The Washington Redskins have made the most ridiculous free agent and long term contract moves for years upon years. There was a stretch where they developed a creepy stalker like fascination with the NYJ, signing free agent players like Chad Morton, John Hall and Coles (and traded for Santana Moss). They gained the nickname the 'Jetskins', and there spending and taste for mediocre players with any type of name recognition (Randle EL, London Fletcher, Archuleta, DeAngelo Hall... ect) has no limit or end in sight. They signed the afore mentioned Hall to a 50+ million dollar deal today. Hall has a reputation for being a locker room cancer. The Raiders, of all teams, paid him millions to terminate his contract just to be rid of him, and released him mid season in 08'. Not exactly the type of player most teams would want to throw money like that at.
Halls ill advised massive contract was not the biggest or most absurd of the day for the Skins. They also signed Albert Hanesworth to a 100 million dollar contract that could max out at 115 million!!!!! Now, Hanesworth is a very good player and a great addition to a defense that needs an identity. But the size and details of this contract are BONKERS! He has 41 million guaranteed, meaning if Hanesworth suffers a career ending injury in the first game of the 09 preseason Washington will have to absorb over 40 million against their salary cap in future seasons. Also, he will receive approximately 32 million dollars of this contract in the first 13 months!! I'm flabbergasted. I like Albert, but there is a reason why a young, 27 year old player with over 5 years of NFL experience was allowed to walk by the Titans. They know him the best and we all can see he is one of the most dominate defensive player in this league. One must ask, why did Tennessee let him leave with little to no fight? I don't know the answer, but there must be a reason they didn't lock him up over the past few years. Just for the record, all totaled up the Skins have handed out over 180 million in contracts in the first 24hrs of free agency. WOW
So, onto the NYJ and their crazy first day of free agency. We signed Bart Scott. Amazing move by our new head coach and Mr. Tannanbaum. I never thought Baltimore would let him walk, and never thought we would take him instead of Ray Lewis. He's a much better pick up than Ray Ray, and thinking of him and David Harris together in the middle really makes me feel we have a legitimate LB corps, for the first time in years. If Gholston can step up this year we could arguably have the best LB squad in the league. I am thrilled with this pick up. One final note on this subject, I hope our new coaches respect the fact that our #1 ILB is Harris; he has been here longer and has a lot of good years ahead of him.
I am also thrilled that the deal with the super overpriced guard from Pittsburgh fell through. The front office re-signed Brandon Moore and our O-line stays intact! I know Mr. T loves 1st round draft pick, big money O-linemen, but even though Moore is not flashy or exciting, he's our best run blocker and a homegrown Jet. Welcome back big man!
We need all the help we can get at cornerback, so I can't really knock the trade for Lito Sheppard. He's not a shutdown #1 guy, but playing opposite Revis could be good for him. I guess the dream of scoring my first round pick this year (Alphonso Smith) is dying quick. The details of this trade are a bit shady; it contains another one of Tannanbaum's "conditional" draft picks he is well known for. I am not naive about the fact our team needs to win now, and the business related to the new stadium. I know how a "winner" makes the PSL's a lot easier for the public to swallow. However, these big contracts that are being handed out, and the draft picks that are being given away scares me. I feel no one is thinking about the future. We could end up in salary cap prison and without a good foundation of young players built through the draft. See the SF 49ers of the past ten years as an example of what I mean.
I have been singing the praises of Mr.T and our front office. They have had some solid draft picks and been very aggressive in free agency for the last few years. However they have made some horrible mistakes. For those who are not familiar with the Vilma trade, we got a conditional draft pick for Jonathan. If the saints signed him to a contract extension we would get a 2nd round pick. If he played 2008 with them and they did NOT pick up his option we would only get a 3rd. This looked brilliant on paper considering J-VIL was coming off a knee injury. There was an obvious loop hole the Jets overlooked. The Saints could let his contract expire, let him become a free agent and re-sign him the same day dropping our compensation from a 2nd rounder to a 3rd.
So they get an amazing MLB, a former 1st round pick and rookie defensive player of the year for a 3rd round pick. He has great character and is an amazing leader... and he's young! Harris and Scott fit our system much better and we are set very well without Vilma, but he was worth much more than a 3rd. This type of mistake is unacceptable and frankly embarrassing. The Saints simply fleeced us. We have a lot of people on the payroll that write these contracts and are suppose to cover us. Someone should loose their job!
