Background

As UkRedskin posted yesterday, Chris Russell tweeted that Jabar Gaffney told him that the Redskins were trying to trade him. Then today, HTTR4LIFE posted an article in the Daily Slop from CBS DC, about the Gaffney being puzzled about why he is being traded.

Jabar Gaffney was probably our season-long offensive MVP last year with 68 catches for 947 yards. As for keeping him or trading him, there are arguments on both sides. One side wants to preserve one of our few healthy, productive, non-delinquent offensive weapons from last year. Those folks would likely rather trade/cut Santana Moss to reduce the logjam at WR. The others side wants to remove pass-catchers who would take away reps from our young, developing WRs (Hankerson, Paul) and our new FA acquisitions (Garcon, Morgan). These folks want to get as much value as possible outside of those WRs, and since Gaffney is younger, healthier, and would fetch a higher draft pick than Santana Moss in the open market, they think that the value bet is to trade Gaffney. There obviously are opinions throughout this range of arguments, including keeping both, cutting both, etc., but that is not what prompted this fanpost.

My Issue

I guess I am trying to figure out why the Redskins told Gaffney that they are looking to trade him. The Redskins keep doing this- we reduce the trade value of our players when we want to get rid of them. When the whole league knows you are shopping a player, then they will likely give you less for him than if they think they are trading for a commodity that you still value/want. Also, when a player is aware he is being shopped, they usually become upset, further broadcast that they are available, and either publicly request a release from the team or become a malcontent in the locker-room if eventually retained. When players are known to be unhappy with their situation, they further lower their value because some teams may gamble to not make an offer so that they can pick him up as a free agent without giving up anything in a trade.

A few examples of how we have de-valued our trade bait in recent years:

• Jason Campbell - We brought in McNabb. Rather than saying we wanted to retain him as a veteran backup, we told him not to show up anymore until we traded him. As a result, our starting QB was traded to be another team's actual starter for a 4th rounder. IMO, if we had pretended to want to keep Campbell or if we had moved him before McNabb got here, we would have gotten more.
• Donovan McNabb - We benched him for the final 3 games of the season, there was the cardiovascular endurance/playbook/injury debacle, and everyone knew we wanted to move him. The truth is that he was on pace for 4,000 yards, and although he wasn't great, IMO we would have at least gotten slightly more in return if the whole world wasn't aware that the divorce was imminent.
• Albert Haynesworth - This one wasn't entirely the Redskins fault. Fat Al certainly did enough to de-value himself... Nevermind; it's to painful to re-live this sh**-show.

My point is, that whether or not it's the right move to trade Gaffney, I just cannot make sense of why we would de-value him by letting him, and indirectly the media, know that we wanted to trade him (and on top of that, to even let on when we wanted to do it by... before the draft). The only way I can think that this would be an okay idea is if we already had 2+ active bidders, if the bids were already high enough that we were ready to pull the trigger, and if we were just sending it out there to accelerate offers in the existing bidding war/welcome in any late-comers. However, I highly doubt this was/is the case with a Jabar Gaffney... Although I think our FO is much improved from the days of Vinny, I think this shows that our FO still doesn't completely have their game faces on...

What do you think?

O.J. Atogwe, the former Rams 3rd round pick, was cut from our team the day before free agency began. Part of this was due to the fact that the Redskins were blindsided with the cap penalties imposed by the NFL.

Last year before the lockout, when we snagged O.J. Atogwe, Redskins fans were very excited about having this "ball-hawk" on our team. I realize that he didn't have a great season last year, but he did still have 3 interceptions despite battling injuries all year (played in 13 games; started 8 games). I know that Atogwe was really excited to be a Redskin, and he was obviously disappointed when he was cut. Realistically, although it was a down year for Atogwe, he did still contribute at times, and he was always a leader in the locker-room. Atogwe's stats are after the jump.

