Vision Quest: An Analysis of Free Agency Week 1

On the eve of Free Agency I was going to write an article about the sorry state of the Redskins situation. You see even I had been sucked in by the Free Agency periods of years past. I was looking forward to Redskin one flying from city to city picking up free agents left and right, dropping 8 figure signing bonus wherever they touched down. Players were lining up to get on board and be whisked away to the Capitol for a highly touted press conference.

But not this year. The front office and Joe Gibbs had already indicated that Redskin one was temporarily grounded this year. The Redskins were going after modest free agents and not big splashes. They were content on resigning their free agents and targeting specific needs. A sound plan and one I personally advocated a few short weeks ago.

However even those plans were in jeopardy. Chris Samuels contract extension, essential for creating the needed cap room. Fred Smoot and Antonio Pierce, 2 essential cogs in our top-notch defense were on their way out the door. Players and their agents were using Washington’s name in hopes of getting better contracts elsewhere. And when it couldn’t get worse Laveranues Coles, who had at first demanded his release, sabotaged a trade to the Jets. I was so pessimistic I decided to postpone writing an article for one week.

This was the winter of our discontent.

What a difference a week makes. The day before free agency Chris Samuels agreed to a contract extension that not only frees up valuable cap room this season but next year as well. This allowed for the signings of Casey Rabach (C) and David Patten (WR) to fill major needs on offense. And although Pierce is now residing in another NFC East team but Smoot remains unsigned and every day another team does not offer him a contract is a another day closer to the eventuality he will resign with the Redskins. And lastly we finally traded the disgruntled Coles to the Jets for Santana Moss in the very trade that was sabotaged less then two weeks ago.

It is times like this I remember that it is better when you trust in Joe Gibbs. The moves this week deserve both credit and in some cases criticism as well. Each move deserves to be looked at individually, and so I will.

Chris Samuels contract extension. This may be seen as a necessary evil by some or a large success by others. In either case the move cleared a large amount of salary cap space both this year and next. With over a nine million dollar cap hit this year and 12 million next something had to be done. By giving out the largest signing bonus in Redskins history (15.75 million) we have inexorably tied the future at Left tackle for the Redskins to Chris Samuels. This will provide stability and spending freedom for the next 4-5 years. This also means we are stuck with Chris Samuels for that time period as well. If this is the Chris Samuels of 2002 or even 2004 then this will be a great deal. If we get the Chris Samuels of 2003, then we might be in trouble here. Overall though it is a good move and I give it a B+.

Resigning Joe Salave’a. This may be the most unheralded part of the last week, however this is a key reacquisition. Much has been written about how Greg Williams ran a great defense with a bunch of no names on the defensive line. However this is not exactly true. What we actually had was a bunch of over-achieving individuals willing to work as a team to get the job done. Joe was a large part of that. He is our second best defensive tackle and started nine games. This will allow GW to use him in a rotation with Brandon Noble opposite Griffin and occupy blockers freeing our linebackers, and frustrate the opposing running game. This would normally be only a C+ signing but since it represents a resigning of a productive Redskin, something our team does not do enough of. That brings this grade to a B+.

Signing Casey Rabach. One of the biggest reasons our offense stalled last year is poor interior line play, most notably at Center. Casey should fill that position just fine. He started the season in Baltimore as a reserve but was an injury replacement and started the rest of the season. He was so impressive that when the original player was healthy enough to reclaim his role they stuck with Rabach. He is smart and can make the right calls as well. His signing will allow Cory Raymer to join Lennie Freidman, Jim Molinaro, Mark Wilson, and possibly Ray Brown serve as backups. The contract was very cheap as well. This is an easy A.

Resigning Ethan Albright. If the Salave’a resigning was overlooked, this was practically invisible. Of course the position of long snapper often is. But then again if you are noticing a long snapper then they are probably doing something wrong. Albright has been solid and dependable and I cannot remember any botched snaps in the past few years. Plus you got to like the way the red hair looks in a Redskin uniform. Overall grade is a B.

Losing Antonio Pierce to the NY Giants. It is hard to get a passing grade when you lose your starting Middle Linebacker to another team. Even harder when he was homegrown talent that you just discovered the previous year. Even harder still when he was one of your top targets at resigning. And almost impossible when you lose him to an NFC East rival. However I am inclined to agree with the Redskins decision here. Antonio Pierce was talented and I would love to have him back, but the contract the Giants offered to him was just too rich for my blood. He is a solid linebacker with talent, not just a product of a system, however the system had a lot to do with his success. He will be decent with the Giants but I would venture to say he won’t be missed around Redskins Park. Lemar Marshall has already been tapped as heir apparent and Clifton Smith could give him a run for his money. And who knows maybe Mr. Miyagi can come and work wonders on Barrow’s knee. However this is a loss for the Redskins so I can only give it a grade of C.

Signing David Patten. This is a big get for the Redskins. You may remember a few weeks ago I wrote an article stating that the Redskins should look to New England for their pattern to success. I didn’t mean it so literally but I am happy with the results. David Patten is a fast small wide receiver that may flourish in Washington. More importantly he brings 3 rings with him into a locker room. Most of the Redskins players have not been on a winning Redskin squad, or at least not since 1999. This is just as much a character sign as an upgrade at wide receiver. Patten is on the other side of 30 and did disappear at times last year, but overall this is a great sign. I give this a healthy A.

Trading Coles for Santana Moss. This is the biggest move yet of the off-season and the one with the most ramifications for next season and the future. The Redskins wanted to get value for Coles, and they did in Santana Moss. Moss in my opinion is just as good a receiver as Coles, especially since the toe injury. He also wants to be in D.C., and that is very important. This trade comes at a high price for the Redskins though. Not only do they have a large cap hit this year, Coles did not agree to forego the deferred salary bonus due to him on April 1st. That means not only will the Redskins take a large cap hit this year, almost negating the savings from the Samuels restructuring, they will not receive and added cap rebate in 2006. However Santana Moss averaged over 18 yards a catch last year, as did David Patten. That puts two of the 5 receivers in the NFL to average over 18 ypc in Burgundy and Gold. They are both small but the new NFL rules about contact will only stand to benefit them. This is a great move but the large cap hit devalues it. Overall grade is a solid B.

Overall. This was a very good first week of free agency for the Redskins. They upgraded the wide receiver position, got rid of a possible cancer, resigned a couple of unheralded solid performers, upgraded at Center, made cap space (then lost some of it), and stayed fiscally responsible. I admire the new thinking at Redskins Park. They have made some shrewd moves and kept in mind the future as well as the current season. Not quite the explosion out of the gate that we are used to, but that is better overall. Overall grade for the Redskins FO, a solid respectable B+.

Things to look for in week 2. The resigning of Smoot has to be tops on the list of things to do this week. Second on the list is the Rod Gardner trade. These two things might be linked because of the limited cap space Washington now has. Besides those two things we may not see much else for the Redskins this off-season. Some value signings as well as our RFA’s signing and the Redskins will stand pat until the draft.