Vision Quest: An Analysis of Free Agency: Week 2

Well the second week of free agency for the Redskins was a quiet time. An expected departure, a questionable re-signing, and restraint was the order of the day. It was not the best week for Redskin faithful, but may ultimately prove fruitful towards building a winning team. For now though we can only judge the individual moves.

Redskins resign Mike Sellers. Pure special teams players are hard to come by in the NFL. Especially ones who can conceivably play a position. The theory here is Mike Sellers can play H back and start on all the special teams units. I don’t buy it though. Last year Sellers started at H back but eventually gave way to Cooley. Part of the reason for that is Sellers has a penchant for personal fouls. Even on special teams he seemed to get flagged a lot. I would of rather kept this spot open for a UFA or a low round draftee. However the contract was cheap and perhaps veteran leadership on special teams will provide Danny Smith the stability he wished for last year. I give this just a merely passing grade of C.

Resigning of DT Cedric Killings. Uhm who cares. Seriously though at best this is a reserve signing. It is a veteran minimum contract and could be a casualty cut if the Redskins draft a promising young DT. I will give it a passing grade if only out of lack of caring about it all. So I grade it a C.

Losing Fred Smoot. Even though I expected this in my head, my heart hoped it would not happen. I believed Smoot when he said he wanted to be a Redskin and that if it came down to a couple of million he would stay here. Well it did come down to couple of million, and only 800k off on the signing bonus, and he left anyways. Going to the Vikings of all places. A team rich in playoff losses and lack of success. A team that just traded away its only superstar. A team that lead by a head coach with no imagination nor insight, who only keeps from getting fired because he costs so little to keep. That same head coach is now dipping his fingers into his player’s pockets. And an owner selling his team to another owner who might not even have the financial discipline to run an NFL franchise. Is it any question that the Vikings are on the way down, not up?

But I cannot blame this all on the Smoot. The Redskins have some fault here as well. The Redskins, unlike the Pierce deal, should have wrapped this up in pre-season last year. We knew during training camp we wanted to keep Smoot, we did not know that about Pierce. If we offered Smoot the same contract Springs signed then he might have took it. We also had the salary cap space to do it as well. We were hesitant for whatever reason and allowed him to hit the market. Pierce was a one-year wonder and never warranted an extension before the season, Smoot did.

I cannot give this one a passing grade. I admire the fiscal restraint but the Front office missed this one. They did not miss by much and it almost worked the way they thought it would. However it still comes down to the fact that #21 is now in purple. The best I can grade this is a D-.

The emergence of the Gibbs Free Agent Philosophy. This is important and often missed part of the off-season. Many sports writers and NFL “experts” stated that Gibbs would not be able to adjust to the Salary Cap or free agency. However Gibbs may have brought a new take on free agency, one that might revolutionize the NFL itself.

Gibbs has brought a simple concept back to the NFL. It is a two-fold strategy to guide free agent acquisitions as well as resigning our own players. The Redskins will not over pay a lesser player at the cost of signing two or more others and nor will they bend to the market wishes an pay less talented players more then the talent they already have at the same position. This is the first time since the advent of Free Agency that the Redskins actually have a plan in Free Agency. We are no longer just writing blank checks one year and abstaining the next. Snyder is no longer playing King Lear and doling out precious Salary Cap space to unneeded and over heralded free agents. We have a plan and the will it seems to stick to this plan.

But any plan comes with it tough decisions. We had two this year, Smoot and Pierce. Smoot wanted to be paid more then Shawn Springs who by all account was the better CB. Pierce also had a desire to be paid more then Marcus Washington, a much better LB then him. Adherence to our plan cost us Smoot and Pierce, but it gained us much more. Now Springs and Washington will not in the near future hold out for contract extensions. They also know their worth to our team and will be easier to resign when the time comes.

I do have some reservations on this plan. Salaries increase each year and contracts signed even the previous year can be obsolete by the following year. There are also players like Lavar Arrington and Sean Taylor that deserve more then the others at their position. However I feel that Gibbs will make the proper exceptions to his own rule. For giving us our first real free agency plan in franchise history I have to give Gibbs and the front office a grade of A.

The apparent Non-release of Darnerian McCants. I debated whether or not to include this, as it is not a typical free agency move, but rather a non-move. At the end of last season I think most people, including DMAC himself, thought he was a goner. After a promising season in 2003, he fell out of favor in 2004 when his practice habits and rumored refusal to play special teams landed him on the inactive list more often then not. However DMAC may now be the phoenix that rises from the fire. With mostly smallish speed receivers on the roster he may have the opportunity to become a possession receiver for us, perhaps even start in 3 WR sets. During the Patten news conference Gibbs stated that they would not be moving McCants and that he is “in the picture”. This proves Gibbs and company do not make rash decisions as was thought by some on the Coles trade. Working with a disgruntled receiver who had more cause to complain then Coles did shows just how temperate Gibbs and the front office can be. We also get the big body to compliment Patten and Moss. If this pans out it will be the biggest non-move of the off-season. For patience and the foresight to see the need for a big receiver the Redskins get a B.

Coles vs. Moss part two. I know I touched on this trade in my last article but I feel the need to speak more. Coles had his press conference with NY this week and like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar was arrogant and defiant. Menawhile Moss was gracious and eloquent in his press conference with us. Now comes word that many of the Jets medical officials have doubt about Coles toe. I am not surprised. I think I will have to upgrade the original grade on this trade. About week 5 of next season Jets fans are going to be wondering how they got saddled with this malcontent while Moss is streaking down the field in Burgundy & Gold. So I will upgrade this trade from a B to a B+.

Overall Free Agency Grade. We lost some ground this week with the Smoot departure. I think it was the right thing to do but it could have been prevented. So if only for that our grade must drop. However we have done well this period overall. As of right now I must drop the overall, grade from B+ to B.

What is next on the Horizon? There are rumors that when Courtney Brown is cut from Cleveland the Redskins might give him a chance. If brown gets a vet minimum contract or even one as high as the contract we gave Phillip Daniels this could be a good signing. The Gardner trade needs to happen soon, and probably will once Plaxico Burress finds a home. Lastly the Ray Brown resigning should take place soon as well. It is a little odd that it has taken so long since both sides have said they want it to get done. The draft awaits us after that.