Currently, at Safety we have brought in Meriweather and Griffin this offseason to supplement Reed Doughty and Dejon Gomes. Given that Safety is one of our weakest areas on the team (arguably second only to the O-Line), I think that it might be a good idea to bring Atogwe back if he is healthy. Since being cut, I have seen zero reports of Atogwe having visits with other teams or receiving any offers in free agency. Part of this (and part of his swift departure) may be because there are lingering injuries that the Redskins and other teams don't think will go away. If that is true, then so be it. But if he has a chance to come back healthy, do you think it would be a good idea to bring O.J. Atogwe back?

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Below are the 6 NFC playoff teams this year, and where their quarterbacks were drafted. 5 of the 6 were drafted in the first round (only Drew Brees was in the second round, and he was the first pick in that round). 4 of the 6 were the top overall QB drafted (and in Aaron Rodgers case, the QB selected ahead of him, Alex Smith, is already on this list). And 3 of the 6 were drafted 1st overall.

Packers (Aaron Rodgers) - 24th pick of the 1st round --- (2nd QB overall of the 2005 draft)

49ers (Alex Smith) - 1st pick of the 1st round --- (1st QB overall of the 2005 draft)

Saints (Drew Brees) - 1st pick of the 2nd round --- (2nd QB overall of the 2001 draft)

Giants (Eli Manning) - 1st pick of the 1st round (1st QB overall of the 2004 draft)

Falcons (Matt Ryan) - 3rd pick of the 1st round (1st QB overall of the 2008 draft)

Lions (Matt Stafford) – 1st pick of the 1st round (1st QB overall of the 2009 draft)

The NFC is so competitive, and great QB play is essential. Andrew Luck will be a stellar franchise QB, something the Redskins haven't had in decades, and I would be willing to mortgage the future for him. I think the closest comparison to our situation with these 6 QB's is Eli Manning, who was traded to the Giants for the 4th overall pick in the 1st round, a 3rd round pick, and a 1st rounder the following year. I'm sure that Andrew Luck will cost more for the Redskins to move up from the 6th overall pick, but I'd be willing to do that. In the end, the Giants trade worked out well for them- they got a Super Bowl win, numerous playoff appearances, and a perennial pro-bowler.

I am normally a proponent of building through the draft and upgrading the offensive line, but with cap room to work free agency this year I think we can address some of our holes, and it is becoming increasingly obvious to me that QB play has killed us for the last decade.

Trade up for Luck!!! I'd give a 2012 1st rounder (#6 overall), 2013 1st rounder, and a 2014 first rounder. If the Colts didn't want picks that far out, I'd give them a 2012 1st rounder (#6 overall), a 2012 2nd rounder, and a 2013 1st rounder.

Week 4 saw the toppling of one of the last two un-beatens (Ken), and the rising of two winless teams (Parks and Cdavis). Just as there is parity in the NFL, so there is parity in HogsHaven fantasy football.

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The preliminary list of modern era nominees for enshrinement of the Pro Football Hall of Fame has been released including 103 total nominees (71 players, 14 coaches, and 18 contributors). 20 of those nominees had some relationship with the Washington Redskins franchise (see below for the complete list of Redskins).

The number will be cut down to 25 in November, and then 15 in early January- for a set of 17 finalists for the Hall of Fame (15 modern era + 2 senior nominees which this year are Steelers DB Jack Butler and Lions G Dick Stanfel). From that list of 17, we can expect 4-7 Hall of Fame nominees, though in recent years, the committee has used all 7 spots since there are many deserving candidates still out there.

A list of all of the 20 Redskins preliminary nominees (alphabetically) are after the jump:

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In fantasy football, points are points no matter whether you score them in a 1pm Sunday game, or a Thursday night game. Since fantasy is always viewed on Monday nights around the fantasy world as certain players a team “needs” to do well, and certain players a team “needs” not to do well, and since the Redskins faced their rival Cowboys this week, I thought that for Week 3, we would discuss the previous week’s matchups with regards to the MNF Redskins-Cowboys game (where applicable).

