The NFL’s new CBA was ratified and today is the day the newly signed and re-signed NFL free agents can finally get on the field with their teammates. It’s time to start talking football x’s and o’s, position competitions, etc. because we’re pretty much done with speculations about who’s going to sign with who and when. There are a few more yet to happen but for the most part, that part of the off-season is finished.
Thank goodness.
We all knew that this year’s Washington Redskins off-season and subsequent training camp was going to be interesting, what with the NFL lockout making everyone so eager for football and considering head coach Mike Shanahan’s previous season. There have been so many talented players “out there” it’s hard to believe that Redskins’ owner Dan Snyder would not get involved AT ALL. But he has not and, no matter that he’s insisted that he’s hands off now, it’s been a bit of a surprise that the Redskins have been so… well, reasonable during this off-season.
While the off-season movements by Shanahan & Co. haven’t been Deion Sanders-type signings, I am happy to say that these past few months have held some surprises with the moves the head coach has made. Most of these have been pleasant.
To follow is a small collection of some of the moves made by this regime that jumped out at me.
Surprise: Shanahan did NOT go out and score the biggest free agent on the market, Nnamdi Asomugha. Back in the day, this team would have spent whatever was required to get the former Oakland Raider cornerback here because Carlos Rogers wanted out of Washington and the position required both depth and talent.
Instead, the Redskins picked up cornerback Josh Wilson for three-years and $13.5 million ($6 million guaranteed) rather than having to pay something like the five-year, $60 million (with $25 million guaranteed) that the Philadelphia Eagles ended up paying Asomugha. Wilson, a local product who attended DeMatha high school and the University of Maryland came to Washington from the Baltimore Ravens. He graded out as ProFootball Focus’ fifth ranked cornerback and qualified as one of their “secret superstars”. The 5’9”, 189 lbs. former Terp is only 25 years old and was one of only eight CBs with 400 or more snaps to have allowed less than 50% of passes sent in his direction to be completed. Guess who is the only NFL player that Wilson beat out with his 10 defended passes while also allowing fewer receptions? New York Jets’ Pro Bowl cornerback, Darrelle Revis.
Surprise: Another of Shanahan’s early moves was picking up former New York Giants’ defensive tackle Barry Cofield in an effort to solidify defensive line and fill the need for a nose tackle.
This was a surprise because there were big-name prototypical nose tackles out there like the San Francisco 49ers Aubrayo Franklin and Baltimore Ravens Kelly Gregg but they are both over 30-years old and Shanahan has made it known that he is trying to get some youth onto the team. Of the others out there (the Green Bay Packers’ Cullen Jenkins or Miami Dolphins’ Paul Soliai) obviously something about them did not appeal to Shanahan whether it was a scheme problem, a character issue, an age/health issue or a financial issue.
Cofield, 27, definitely does not have any of those.
For example, one would think that since the Giants play the 4-3 defense, Cofield might become just another 4-3 defensive player trying to work in the 3-4 here in Washington. Shanahan is not worried. Cofield played the 3-4 in college at Northwestern and even better, he liked playing it more than playing in the 4-3.
“I’m really excited about the transition to a 3-4 defense,” Cofield said to reporters this week. “I love the 3-4. I think it’s the most effective defense in the league. I was with the Giants in a 4-3 defense but I’ve always been excited about playing in a 3-4.”
Surprise: Cofield wants to play nose tackle.
Hey Al… hear that?
“I think I’ll be playing a lot of nose,” the tackle said. “I play with leverage and technique so I’m excited about that opportunity. A lot of it is just mindset. If you don’t want to go in and play nose tackle and do all the grunt work, then it’s going to be hard for you mo matter how big you are. I have a great mentality and a great outlook and I’m excited about the opportunity.”
Shanahan has made good moves for the Redskins defense. It was awful last year to see the defense go from consistently ranking in the top ten in the league over the last several years to ranking close to last place. Granted, they were transitioning to a new scheme, but no team can do that successfully if they don’t have the right personnel.
