Adam Archuleta at 2.5 mil is unacceptable to pay a special teams player. It doesn't make any sense for us to pay his salary each year given that we receive no value for it. He will cost us a fortune in dead space to pay off his guaranteed moneys next year, but we'll have to pay that money eventually no matter what we do; it is better to pay that now then have to pay it and his salary later.

If there was a possibility that Archuleta would be playing later I would agree with this move, but that just isn't happening per this coaching staff. They've decided Vernon Fox is better and I don't see that changing.

Brunell will be asked to restructure or shown the door. He doesn't have enough money in signing bonuses to protect his salary which is a ludicrous amount for a backup QB.

Regarding Todd Collins, if the coaching staff is willing to pay him 1 mil then they're probably willing to pay him 1.4 mil. I agree that it is insane to have an expensive 3rd string QB but he's a Saunders guy. I think we should just draft some scrub QB in the 6th round or so and hope we hit gold, a la Tom Brady. Better to have a league minimum rookie backing up your backup then a one and a half million dollar vet. His signing bonus is paltry and does not protect him at all.

"Carter (2.2), Daniels (3.1), Fauria (1.1), Hall (1.95), Griff (6.16), Jansen (5.8), Patten (3),  Randy Thomas (5.4), Thrash (1.4), Wynn (4)... Surely some of these contarcts can be brought down a bit, or let go...  This is a lot of money paid to less than star players.  Compare that to, say, Golston who has actually played well this year.  Next year he costs the team $373k or about a tenth of Philips Daniels."

The longer a player has been in the league the larger their minimum salary is. If you want veterans on your roster you have to pay for them. Since the Redskins don't build substantial depth in the draft we are forced to pay expensive veterans (who have already earned semi-lucrative salaries) to do so. Hence the criticism of our strategy; Free Agency requires you to pay market price for players. The draft allows you to pick up players below the market price as the cost is decided not by how they play but by what position they are drafted. Hence why a Chris Cooley is so much cheaper than a Kellen Winslow Jr. yet still so much more productive over a 3 year span.

Of the guys you've mentioned here are my individual thoughts:

Carter's 2.2 million means he is safe. He is getting paid less than his backup next year which makes him a steal. 2.2 mil is not bad for a starting defensive lineman. All this is contingent on him earning and maintaining his starting position.

Daniels 3.1 is the same as Carter. That's decent and acceptable moneys to pay a starter on the line.

Fauria's 1.1 mil is a function of his veteran status. His 810,000 salary is a league minimum for a veteran of his status meaning we couldn't negotiate it lower even if he were willing to do so. So long as the team wants a veteran tight end they'll have to pay veteran level money.

John Hall will not restructure his contract. He will be cut. His 465,000 remaining guaranteed moneys does not protect his 1.5 mil salary at all.

Griff I would hope restructures but I think he has all the bargaining chips. He is a starter, his sizeable salary is still millions lower than it would cost us in dead space to cut him next year (8 million). I hope we can meet halfway here but I doubt it. He's might get paaaaaid.

Patten will be forced to renegotiate. His 1.5 in remaining guaranteed moneys will not protect his 3 mil cap hit in 2007.

Randy Thomas is quite possibly the best player on our team and his pay is only going up about 500,000. We will pay him and he knows it.

James Thrash has quite possibly the ideal contract that the Redskins should have been signing people to. We paid him more in unguaranteed salary than he probably deserved yet he took a much smaller signing bonus (125k a year) then would be warranted. Thus he knows that he can be cut on any given year and so he earns his position with scrappy play. The team holds the chips and forces production from the player. We could cut him except he doesn't really cost us much and somehow always makes big plays on 3rd down and is an excellent run blocker. We will not be cutting him but will likely not be paying him anymore either. He may renegotiate at around the league minimum or maybe not. I think he's earned around 1.3 (perhaps a little less) million per year. We should use his contract as a building block for future contracts; overpaying unguaranteed moneys for a low signing bonus is a great way to force production out of your players. That way you end up paying the guys who do well and you can cut the ones who don't justify their salaries. Instead we've been going heavy on signing bonuses because we tail end their contracts so much that players force us to protect those moneys with large bonuses. The player has all the control as they know we can't cut them without ruining the cap. Guaranteed moneys are due no matter what and they have less incentive to earn their contracts.

Wynn will restructure or be cut. His 1.5 remaining in guaranteed moneys will not protect a 4 million cap hit next year. Our backup DE will not make nearly twice our starter.