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It was a tough loss last night. A lot went wrong, and it left a lot of fans with the typical stomach ache from a let-down on a game we should have won. There were a couple bright spots that hopefully we can build on. There were plenty more dull spots, and hopefully the coaches can form strategies to minimize the mental errors and reduce the impacts of certain ineffective players. Here is a look at the Week 3 MVPs and LVPs:

MVPs:

1. Josh Wilson- He almost had a few interceptions, and unlike Carlos Rogers, the fact he didn’t reel them in was understandable because he was flying horizontally to make some tough, big plays. He ended with 4 Pass Deflections and that crucial Fumble Recovery. Speaking of the fumble recovery, during that play I was yelling at the TV for Barnes not to touch the ball because he came flying in to try to get it- we’ve seen it too many times, that if you sprint towards the sidelines to scoop up a fumble, you never gain full control before going out of bounds. Fortunately it worked out, and Josh Wilson took a better angle to the ball.

2. Graham Gano- The blocked field goal was Sav Rocca’s fault, not Gano’s. He gets bashed a lot by Redskins Nation, but Gano made the other 3 field goals including quick 46 and 50 yarders while Dallas was getting good pressure on the line. Gano did his job last night.

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I know this isn't the typical type of HH fanpost: but it was funny, and I was so befuddled when it happened:

Yesterday, I started a Franchise in the new Madden 12 which I had just gotten earlier this week for my birthday. I selected the Redskins (obviously), took the default settings and began. A new feature of this year's game is that they let you cut down your roster as the preseason goes on. I usually just simulate preseason and get into the real games, but I wanted to make sure that I re-created the current roster, so I simulated just the games, and manually made the cuts exactly as Mike Shanahan did this preseason. Once preseason was over, I declared Rex Grossman the victor over John Beck, and set my depth charts according to how Shanny did that as well.

When I go to play my first game against the Giants, I line up and drop back for a pass to Santana Moss, when I realized that... WTF?!? David Garrard was throwing him the ball! How the...? Where did he...? Huh?

Apparently, in the digital world, John Madden thought so little of my team management (which was identical to Mike Shanahan's), that the computer disregarded my setup, cut NILES PAUL (Aaah!) in order to sign David Garrard as a free agent, and then tossed him atop my depth chart at QB. By the time I figured all of this out, I was confused, upset, and disappointed that the game couldn't trust old Shanahan at the helm of this ship.

In all of the confusion, I still won the game, but apparently Devin friggin Thomas was able to catch two TD receptions against my team to rub salt in this wound that Madden inflicted into my digital Shanny.

I am seriously hoping that the Rex Cannon will be rated higher than Garrard after a strong season this year (HTTR!). Oh, and if you are curious- I fixed the settings so the CPU can't be so flagrantly disrespectful to our team and coach in the future. And since the game tried to force me to keep 3 QBs- I traded David Garrard to the Seahawks for Josh Portis and a 2012 1st round pick- LOL Oh Madden, if only the real world worked that way!

Although Power Rankings are almost completely meaningless, people love to watch them from week to week swearing up and down that either their team is better than listed or that some team that they’ve beaten (or played close) is ranked too high. I had an idea that this would be fun to apply with some Redskins flavor since our team is 2-0 and Kool-Aid is flying off the shelves. Below are my power rankings of the Top 10 Redskins players thus far through Week 2.

1.       Fred Davis – Davis has been HUGE for us so far this season (especially with Cooley still nursing his sore knee). 11 rec, 191 yards, and a TD… Nuff said.

2.       Ryan Kerrigan – Kerrigan embodies the influx of youth and enthusiasm on our defense. He already has a sack, and he returned his own batted ball interception for a pivotal touchdown in Game 1. It has been wonderful watching this kid immediately contribute.

3.       London Fletcher – Our defense has looked great in both weeks of the season. Fletcher is the leader of this defense, and he had a big interception against Arizona.