One final quick note. The Pats picked up Chris Baker, and that gets filed in the ‘who cares’ department, but they also picked up Fred Taylor. He signed a 2 year 5 million dollar contract. I have no idea how the Pats get these guys to sign reasonable, fair contracts when the rest of the league is signing away boat loads of cash. I am sure Taylor's agent could have got at least 30 million from Washington for this washed up fossil...... sorry I couldn't help myself!
Halls ill advised massive contract was not the biggest or most absurd of the day for the Skins. They also signed Albert Hanesworth to a 100 million dollar contract that could max out at 115 million!!!!! Now, Hanesworth is a very good player and a great addition to a defense that needs an identity. But the size and details of this contract are BONKERS! He has 41 million guaranteed, meaning if Hanesworth suffers a career ending injury in the first game of the 09 preseason Washington will have to absorb over 40 million against their salary cap in future seasons. Also, he will receive approximately 32 million dollars of this contract in the first 13 months!! I'm flabbergasted. I like Albert, but there is a reason why a young, 27 year old player with over 5 years of NFL experience was allowed to walk by the Titans. They know him the best and we all can see he is one of the most dominate defensive player in this league. One must ask, why did Tennessee let him leave with little to no fight? I don't know the answer, but there must be a reason they didn't lock him up over the past few years. Just for the record, all totaled up the Skins have handed out over 180 million in contracts in the first 24hrs of free agency. WOW
So, onto the NYJ and their crazy first day of free agency. We signed Bart Scott. Amazing move by our new head coach and Mr. Tannanbaum. I never thought Baltimore would let him walk, and never thought we would take him instead of Ray Lewis. He's a much better pick up than Ray Ray, and thinking of him and David Harris together in the middle really makes me feel we have a legitimate LB corps, for the first time in years. If Gholston can step up this year we could arguably have the best LB squad in the league. I am thrilled with this pick up. One final note on this subject, I hope our new coaches respect the fact that our #1 ILB is Harris; he has been here longer and has a lot of good years ahead of him.
I am also thrilled that the deal with the super overpriced guard from Pittsburgh fell through. The front office re-signed Brandon Moore and our O-line stays intact! I know Mr. T loves 1st round draft pick, big money O-linemen, but even though Moore is not flashy or exciting, he's our best run blocker and a homegrown Jet. Welcome back big man!
We need all the help we can get at cornerback, so I can't really knock the trade for Lito Sheppard. He's not a shutdown #1 guy, but playing opposite Revis could be good for him. I guess the dream of scoring my first round pick this year (Alphonso Smith) is dying quick. The details of this trade are a bit shady; it contains another one of Tannanbaum's "conditional" draft picks he is well known for. I am not naive about the fact our team needs to win now, and the business related to the new stadium. I know how a "winner" makes the PSL's a lot easier for the public to swallow. However, these big contracts that are being handed out, and the draft picks that are being given away scares me. I feel no one is thinking about the future. We could end up in salary cap prison and without a good foundation of young players built through the draft. See the SF 49ers of the past ten years as an example of what I mean.
I have been singing the praises of Mr.T and our front office. They have had some solid draft picks and been very aggressive in free agency for the last few years. However they have made some horrible mistakes. For those who are not familiar with the Vilma trade, we got a conditional draft pick for Jonathan. If the saints signed him to a contract extension we would get a 2nd round pick. If he played 2008 with them and they did NOT pick up his option we would only get a 3rd. This looked brilliant on paper considering J-VIL was coming off a knee injury. There was an obvious loop hole the Jets overlooked. The Saints could let his contract expire, let him become a free agent and re-sign him the same day dropping our compensation from a 2nd rounder to a 3rd.
So they get an amazing MLB, a former 1st round pick and rookie defensive player of the year for a 3rd round pick. He has great character and is an amazing leader... and he's young! Harris and Scott fit our system much better and we are set very well without Vilma, but he was worth much more than a 3rd. This type of mistake is unacceptable and frankly embarrassing. The Saints simply fleeced us. We have a lot of people on the payroll that write these contracts and are suppose to cover us. Someone should loose their job!
One final quick note. The Pats picked up Chris Baker, and that gets filed in the ‘who cares’ department, but they also picked up Fred Taylor. He signed a 2 year 5 million dollar contract. I have no idea how the Pats get these guys to sign reasonable, fair contracts when the rest of the league is signing away boat loads of cash. I am sure Taylor's agent could have got at least 30 million from Washington for this washed up fossil...... sorry I couldn't help myself!
The Jets get an A- for day one of the offseason! Keep it up Mr. T
J.Wagner
No comments:
Post a Comment