Not only did Shanahan draft and then sign several defensive rookies plus Cofield and Wilson this off-season, he also signed 6’5”, 300 lbs. defensive lineman Stephen Bowen who is a solid player. With good run-stopping and pass-rush ability, the former Cowboy is bound to get into the line rotation here in Washington, perhaps in nickel situations like he did with Ratliff in Dallas.
The Redskins also added some college free agents: linebackers Obi Ezeh and Eric McBride, defensive back Devonte Shannon, and defensive tackle Thomas Weaver to the defense and surprise; he re-signed safety Reed Doughty, linebackers Rocky McIntosh and Horatio (no longer “H.B.”) Blades, cornerback Phillip Buchanon and defensive lineman Kedric Golston rather than letting them get wooed away by other teams.
Surprise: Shanahan shocked the media slightly during his press conference yesterday when he told us that Buchanon will miss the first four games due to a suspension handed down to him by the league. He would not give any details (not a surprise) but it’s believed that it likely had something to do with a failed drug test.
All of these guys will stay on the roster but Shanahan is clearly bringing in enough guys so that players must compete for a roster spot. This only makes a team better.
Surprise: No player signed has been given deals by Washington worth the exorbitant amounts of money from the past. Cofield and Bowen both made decent money coming here (Cofield signed a six-year, $36 million deal and Bowen a five-year, $27.5 million deal) but they didn’t walk in to $100 million like other players here have done.
Surprise: Shanahan re-signed wide receiver and fan-favorite Santana Moss early on. In the past, this organization has let good players get signed away by other teams in lieu of what Snyder thought were more glamorous players. Because of the shortened off-season, it was important to bring back such a productive receiver. Moss had a career year last year and has shown that he fits into offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan’s scheme. Not re-signing him would have shown that Snyder has not learned a thing. Moss is glad to be here and that goes a long way.
“I love this offense and I love the guys who run the offense.” Moss told the media this week after he arrived. “I feel like all I have to do for my part is go to work. I never seem to have a problem going out there and doing what I’m supposed to do. When you are mentally focused and you have everything lined up and you know what you’re supposed to do, the only thing is to get everyone around you to do the same thing and I feel like we can do that.”
Surprise: Shanahan moving fullback Mike Sellers to tight end was a surprise to a lot of people, including his teammates. Sellers has been a productive blocking fullback who could also catch passes out of the backfield. He’s logged 19 touchdowns for Washington in his eight years here.
“Mike’ a veteran and we know what Mike can do at the fullback position,” the younger of the two Shanahans explained. “We have two young full-backs that we think are good fullbacks. There are only so many reps a fullback gets. We know what Mike can do. We want to try him out at tight end so we can find out about these other guys. If they can’t do it, we know we can throw Mike back there at any time. He’s been doing it for a while and, in order to see those other guys; we have to let him try something else.”
It is kind if a strange move. I have to wonder if it actually means more than what we’re being told it means.
“I think it was a surprise to everybody,” Redskins tight end Logan Paulson told me on Tuesday after practice. “He is a great influence on everybody in the room – on the young guys and on myself. So I just feel really honored to have a guy with that kind of experience in the room with us. He’s been playing for a long time including special teams. He knows a lot of fullback stuff obviously. He’s played tight end before so he’s got a lot of experience.”
It will be interesting to watch this transition. The difference between having your hand in the ground with someone right there in your face (tight end) as opposed to being able to make a run at someone from 10 yards away (fullback) must be pretty big.
Surprise: Quarterback Rex Grossman said something interesting yesterday about the contract he accepted from the Redskins.
Grossman was asked to confirm that his deal was for one year during an ESPN980.com interview.
“Yea, that’s right,” he said. “They were offering more than that and I just wanted a one-year because I feel like I want to keep the upside for me and see what happens this year.”
Hmmm… One of the hosts of the show, Kevin Sheehan, then pointed out that the last Redskins player who rolled the dice with a one-year – as opposed to a multi-year – contract was quarterback Mark Rypien in 1991. We all know how that worked out… can you say “Superbowl XXVI MVP?”
Overall, with the players that Shanahan has either kept on the team or signed – and which players he has NOT kept or NOT signed – this years’ off-season has so far been full of surprises and, in my opinion, a success. We’ll see now how the rest of it goes.
Hail.