4.       Rex Grossman – He had a great Giants game, and he overcame early mistakes in the Cardinals game to lead us to victory. With a 90.6 QB rating, the Rex Cannon has gotten off to a great start.

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In the comment’s section last week, one gentleman mentioned that only the folks in the league would care for these HH#1 league posts. I would like to invite the entire Hogs Haven community to feel free to use the comments section on these posts as a forum for fantasy questions/advice as well as accounts of epic battles or letdowns in their other leagues.

Back to the action- Week 2 for Hogs Haven League #1 saw some high flying action. For the record, my backside was officially ravaged by this absurd "scoring system" – down by 4 points going into MNF: I had Eli Manning (awarded 21.5 points on 200 yds, 2 tds, 1 int) and Josh Brown (10 points), but Sam Bradford nets more points with a worse actual performance (39.99 points on 331 yds, 1 td)?!? Damn you performance bonuses!!! However, I am just bitter in the agony of defeat. I digress…

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The preseason alone had much action for Hogs Haven’s League #1:

• Hurricane Irene resulted in draft-gate 2011, where Parks Smith and Travisjh86 were left with autodrafted teams that didn’t include any QB’s or defenses in a league where two of each can be started.
• Ken Meringolo, as the original acting commissioner, created an irreversible roster set-up and scoring system that would confound even Isaac Newton. (For the record this is PPR; we start 2 defenses, but are not allowed a reserve defense on the bench; the points may appear inflated because of bonuses given to individual performace goals like passing for over 300 yards; and in free agency post-week-one, a waiver budget has been established).
• Parks Smith took over as commissioner just in time to receive all of the blame and anger over the previous administration’s work.
• The term "a-hole" was thrown around enough times over trade talk that the league is currently under investigation by the Yahoo authorities.

Week 1 had plenty of action, and when all the dust settled (and all of the Dallas Cowboys were finished choking), there were several great performances. Ken Meringolo sits atop the standings, and HogHunter and Diesel44 are nipping at his heels. Below are the highlights of all 6 match-ups (these reviews will be shorter in the future, but I wanted people to get an idea of who the players were on the various rosters):

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I wanted to share with the Hogs Haven community something that I do every year. I, as many of you do, go through our schedule and pick wins/losses to make a final prediction of our record.

An interesting piece that I add though is a Confidence Level estimator for my picks. Although a person might pick the Skins to lose two different games, their confidence in that outcome may be drastically different. For example, I have the Skins losing to both the Patriots and at the Dolphins- however, I think the former is far more likely than the latter. As such, I have assigned a confidence level of victory (or % chance of a win) to each game as well- so we have a 5% shot against the Patriots and a 40% shot against the Dolphins. This helps to normalize the results in our decision-making process of wins and losses. In the end this usually results in a decimal place record that is similar to the original prediction if you just went game by game (and it captures the feelings associated with the original prediction as well). And as always, since "On any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team," the % chances to win should never be 0% or 100%.

Another thing that I like to do is to put a rationale as to why the Skins will win/lose. This often is very comical when you look back throughout the season. From this past year, some were astonishingly accurate- “Titans will be erratic this year, Skins will catch them in a down week.” And some were… well let’s just say, some were less accurate- “Bucs will be terrible again this year.”

I don’t like it when folks selectively remember and remind other folks when they “predicted” something right, and then they conveniently forget to ever mention when they were wrong. (For the record during their respective drafts, I once said that Byron Leftwich would be a Hall of Famer, and I had said that Clay Matthews and Kevin Durant would be busts… woops.) So I am including last year’s analysis as well so you can all see some of the good, bad, and silly thoughts that I had.

If you are curious: I predicted the Skins to go 5-11 two years ago (they went 4-12); and I had them going 7-9 last year (they went 6-10). This year I have them at 7-9 (with a 7.3-8.7 confidence level estimated record), but I am obviously hopeful and cheering that they go 16-0. Enjoy, and please feel free to comment on your predictions for this season or what you like/dislike about mine.

