"I've played against him before.  There's no reason to shy away from him. ... If we had to play him tomorrow, I'd go at him every time if I could."

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Let's clear one thing up right away.  Cowboys fans should not be mad at Alex Barron for the last play of the game last night.  Get mad at him for all of his other mistakes through the game if you will.  He was dominated by Orakpo all night and got called twice for holding.  But in response to that last play, everyone in Dallas should be thanking Barron for doing exactly what an offensive lineman is supposed to do.

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Unless any trades happen (still possible), the Redskins will be sitting out today.  That doesn't mean you have to, though.  How about a piece on Jeremy Jarmon, the Redskins' 2010 3rd round draft choice who got picked a year before the 2010 3rd round?  Let us know how his rehab is doing, try to get him on the phone for a discussion, try to make some projections for his role and even stats for next year.

Yeah, I get it.  I shouldn't have waited this long to post this.  It didn't occur to me until just now, though.  Whenever you get around to it, it would be nice to see that story anyway.  How much value did we add to him by getting him on the roster a year in advance?

Here's my quick take on what talking heads will be talking about going into each week.  Of course, if the Redskins are actually doing well, the talking heads will have a chance to talk about that, as well, but let's just assume a 0-0 record for each game.

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OK, seven weeks ago, Jason Campbell and Jim Zorn were dead men walking -- two guys expecting pink slips in their stockings and with no one else interested.  All of a sudden, the Redskins wake up in the second half of the Falcons game, beat Denver, lose to Dallas, Philly, and New Orleans by a combined 7 points, and destroy Oakland.  Now, the decision isn't so clear, right?

So what are the chances that we keep these two guys, as well as others who might be on their way out?  In the event that next year is uncapped, naturally, there will be no cap hit for cutting players, which means that dead weight could disappear very quickly.  Also, there are some tradeable assets on this team.  So here's who I'm asking about (my thoughts after the jump):

Jason Campbell - putting up career numbers behind David Carr's backup line from Houston, but we all know Snyder and Cerrato have been courting everyone (except Brett Favre, strangely enough) for almost a year now.

Jim Zorn - Dead man walking after that Carolina loss, and it kept getting worse from there.  Sherm Lewis's arrival in the play-calling scheme undermines the recent success, but this is a system that was sold as a 2-3 year project, and the dividends are beginning to show.  The fact that the players haven't given up on him is a good sign.

Clinton Portis - Possibly the greatest Redskins rusher ever, he might go the way of the last guy who was going for that title (Stephen Davis); just as he gets closer to passing Riggins on the yardage list, he might get sent away.

Rock Cartwright - He's a true leader, and when he retires, you can bet they'll give him the James Thrash treatment.  But he doesn't want to retire yet, and with the emergence of Devin Thomas on KO returns, Cartwright doesn't mean a lot to us on the field right now (H.B. Blades is supplanting him as the best coverage man IMO).

Antwaan Randle-El - Punt returns by ARE = awful.  We all know that.  As a slot receiver he can be good, but is he worth the money just to be a third- or fourth-option?

Santana Moss - Obviously, this franchise really appreciates everything Moss has done on the field.  But unless a good offensive line can get built by the start of next season, Moss will never have the time to pull his deep routes, double moves, or improvisations.  Wouldn't it be a favor to him to let him land somewhere else?

London Fletcher - Still dominant, but wouldn't he like another shot at a Super Bowl?  Can the Redskins offer him that?  Will he quietly ask for a trade? (I know he'd never be the type of guy to do that publicly.)

Carlos Rogers - He's in the same boat as JC17 -- unrestricted free agent with the cap, restricted free agent without it.  He's been frustrated this year by the way the team has been run.  His being the only guy punished for getting beaten by a double-move when every one of our DBs gets fooled is not a good sign for the team wanting to keep him.

Chris Samuels - If he decides he wants to come back, there's no way the team can say no.  He's the most beloved Redskin of the past decade and he gets to decide what he wants to do.  But there's a pretty good chance he'll retire.

Levi Jones - He's been playing well for us, but what's his price going to be?  We can't spend too much money on LG and LT when our center gets closer to retirement every day and we don't have a right side of the line.

Greg Blache - Getting older and has poor health, first of all.  Second, the guy has had defenses that don't give up a lot of yards here in DC, but the sack numbers went way down when he first took over, the turnover numbers are still down, and big plays are a huge issue.

Sherm Smith - He shoots from the hip, which I like, but our running game has been mediocre since the midpoint of last year, and that's what he came in here to run.  Mason and Ganther look pretty good right now, but the coaching staff apparently doesn't like the idea of a running back committee.  Without a feature back, though, how long can you keep avoiding that inevitability?

