The Way of Things

Those were heady days my friend

The Redskins have made their move down to 75 players for yesterday's deadline and one of the casualties is Joe Salave'a, the Redskins let him go. Although I am surprised the Redskins would release a veteran lke Joe Salave'a given questions about the overall quality of the defensive line, I am not that surprised. The calculus simply came down to this:

The Redskins have questions on the defensive line. The Redskins have questions on the defensive line with Joe Salave'a. The Redskins have questions on the defensive line without Joe Salave'a. Ergo, the Redskins do not need Joe Salave'a. I guess it's similar to the calculation they made to release Lemar Marshall: well he was a starter and we need some depth so let's release him.

Extending this logic, the Redskins don't need to keep anyone on the defensive line. Joe Salave'a however is 32 and the team is ready to move onto young players that will get pasted by opposing offensive lines, rather than continue letting Joe Salave'a get pasted by opposing offensive lines. It's the natural order in the NFL.

The WaPo piece mentions Joe Salave'a's injuries but I really think he just lost his job. By the eighth week of the 2006 season he had lost his starting spot to rookie Kedric Golston, though he did suffer a calf injury in the first Dallas game last season. I'm not a trainer or a surgeon or anything but I do know that with athletes if there are lingering injuries when the body compensates long enough it can lead to other injuries. Joe Salave'a was fighting two foot injuries (plantar fascitis and a broken toe) after the 2005 season which may have given rise to the calf injury. Of course, performing surgery on himself (op. cit.) may not have been the best thing to do in that situation, but he's Samoan so maybe self-surgery is a cultural thing.

Whatever the case, he never came back to the starting lineup in 2006 until the final game of the season, a meaningless game playoff-wise.

Joe Salave'a signed a one-year deal for league minimum with the Redskins in March 2004, right as the Joe Gibbs era was restarting. He had been with the Tennessee Titans from 1998 through 2001, the Gregg Williams years, and had been cut before the 2002 season. He spent 2002 out of football before signing with the San Diego Chargers, who used him in 9 games in 2003 then cut him. After signing with the Redskins in 2004 there was some concern that he might not even make the roster that season.*

Joe Salave'a was a major part of the first awesome Redskins defense in 2004, plugging the run lanes alongside Brandon Noble.

The Redskins sought to re-sign Joe Salave'a after the 2004 season and did so, citations here and here.

In the run-up to the 2005 season, after final cuts, Joe Salave'a was somewhat wistful, pondering what recently cut players might do and what skills they had to fall back on. It's a business and everyone faces this moment.

When I saw this piece, partnering Kedric with Cornelius Griffin, I knew the end was near for Joe Salave'a. Even as he knew his starting position was gone for good, he was still supportive.

This leaves the defensive tackle positions in the hands of Cornelius Griffin who was pretty bad last year, second year men Kedric Golston (started seven games last season) and Anthony Montgomery (started one) and the cast of extras, including Lorenzo Alexander aka Scarface (second year, no starts) and Ryan Boschetti (fourth year, one start). Those linebackers and that secondary better be good because the Redskins are looking soft up front.

Good luck Joe and thanks for all the hitting.



* It is worth noting that prior to this year, the next-to-last roster cut was down to 65, as referenced in this piece, while this year it is down to 75. This means that teams get to keep an additional ten roster spots through the final preseason game, though this also means they have cut an additional ten more by Sunday.

Joe Salave'a after the sack-fumble of San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Alex Smith with 5:18 to go in the fourth quarter on 23 October 2005: Preston Keres / Washington Post from here. After this play the 49ers' Joe Nedney kicked a 47 yeard field goal to make it Redskins 52, 49ers 10. The 49ers scored another touchdown to make the final 52-17 Redskins. I was at this game in club seats and this is as close to Christians-lions as I think you can get so far in this era.