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The Redskins have finally announced the 8 players for the practice squad. Although there is speculation that a trade may occur in the future prior to Sunday's game to bring in additional O-Line or D-Line depth, for now the 53-man roster and the practice squad are set. I hadn't seen the complete list posted anywhere else on HogsHaven, so I have decided to include it below:

As per Gary Fitzgerald at Redskins.com, the practice squad is as follows.

Chris Baker	NT	2nd-Year Player; Formerly With Denver
Jonathan Crompton	QB	1st-Year Player; Formerly With T.B.
Maurice Hurt	OL	2011 7th-Round Draft Pick
Nate Ness	CB	2nd-Year Player; Formerly With Miami
Eric Olsen	C/G	1st-Year Player; Formerly With Denver
Aldrick Robinson	WR	2011 6th-Round Draft Pick
Evan Royster	RB	2011 6th-Round Draft Pick
Doug Worthington	DE	1st-Year Player; Signed In August

The two notable additions other than this year's draft picks who had previously been cut (Hurt, Anderson, Royster) are Jonathon Crompton (QB) and Eric Olsen (C/G). Crompton was a 2010 5th round draft choice out of Tennessee. He is 6'4" and 225 lbs. Crompton is likely a Shanahan project player who can also help run the scout team in practice. Eric Olsen was a 2010 6th round draft choice out of Notre Dame, and has likely been brought in to support the interior of the offensive line in case of an injury to a starter.

Update: HogsHaven has generously offered to reward any reader who successfully guesses the 8 cuts that will take place between now and tomorrow. The prize can be seen here: http://www.anydate.com/Washington_Redskins_History_Newspaper.html - Simply write your 8-player guess in the comments section below! Good Luck!

The Redskins have to reduce their roster from 90 to 80 by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. According to Redskins.com, the Redskins currently have 89 players on the roster (with two of those on the PUP – LaRon Landry and Kareem Moore), and the dismissal of many of those players are obvious to most informed fans. This, then, is an exercise in grabbing the low-hanging-fruit. Here is a look at which players I see will be the first to be cut:

Clint Stitser (K) – Let’s be honest, Graham Gano has this job locked up, and kicker is not a position that we need an extra body for to prevent injury in the final preseason game.

Malcolm Kelly (WR) – Has been injured since he got here 3 years ago. He hasn’t played this preseason, and the front office isn’t going to pay him the near million dollars it would need to in order to put him on IR again this year.

Matt Gutierrez (QB) – He hasn’t seen action in any preseason game, and unlike Ben Chappell, he isn’t likely to go on our practice squad. Therefore, as the 5th QB on a team whose QB cast looks like a gimmicky replacements team, he is probably on his way out soon.

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The 2011 Supplemental Draft occurs today (8/22/11). For those of you unfamiliar with the Supplemental Draft, it works like a normal draft (7 rounds), but teams email in what round pick they would be willing to take a player with. The team who bids the lowest round pick on a player, forfits next year’s equivalent pick for that player. For example, during the Zorn era, the Redskins designated Jeremy Jarmon with a 3rd round pick, and as a result, we got him for a 3rd round pick the following year (even though many folks believe he could have been gotten with a 5th-6th round supplemental pick- Thanks Vinny!). Basically the Supplemental Draft works like a Silent Auction of leftover football talent that became ineligible to play in college after they could have declared for the normal NFL draft.

This year, there are 6 players available in the supplemental draft:

(Prospects After the Jump)

Offense:

Terrelle Pryor (QB, Ohio State)- Obviously the most newsworthy prospect this year, Pryor was a phenomal prospect coming out of high school, and he had mixed success in college. He’s a very mobile quarterback (ran a 4.41 in his pro-day), but has serious accuracy issues. He has said that he would be willing to play at any position that a team asked him to, and realistically he would probably be a better pro-WR than pro-QB since he is incredibly fast for a 6’5” 240lbs. It should also be noted that the commissioner. His projected draft round has been rumored everywhere across the board from round one all the way to round seven.