Sherm Lewis - Let's face it, the Redskins have begun to score since he started calling plays.  It's a strange story, and has never felt at all permanent, but maybe Sherm 2.0 will stick around (if we keep a WCO anyway).

Jerry Gray - Gets a lot of respect from league folks and media, but his players get destroyed by double-moves.  If it's a problem with every player, I'm pointing my finger at the coach.

And finally...
Vinny Cerrato - He's got something with Dan Snyder, but people say Snyder has never been closer to firing him.  Without the inside scoop, it's tough to say which contributors he wanted to bring in and which ones Zorn wanted in.  Obviously, anyone who got here before 2008 was the result of Gibbs and Williams wanting them for the most part, but even then, Cerrato had some say.

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According to a chart on this article (which has nothing to do with the Wizards, except for the chart), the Wizards have had the second toughest schedule in the league so far, according to opponents' winning percentage.  That, combined with all the injuries, should help explain the poor record.  But none of these injuries are long term, and there's plenty of bad teams left on our schedule, so it really should only get better from here.  Anyway, until it does start to get better, we've got the Capitals to watch and the Redskins to give us perspective about how bad a 2-6 record really can be lol.

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If I hear the phrase "one more set of eyes" one more time I'm gonna lose it.  Really.  JC said it.  Zorn said it.  Snyder said it.  Cerrato said it.  Robert Thomas probably said it to the guys working 9-5 at McDonald's  Seriously, guys.  It's not a comforting phrase.  It's not something that makes me say, "wow.  I wasn't so sure about this, but now that you say that you're bringing in a new set of eyes, I'm excited about this!"  I mean seriously.  They've used it so many times that I don't think it'd even be witty to make a joke about the fact that that guy has four eyes.  By the way, if any one has already made that joke on this or another site, congratulations: you're a regular Rodney Dangerfield, funny guy.

But about the signing specifically:  I'm withholding judgment for now.  I don't know a thing about this guy.  He's worked on some really good offenses and some really bad offenses.  Hopefully people who know about him will vouch and say that he's a great game strategist and can be effective on teaching a guy to call plays.  He's not going to teach the O-Line to be less flimsy, though (if Buges can't do it, who can?).  I doubt he's going to teach Campbell to hold onto the ball when he's getting sacked (it seems like a mental thing that JC has to get himself through).  So, yeah, maybe playcalling will get better.  But who's to say whether or not execution will improve as well?

Antwaan Randle-El is averaging 15 yards per punt return!

OK, so he's only returned one punt since has already signaled for two fair catches on his three punt returns.  But dammit, that one return was for 15 yards... 15 yards forward!  Not 6 yards to the left, 1 yard back, 6 yards to the right, and 2 yards forward... All 15 yards were in a direction towards the correct endzone.  Oh, happy day!

We've been talking about it since Sunday.  Jim Zorn took Jason Campbell out of the offense during our last two trips to the red zone against the Rams.  FYI I'm not talking about the victory formation "drive."  Yes, we were in the red zone, but we were kneeling it out.

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Colt Brennan just completed a 21 yard pass to D.J. Hackett!! Let's make him the starting QB for the rest of the season! Cut Campbell, Cut Campbell, Cut Campbell!!!

Hey, we have to make Colt the starter now.  The Eagles picked up Vick, so we only have one bad idea left available to us.

Look at the box score!  Campbell didn't throw any touchdowns tonight!  He can't get in the endzone! BOOOOOOO!!!!

Cut Campbell, Cut Campbell, Cut Campbell!!!

Cut Campbell, Cut Campbell, Cut Campbell!!!

OK, so I've been thinking about this for about a week, but it was part 1 of Prada's latest post that spurred me into writing this.  In it, he talks about the way the young guys were developed last week in Vegas and how he foresees the team seeing what it's got before considering any midseason trades.  As you all know, the Wizards are a little shy on big men, and a trade for one is likely our best option at getting a player that would do anything but take up space on the bench.

