First Impression of Aldridge signing

by BayAreaBullet on Sep 23, 2009 2:48 AM EDT

I went to post a comment on Aldridge and decided it was so long I'd make it a full post. My thoughts below the jump. Let me know what you guys think.

I like having him on the team because he is REALLY fast and we need that at RB. Hopefully they can work with him on not fumbling since apparently Portis doesn't practice much during the week. It seems with him being injured for most his rookie year Aldridge hasn't gotten much practice time in his short career. Maybe a couple weeks with some practice time can polish him up and improve his ball security. I would love a true change of pace back. All 3 RB's we have now are similar in style. Plus we have fairly serious line issues. If we can get more screens and little dumpoffs for big gains I think we can help compensate for our O-line by punishing teams for blitzing us constantly. Of course I'm not neccesarily convinced he's that guy and am not counting on him I like taking a shot at developing him. He has the most potential of any of our backup RB's due to talent and his ability to complement Portis's style and Portis will be here for a couple seasons most likely due to his extension I believe.

My overall opinion depends on who they eventually cut. Here's my thoughts on them cutting any of the other RB's, if they do end up cutting one(you gotta figure they will at one point).

I'm leery of cutting Rock unless we have someone else who can handle all 4 of his special teams positions. Can't say I watch well enough to evaluate the ST unit but I know we already lost Khary Campbell who was our ST tackles leader and Fincher and Thrash. Rock was our 4th leading tackler last year so unless we have new guys stepping up to take the slack in our coverage teams I'd be worried. This isn't the kindof team that can afford to give up big plays in ST coverage. Especially considering we face Desean Jackson and Felix Jones twice. Like I said I can't say I have an excellent grasp of our ST players from drunkenly watching the games at the Bar but it seems like the marginal guys we lost from the team were good ST players(K. Campbell, Thrash, Fincher). The marginal guys we have this year seem to be either inactive(Henson, Williams) or are not considered good ST players(Mason, Marko, Aldridge). I know we still have H.B. Blades and a couple other good guys I just hope we have people ready to step up if this happens.

If they cut Mason I could get over it. I just don't see what everybody else does in him but I seem to be the minority so I'll leave it alone. I hope I'm wrong though. I have trouble believing they are gonna take 5 rb's into the game every week especially if they have to activate Henson or somebody to help out on teams. So even if they keep Mason I'm assuming Aldridge would be activated at MM's expense.

I assume Betts is safe. He has played decently and there has been no indication he would be in trouble. Screen plays like he had last game slow down another teams pass rush which will be blitzing us all year probably. Plus I don't think the FO has the guts to cut him so soon after trumpeting him as the 3rd down back all offseason. Maybe I'm wrong.

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my guess is bye bye Mason

Obviously this is a shot in the dark when I don’t have game tapes to review and I don’t see how anyone practices but here’s my reasoning:

Portis and Rock are safe (as you said, we can’t afford the ST impact of cutting him).

Betts is a proven commodity and he did a great job of filling in for Portis 1 year so he’s safe. Plus since he’s so similar to Portis in running style there’s some value to having him practice with the OL so the timing on the running plays will be close to what it needs to be for CP.

That leaves Aldridge and Mason. They wouldn’t be signing Aldridge now if they didn’t intend to keep him. I suspect they’ve analyzed what they’ve seen out of Mason and realized he’s too much like CP and Betts to provide anything different.

One thing they might do is move William Robinson (T) from the practice squad to the regular roster and then slide Mason down into the practice squad so nobody is really ‘cut’.

by ZakInOmaha on Sep 23, 2009 9:04 AM EDT reply actions

Why do the Redskins need to do either

Robinson is on the Practice Squad, and Mason is on the 53 man roster.