Caleb King (RB, Georgia)- At 5’11” 215 lbs., King was heavily recruited coming out of high school as well. He didn’t have huge production at UGA, but for a team missing RB depth, he oculd be brought in to share carries with another back. He is projected to either be taken with a seventh round selection or go undrafted.

Defense:

Michael McAdoo (DE, UNC)- McAdoo (6’6” 248 lbs.) was one of the UNC kids to be suspended all of last season. Further investigation recently left him banned from college. He has potential to develop into a DE in a 4-3 system if he bulks up a bit more and coaches work with him on his rush technique. He is projected as a late round pick.

Tracy Wilson (SS, No. Illinois)- Wilson has a history of injury problems, and that led to mix of production in his college career. He is considered to be a good tackler, but he does not have elite speed. Wilson is the sort of guy who could develop off of a team’s practice squad and potentially be a productive backup in the future. He is projected to either go undrafted or be a late round pick.

Torez Jones (CB, Western Carolina)- Jones’ biggest knock is his size. He is 5’11” and 178 lbs. He is a speedster who can cover well, but his lack of girth makes him easy to shed when he tries to tackle. His talents are not likely to translate well to the pro-game. He is projected to not be drafted in this supplemental draft.

Keenan Mace (DE, Lindenwood)- Mace played a couple years in college, and most recently he was playing in an Indoor Football League. The Dallas Cowboys tried to sign him after the Lockout ended, but Mace had never gone through the draft process, and as such was unable to sign with the team. He is considered a raw 3-4 DE prospect at 6’4” 315lbs., but given the press on this kid from the Cowboys’ interest, it is likely that a team will take a chance on him with a later round pick.

Considering the list of prospects, I would be shocked if the Redskins put a bid in for anyone other than possibly Pryor with a late round pick or Mace with a 7th rounder. To be honest, I figure they will likely pass on everyone. If you were Bruce Allen, who would you most want from the 2011 Supplemental Draft?

Apparently the NFL "competition committee" (a.k.a. anti-competition committee) is proposing 4 new rule changes with regards to Kickoffs. There were rumors that initial proposals were to remove kickoffs completely from the game, but this apparently isn't the case (though it is a sign of a potential future consequence to this slippery slope). The rule changes are as follows:

1. The kickoff will be moved up to the 35 yard line: This essentially gives many kickers the ability to boot kickoffs through the end-zone forcing touch-backs and eliminating any return possibilities.

2. Touch-backs would be moved up to the 25 yard line: This is basically 5 yards of further incentive for coaches to encourage their returners to take a knee if they catch the ball in the end zone or let the ball bounce through it (also further diminishing the odds of kick returns normally).

3. All kick return wedges will be penalized: Back in 2009, the committee reduced wedges to a maximum of 2 players, so this would make kick returns more difficult further providing incentive for teams to accept touch-backs.

4. No player on the kicking team (other than the kicker) can line up more than 5 yards behind the ball: This removes any running start a tackler may have in pursuit of a returner causing the overall speed of the play to be diminished.

Personally I think these rules are terrible. I realize they are being proposed in the effort by the competition committee to "appear to improve the safety of the game," but realistically they are taking away one of the most exciting elements of football. Big returns, or return touchdowns are often the big momentum swinging play that allows for a comeback or allows for games to remain competitive in the final minutes. I personally hope that these changes are rejected, but it is looking more and more likely that they will go into effect. If Brian Mitchell were dead, he'd be rolling in his grave...

The Redskins need to get rid of the players that don’t offer real growth for our future development. We want to keep around good character guys around that will contribute in the growth of our young talent. We need to trade our assets that have high value, and then build a strong franchise around the likes of Brian Orakpo, Trent Williams, and Brandon Banks.

