not cutting Brunell next year and starting Ramsey, but I can’t help but wish Brunell was gone anyways. Not out of malice but out of fear Gibbs will go back to him. Ramsey will continue to struggle next year but needs to struggle for him to grow. Brunell is not even a very good backup and Hasslebeck is better (by the way need to resign him). Brunell has a 3.433 cap number next year and 5.433 in 2006. It looks to me as June 1, 2006 Brunell will be cut creating an immediate 4 million of cap relief in 2006 and 1 million of cap relief in 2007. Make no doubt about it, this contract is an albatross around our neck and if we have to dismantle in 2007 as many writers think, this will be why.

Chris Samuels: If Chris does not sign the contract extension he is in discussions for then he may move to the top of the list. He has an unwieldy cap number of 9.6 in 2005 and an unthinkable 11.3 in 2006. All indications are that they are going to get this done. That should clear about 3 to 4 million up in the next two years.

Renaldo Wynn: He is a great locker room guy, who Gibbs loves, but his cap numbers over the next 3 years are over 4 million each. He is not productive enough on the field for that. He is probably safe in 2005 but watch him to either rework the deal in 2006 or be released.

Of course we are still waiting for the salary cap figures from the NFL. IT is expected to be 85 million a large jump over last year, but some expect it to be as high as 90 million. I hope it is higher. As I said 2006 is a monster cap issue year. Currently we have 37 players under contract for cap figures totaling a little over 106 million. We still have draft picks from 2005 and 2006 to consider as well as any FA signings this year (Pierce & Smoot).

PLAYOFF PREDICTION RECAP: Ok well I went 2-2 and it is all my fault. I went with my head instead of my heart with the San Diego – Jets game. I thought San Diego was soft and overrated and they were. They got lucky to get the game into OT. The Vikings surprised the hell out of me. Green Bay’s defense is horrible but Favre had a bad day as well and that assured the loss. As expected Peyton really lit up the Broncos for the second straight year and (loved seeing Bailey laid out by Harrison) and St. Louis beat Seattle (Hey Holmgren got your resume together?). This weeks playoff games look mighty interesting. More on them later this week.