Calm Before the Storm

Brace position

At one minute past midnight tonight the NFL's 2007 free agency period starts. Nate Clements, London Fletcher, Dre Bly. Jonathan Vilma, Fred Smoot. How will the Redskins play their needs?

I am somewhat encouraged that all the free agents being bandied about are on the defensive side of the ball. There are quite enough players on the offensive side. In the offensive line, only Derrick Dockery is unsigned and the Redskins re-signed one of the backups, so I expect the draft to yield another lineman. Kili Lefotu, the offensive lineman drafted in the seventh round of the 2006 draft, was allocated to NFL Europe and the team hopes to develop him. Here's his pre-draft prospect profile from NFL.com. He was cut at the end of camp and you may remember he was found unconscious in his room during camp.

With the failure (and release) of Christian Fauria and a 'breakout' season for Todd Yoder (1 catch for 4 yards and it was a TD, in the Buccaneers game), I think the Redskins may have found their blocking tight end. They just need to sign him. Strategically, that position is Chris Cooley's anyway so the Redskins do not need a top-drawer blocking tight end.

Redskins fans may as well hope the team scores and makes sensible decisions in free agency this year, and that going into the season Joe Gibbs can rediscover some of the old magic and actually motivate and develop the players he has. For all the bitching and moaning about trading and wasting draft picks and how I want the team to rebuild using less expensive players that are more malleable, the team has shown no consistent skill at evaluating players at the collegiate level. A quick review:

2006 was a comparatively successful draft for the Redskins, with only two players not making the team, though Anthony Montgomery and Reed Doughty did not contribute a lot.

2005: 2 of six players drafted made the team and Carlos Rogers needs one more bad season to be a first-round bust.

2004: the team only had four picks. One did not make the team and one (Jim Molinaro) is not being offered a new contract.

2003: only three picks that year. Taylor Jacobs sucked like a tropical wind and Gibran Hamdan's NFL career is two passes. The other was Derrick Dockery and the team is about to let him go, another example of Dan Snyder getting bored with his toys before they wear out.

2002: ten picks that year, three of which never made the team, four are with other teams (including Robert Royal who is mentioned by name as a player that should have stayed in the Joe Gibbs entry in the Washington Post's Lost Season series), one is out of football, and Ladell Betts and Rock Cartwright.

2001: five picks, one did not make the team, none still with the Redskins (though I think it will be hilarious if Loveboat Freddie Smoot comes back).

2000: although it brought LaVar Arrington and Chris Samuels, none of the other players are still with the team, and aside from Lloyd Harrison, none of the others were meaningful contributors when they were.

In the run-up to the draft, Curly R will be examining the Redskins draft successes and failures in greater detail.



Township of Madawaska Valley, Renfrew County, Ontario Canada from here.