First things first (and this should come as a no-brainer), we trade Albert Haynesworth. Seeing as his contract is now manageable, and he is only a couple years removed from being a candidate for Defensive POY, we should be able to fetch at least a 1st and 2nd rounder from the Detroit Lions for him to lineup next to Suh.

Next, we trade McNabb to the Vikings. They are still only one piece away from the Super Bowl, so they will give literally anything for this coveted franchise quarterback. Chalk them up for another 1st and 2nd rounder this year, as well as their 2012 1st round pick.

John Beck was a former 2nd round pick? Off to Arizona he goes for a 2nd rounder this year plus a 5th rounder to sweeten the pot since he had an extra year under the tutelage of Kyle Shanahan.

DeAngelo Hall just had a Pro Bowl year. The Raiders just lost their Pro-Bowl corner. Shipped in a 4 team trade that nets us a 1st round pick, three 2nd round picks this year, as well as the 11th overall selection in the upcoming UFL draft and a Lottery Pick TBD in this year’s NBA draft.

Cooley is a fan favorite. That’s got to be worth at least a couple 1st round picks from New England because he will straight up sell jerseys for any franchise, and I think under the awesomeness of Belicheck, he could potentially pull off the position change into the Defensive End they so desperately desire in the 4-3 nickel packages.

There are a few other trade possibilities, but to simplify this all, let’s just say we signed-and-traded James Thrash, dealt Macho Harris, and swapped out Mike Sellers for a total of seven more picks in the top 3 rounds.

Okay, this next move will sound a little suspect, but I’ve been doing it for years on Madden (i.e. GM Training 101), so trust me- it works. We trade our 5th, 6th, and 7th round picks for a 4th rounder; We trade a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round pick for a 1st rounder; and so on. We do this with all of our picks until we have aqcuired the top 10 picks in this year’s draft.

Then it’s simple. We draft the next set of All-Stars. Da-Quan Bowers? Yep. Prince Amukamara? Obviously. Robert Quinn? Heck, we may draft him twice just to make sure he REALLY pans out.

We pick up a few necessary free agents: Plaxico Burress, Carson Palmer, and re-sign Derrick Dockery for his 3rd stint as a Redskin. We bring LaVar Arrington, Darrell Green, and Sammy Baugh out of retirement. And we hire Sherman Lewis as a special consultant to call the plays for Kyle Shanahan who will spend his time figuring out a new hybrid to the zone and power blocking schemes.

Then baam- we have ourselves a contender. See? I can play GM too... Thank you to the dozens of posts like this for your inspiration.

Robert Gallery has decided to leave the Oakland Raiders. Read the ESPN article here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6178205

Gallery was the #2 overall pick in 2004. He is set to turn 31 this summer, but he still has plenty of game left in my opinion. The Redskins have had serious O-Line problems for the last decade and a half, and currently the interior portion of our line is especially terrible. I am like plenty of folks on here who have discussed drafting O-Linemen early and often. That being said, is Robert Gallery a good pick-up for the Redskins at age 31? My answer is a giant YES!

Mel Kiper's Mock Draft 2.0 came out today. If you have an ESPN Insider account, you can view it here:

Kiper now projects Cam Newton (who he originally had the Redskins taking) as going #3 overall to the Buffalo Bills... Poor guy; he cheated his way through the NCAA to potentially get stuck in that cold, abandoned place. Though I would say Cam Newton and C.J. Spiller in the same backfield does sound delightful.

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This weekend’s impending AFC and NFC championship game are rather frustrating for me. The reason? It seems the Jets and the Bears have behaved just like the Redskins of the past decade, and yet somehow found success. If you look at the moves they’ve made and, in some cases the way the teams acted, the Bears and Jets are everything Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato aspired to become...

