Vision Quest: Off Season Game Plan, Players To Be Let Go

The Off season is here and it is time to get into the Off Season Game plan. For the first time in years the Redskins are actually behind in their off season plans. Usually the Redskins were out of the playoff race early in the regular season and the last few weeks were used to make evaluations on current veterans as well as rookies. By the end of the regular season there were clear leanings by the front office on who would stay and who would go.

Not this year though. After a playoff run it is anybody’s guess on who is going to stay and who is going to be copying resumes at Kinko’s. The main thinking is that Gibbs wants to keep everyone together and add a few pieces to make a run. Realistically though the Redskins are about 18 million over the projected 2006 salary cap. They need to cut some waste and restructure some contracts to get room to not only resign their own free agents and draft picks, but to make a run at either a free agent WR or DE.

So before we can do any resigning or even evaluating our own free agents or others we have to do the unpleasant task of saying goodbye to a few Redskins who have overstayed their welcome.

Players the Redskins Don’t Need 2006

Here are my 8 nominees of players that I think the redskins can do without in the upcoming year. Last year I nominated 4 players and 3 of them were gone by training camp. The 4th player was Cory Raymer, and he should have been gone as well. Guess what? It looks as if we have may have a two time nominee.

So here are the 8 in order of Cap savings for trading, releasing, or forcing to retire.

Walt Harris
2006 Salary Cap #: 2.75 Million
Cap Savings: 2.00 million

Walt had some good games at the end of the season, but he just can’t cut it anymore. With the emergence of Carlos Rogers Harris would be a nickel, and he makes too much money and does not have the ability to be a solid nickel in the NFL. The Redskins will probably look at youth at the CB position to provide depth and solid reserves. Harris should not be asked back.

Matt Bowen
2006 Salary Cap #: 2.4 million
Cap Savings: 2.00 million

This may be the easiest of all the cuts. Bowen lost his starting spot to Ryan Clark and was not even heard from in backup duty. He is in the final year of his contract and can be cut with relatively little cap charge. Bowen’s injuries and sub par on field performance will not garner any trade requests either. Sorry Mr. Bowen, it’s been nice, but time to find another team.

Brandon Noble
2006 Salary Cap #: 2.63 Million
Cap Savings: 1.7 Million

Noble is not going to be cut, he is going to retire and become part of the coaching staff. His knees just could never recover and with the emergence of Salve’a the Redskins can use him at other levels. Noble battled most of his Redskins career to stay healthy, but could not. He will still be a Redskin and may be an assistant line coach and mold some of the young linemen the Redskins have.

Patrick Ramsey
2006 Salary Cap #: 2.882 million
Cap Savings: 1.688 million

Jason Campbell’s presence on the roster makes Patrick Ramsey obsolete. Brunell will start next year and Campbell will be the primary backup. Ramsey could fetch as high as a 3rd round pick this year and has many possible suitors looking his way. With other Qbs once thought to be available (Rivers, Kitna) are not. More over, Patrick does not want to be here anymore either. It is time to give Ramsey what he wants, a trade to Miami perhaps, and move on.

Cory Raymer
2006 Salary Cap #: 1.119 Million
Cap Savings: .985 Million

Cory Raymer makes the list for the second straight year. Honestly I just don’t know how he survived last year. If there is any doubt to why he should be cut, take a look at the 5 minutes he was playing for Ray Brown in Seattle. Last year I called him “Grass Stains” Raymer because he was the first one in the dirt on every play from scrimmage, but after his failure to put a hat on ANYONE in Seattle I am renaming him Cory “The Statue” Raymer. Time to ship him off to some museum somewhere or perhaps that storage facility in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

John Hall
2006 Salary Cap #: 1.42 Million
Cap Savings: .78 million

John Hall’s leg is obviously giving him major problems. Each of the last two years the redskins have taken chances on him getting healthy only scramble mid season when he goes down to injury. His kickoffs this year were absolutely HORRID. The Redskins need to revamp their entire kicking game, and that starts with John Hall. Hall is paid to be an elite kicker, and is not delivering.

Antonio Brown
2006 Salary Cap #: .46 million
Cap Savings: .46 million

Antonio just does not have the hands to be an NFL receiver or kick returner. The Redskins should be looking to upgrade their return game and Antonio is not part of that plan. He has no signing bonus to worry about so cutting him will give full cap relief.

Derrick Frost
2006 Salary Cap #: .46 million
Cap Savings: .46 million

Simply put, the worst punter in the league, period. How Danny Smith thought he was better then Andy Groom I will never know. Nothing short of incriminating photos with Danny Smith, Tom Delay, and a dead goat could not have gotten this deal done. Tom Tupa should come back, and if not, we should find someone else. I would even welcome Matt Turk and his brother Dan back before this guy. He stinks, end of story.

Total Cap Savings if all above cuts are implemented: 10.073 Million

Honorable Mentions

These are players that probably should not be released out right but are on the cusp of wearing different colors next year. I do not advocate for any of their outright releases, but I could understand if the trigger was pulled on any of them. Again I list them in order of potential CAP savings.

James Thrash
2006 Salary Cap#: 1.125 million
Cap Savings: .875 million

I hate even mentioning him because he really is a core Redskin player, but 1.25 million is a high price to pay for a special team ace/4th or 5th wide out. We should cut Thrash and immediately re-sign him to the vet minimum. By doing that we could save about .5 million and still keep him. Although if we are going to risk losing Thrash then we should bite the bullet and keep him for his price for his special teams play alone.

Tom Tupa
2006 Salary Cap #: .939 million
Cap savings: .601 million

I actually hope they will keep Tupa, but only if he is at 100 percent. It’s hard to see that he would be at 40, but there is always hope. Almost 1 million for a punter is extravagant, but we saw what Derrick Frost costs this team this year. Tupa should be kept if he is healthy and if not an adequate replacement should be found immediately.

Ladell Betts
2006 Salary Cap #: .810 million
Cap Savings: .545 million

Another name I hate putting here as well. And remember this is an honorary mention, I do not think he should be outright released. However he could be packaged in a deal with Patrick Ramsey to pick up a 2nd rounder, perhaps from Arizona. Betts has had injury problems for the Redskins so giving up almost a million if a high price for a running back we will lose next year. However Rock Cartwright is a free agent and his signing would need to be a done deal if Betts is to be carted off to another team.

Taylor Jacobs
2006 Salary Cap #: .841 million
Cap Savings: .117 million

Ok not much savings here, but it does free up a roster spot. Jacobs has been a sad sad disappointment to many fans and coaches alike. He barely gets separation and rarely fights for a ball when thrown his way. In Seattle he ran to the sideline saying he had a concussion and did not. He did this KNOWING Thrash & Patten were already out of the game. The light savings may give him one more year as a 4th or 5th wide receiver, but after that he is gone. Maybe we should give his roster spot to a Jimmy Farris type who is cheaper in the long run and will try harder in the short run.

Next week I will look at the Redskin Free agents and make my call on who we should resign and who we should let go their way.