What I've had on my mind is that our likely key trading pieces (Stevenson, James) will be of more value to us as we get closer to the deadline.  DeShawn Stevenson's trade value can't get any lower than it is right now.  He's injured, just had a very off year, and has two more years on his contract.  But here's the thing: if he can get healthy this off-season and come back next year and show he's still got some game left in him, his value will go up.  Furthermore, we will more than likely still feel comfortable getting rid of him because of Miller, Foye, and Young all being on the roster (all of them are younger and, arguably, better).  Finally, his contract won't have two more years on it at the time of the deadline, but rather barely more than one.  If he has indeed shown his ability to bounce back from these injuries, then teams looking to lure free agents in the "Summer of Bosh" (that's right, that's what I'm calling it) could be interested in having a good contributor on their roster to show they have the depth to contend, while teams looking for a playoff or championship push might want one more roleplayer to help with that.  As I've said, his value can't get any lower, so we may as well see if it'll get higher before trying to move him.

As for Mike James, his value right now is pretty high.  But there is no reason to move him right now, before injuries and age take their toll on teams that think they have a chance right now.  There are always a few teams that look like they're ready for playoff runs of varying lengths who sputter out before the All-Star Break (look at the Sixers, Suns, and Pistons last year, for starters).  Those teams might see an opportunity to shed some long-term contracts in exchange for guys like James.  They might decide that they're on the other side of the ever-more obvious divide between haves and have-nots in the NBA, and might want to get ready for the Summer of Wade (I can call it that too!).  While Stevenson's value is dependent largely upon his ability to perform on a court, James' value only depends on when his contract expires.  That factor is a constant, as opposed to Stevenson's variable, and so the value on the other side of that equation will remain the same. [Conceivably, it could go up as team finances get more and more dire, but let's just say it's high and will remain that way.]

I've also thought about our young guys, who may or may not be secondary trade options in the eyes of Grunfeld -- that is to say, one of them might get thrown in a deal to sweeten it for someone not too willing to take on one or two older, low-performance players.  I see that group as containing four guys: Andray Blatche, Nick Young, JaVale McGee, and Dominic McGuire (the Mc-G brothers, maybe? lol).  I'm not going to go into specifics about any of them individually, because I think the same basic argument applies to all of them.  Honestly, I think their overall trade value will be going down as we get closer and closer to the deadline.  I've stressed the fact that finances for teams will be getting tighter, and I've also mentioned that there is a ever-larger and ever-more obvious divide between haves and have-nots in the NBA.  Some teams are legit contenders for a championship, and most are legit contendors for the lottery.  Every year, there seem to be fewer and fewer teams that you could call a playoff lock.  What I'm getting at here is that there are going to be very few teams who will be willing to take on any player who isn't going to contribute much now.  The players I've listed all have relatively high upsides, but aren't ready to be key contributors right now.  A team that is pushing for a Finals run might be interested in one of them in a reserve role, and a team with a decent outlook for the next few years might be interested in taking one of them to develop into a sixth man or starter.  It so happens that the group of teams looking to make the push and the group of teams with good finances happens to be about the same (hey, successful teams make money, not strugglers).  So the only guys who would be interested trade partners come mid-season will likely be the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, Spurs, Heat (maybe), Rockets (maybe), and Nuggets (maybe).  Maybe a couple more, but that's my list.  If we were to try to trade any of those young guys right now, we might find more people interested in them, but as owners keep tightening their belts, developing young players will seem like a less and less appealing option for teams.

In conclusion, I say we wait on that trade.  The value of the guys we truly want to get rid of can only go up.  The young guys who could help us create the trade right now will probably be less valuable later on, but with a new coach and an owner unafraid to spend the money needed to win, I don't think any of us want to get rid of those gusy right now.  [Okay, I do want to get rid of Blatche, but I understand that people still want to see him develop fully.]  If we try to trade now, we probably have to get rid of one of our young talents.  If we trade later, we might get away with only disposing of those "toxic assets," to turn a phrase.  That's what I think anyway.  What about you guys?

Here's some more questions for everyone to contemplate... Hope you enjoy.

1. Who will start at right tackle for game 1? Game 9 (AKA: the start of the second half of the year)?

2. Who will/can emerge as a leader on our very young secondary?

3. How secure is Greg Blache's job? I ask this because the perception may be that he only inherited a well-built defense and that he has to improve sack and turnover totals to stay around. What do y'all think?

4. How will Ladell Betts be used this year?

5. What's it going to take for Clinton Portis and Jim Zorn to co-exist?

I got this idea from the Saints blog (Canal Street Chronicles), so thanks to Saintsational!  3 of his 5 questions I've got here verbatim, the other 2 I've changed just slightly per our team.

1. Who will be the Redskins' surprise player of the year?

2. Will we all regret the contract Snyder gave DeAngelo Hall?

3. Which player will not make the team after training camp, to everyone's surprise?

4. Who will emerge as starting strong-side linebacker?

5. If the Redskins disappoint again this year, what will be the reason?