Jets:

Rex Ryan is the biggest media clown in the NFL. He is a first time head coach, Mr. Goofy, and the players like him because “he just acts like himself.” Does that sound like anyone… Jim Zorn? Somehow they turned the media circus surrounding Revis’ contractual issues into a success… They traded away draft picks for players with questionable reputations with Santonio Holmes (drugs, bar fights, etc.) and Braylon Edwards (bar fights, public complaints) and Antonio Cromartie… They took a risk on an older running back with a ton of miles in Ladainian Tomlinson, and somehow that turned out better than the Larry Johnson/Willie Parker debacle. And they pulled a page from the Redskins playbook in taking Jason Taylor in the twilight of his career and found success 2 YEARS AFTER the Redskins failed at it. And to top it all off, they traded up in the First round of the draft to take a terrible quarterback in Mark Sanchez who ironically the Redskins supposedly wanted, and still found a way to win with him (Jason Campbell… epic fail).

Bears:

Off-season champions!! Julius Peppers and Chester Taylor to big fat contracts on the first day of free agency! How come whenever we do that, it never works out? Oh and they outdid the Redskins trade for McNabb by a longshot- he only cost us a 2nd and a 4th; Jay Cutler, the coveted disgruntled quarterback open to be traded, cost them TWO 1st round picks and Kyle Orton! How come when we trade away all of our draft picks for overrated players, it never works out?

DC Sports are cursed, and I am positive that I am going to someday die a hardcore fan who wasted his life-long support on these local teams!

With all the talk of Luck, Mallet, Gabbert, and Locker being potential QB draft picks of the Redskins, I read a lot of comments about the need to draft up to snag one of them, and that maybe (just maybe) one may drop to us (note: this was when we thought we would have a worse draft pick than we do). Still, this surprised me, because I was actually thinking that despite all of these teams ahead of us that may have a "need" for a QB, that that many QB’s being drafted early was a bit odd.

I am going to make 3 major assumptions about draft day for this "hypothetical" suggestion- we cannot trade down (so PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT THAT WE SHOULD TRADE DOWN INSTEAD), we are definitely drafting a QB (so PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT THAT WE SHOULD NOT DRAFT A QB IN THE FIRST 2 ROUNDS), and any of those 4 aforementioned QB’s would be sufficient for Shanahan’s Shanaplan (so PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT THAT QB A SUCKS OR QB B IS THE ONE WE MUST HAVE). Given those 3 things as true(note: this is a hypothetical/not reality), then we should wait to draft a QB until round 2 (42nd overall pick), and use our 1st round pick on a position with less depth in the draft.

I decided to look at the QB’s drafted over the last decade in the first 3 rounds (current starters are bolded):

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According to CBS news, the following is the draft order for non-playoff teams:

1. Carolina
2. Denver
3. Buffalo
4. Cincinnati
5. Arizona
6. Cleveland
7. San Francisco
8. Tennessee
9. Dallas
10. Washington
11. Houston
12. Minnesota
13. Detroit
14. St. Louis
15. Miami
16. Jacksonville
17. New England (from Oakland)
18. San Diego
19. NY Giants
20. Tampa Bay

The remaining 12 spots are determined by finishes in the playoffs.

That being said and based on a disappointing performance again last night, the Redskins have a lot of positions they need to fill. Feel free to comment below.

I was on travel this past weekend in Chicago and missed the Redskins game. I only caught some brief stat updates and radio clips on my phone. This unfortunately is the third game I missed this season (hard being an adult now having to travel for work).

Anyway, the Redskins are 3-0 in the games I missed this season (Eagles, Packers, Titans), so the "Redskins I've watched" are 2-5, which is very depressing since I seem to only catch all the bad parts of this Redskins' season. It's gotten to the point where the superstitious side of me thought that maybe the Skins would win the rest of their games if I stopped watching altogether. This led me to an interesting philosophical debate with my fiance:

Is it better to be a fan of a perpetually winning team that you never get to enjoy seeing a single game or a fan that gets to watch every game of a team that is never better than mediocre?

I am curious about the thoughts on this by other Redskins fans since we've been mediocre at best over the past two decades (seems like forever).