Nothing needs to be done at this point….Most teams only carry 9 lineman anyway

by dr WNC on Sep 23, 2009 10:11 AM EDT up reply actions

I said it's an option

They don’t need to but as weak as the OL is it’s an option. There were 10 OL for a reason before the injury which isn’t a good sign. Plus who needs 5 RB’s?

by ZakInOmaha on Sep 23, 2009 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions

OK, both points are valid

My point is the open roster spot with Randy Thomas going on IR, allowed the Redskins to sign Alridge.
The Redskins now have 9 OL and 5 Running backs, and they can stay that way all season
Why they would carry 5 RBs makes no sense to me, but the point is they don’t have to be looking to release anyone if the Redskins are comfortable.

by dr WNC on Sep 23, 2009 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions

true

and maybe CP isn’t as durable as we expect him to be (I hope he is though).

by ZakInOmaha on Sep 24, 2009 8:48 AM EDT up reply actions

first impression… what the F are they thinking??

by dt3 on Sep 23, 2009 12:12 PM EDT reply actions

I think what they're thinking

is that anything that provides a change of pace or extra dimension (dementia?) to our offense is a good thing. If he is not Mr. Fumblerooskie he could be worked out of the slot or catch screens and he might add a scoring dimension to ST’s.

by Scott E on Sep 23, 2009 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

and 1

by VA_Skin on Sep 23, 2009 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions

still think its a reach… this is not a young UDFA, this is a guy they know well and have decided in the past doesnt have what it takes. I think the risk of him coming in blowing it with a biiig fumble is much more than the possible reward of him breaking a play open.

Are there really no capable offensive linemen floating around??

by dt3 on Sep 24, 2009 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Can't coach speed

Capable OL? Probably. Starter-worthy? Meh, probably not.

I’m really wondering if something isn’t going on with Portis. He just hasn’t looked like himself and I question whether it’s all because of the OL and play-calling. Behind CP, we have 3 of a kind (Betts, Mason, Rock). Needless to say, none of those 3 will ever qualify for an ~~special~~ Olympic track team. If Alridge can fix his fumbling tendencies, he could really be a nice addition.

by VA_Skin on Sep 24, 2009 5:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Portis had over 4 yards per carry average

He hasn’t carried more than twenty times in a game yet, which is why he’s not putting up the numbers he did at the beginning of last season. He’s doing just fine, and I think because he isn’t being relied upon as much he will be much more capable of shouldering the load down the stretch.

by Boo. on Sep 24, 2009 7:03 PM EDT up reply actions

You're probably right

He just doesn’t seem as quick and explosive coming off the line. But he started out a little slow last season also, before blowing it up in the 4th game against Dallass.

by VA_Skin on Sep 24, 2009 7:29 PM EDT up reply actions

It may be a reach but it's not like we're asking him to do anything yet

@dt3 – He was a rookie last year and missed most of the season with an injury. Maybe his fumble problems can easily be fixed by him actually practicing with an NFL team. I mean Tiki Barber was a horrible fumbler for years and Coughlin fixed that in the course of a month. It’s not like Mason who has been around forever and has had plenty of practice time over the last 3 years. In preseason I was kinda down on Mason cuz he had been around so long and still hadn’t learned how to block or play ST. Aldridge is a different case as he was put on IR last year after training camp and didn’t have the benefit of being on a practice squad all year like Mason(for 3 years). I don’t see any problem with developing him as long as we got the roster space.

by BayAreaBullet on Sep 24, 2009 8:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Easy question

5 Running Backs are better than 4 Quarterbacks

by dr WNC on Sep 23, 2009 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Zorn can't figure out...

how to use the talent we already had on our roster. Adding one more running back to the circulation, albeit a more dynamic one, won’t improve anything and will more than likely lead to some more bad play calling as Zorn tries to force one of his “genius” plays into the game. Maybe next year Aldridge will have an impact but not this year. Zorn has to be able get effective plays out of the veterans and second year men we already had on our roster, and then slowly work in aldridge when he’s ready for real gametime action.

by The Dermatologist on Sep 23, 2009 2:43 PM EDT reply actions

Bench all linemen

Start all wide receivers and running backs, bench campbell for cooley with and run the Wild LIGER, similar to the wild cat just much bigger (more playmakers)

by skinsfan28 on Sep 23, 2009 3:03 PM EDT reply actions