DeAngelo Hall: That guy brought something magical to our defense: TURNOVERS

Brian Orakpo: You said it perfectly

Rocky McIntosh: Quietly one of the top players on our defense. You don’t hear his name much because he is great in coverage, and Fletcher is just flying around.

London Fletcher: Need anything be said? A tackling machine who is probably one of the most underestimated players in history. A guy like Ray Lewis will go Hall of Fame, but Fletcher won’t, though Fletcher (I think) has more tackles in his career then Lewis. That’s life.

Devin Thomas: This guy is slowly breaking out. He could really be big time next year.

Didn’t want to put a TE or JC because they all could be traded, so I kept it short and sweet.

Albert Haynesworth: If he plays hard, he elevates our entire defense. We’ll be counting on him to do that as we transition to the 3-4.

London Fletcher: If he plays hard, he elevates our entire defense. He always plays hard.

Devin Thomas: Santana isn’t really a #1 anymore, and it’s time for Thomas to step up and fill that role. I don’t feel like we’ve had two solid WRs in a while, and if Thomas and Moss accomplish this, it’ll be a huge boost for whoever is playing QB.

Brian Orakpo: Our best young player should get more opportunities to get after the QB as a 3-4 outside rush backer.

Derrick Dockery: Probably the best player on our crappy line. If he can manage to stay healthy, our QB is probably safe from at least one D-lineman.

Guys who I wanted to say, but couldn’t because I don’t know if they’ll be here for four years: Kemoeatu (healthy = Albert gets to play DT), Portis/LJ (need good run game to take pressure off QB and O-line), Cooley/Fred Davis (not sure if we’re gonna trade one of them).

1. Orakpo obvious. Young and very productive.
2. Big Al – He got paid $100 mil for a reason
3. D. Thomas – Has #1 potential, only potential star we have on offense
4. Cooley – Borderline all-pro when healthy
5. ? – Fletcher is the most productive but old, Landry is out of position until we sign a FS, Rocky is injury prone, Rogers is unhappy and can’t catch, Hall can catch but needs work on the rest of his game.

I’d also note that if we draft someone at #4 they are easily top 4 and could be as high as #2 right away.

You made the rule that they have to be with the team for four year… I assume you mean for the next four years. There’s no guarantee about the with London at all. He’s already 34. We’ll be attending his retirement party soon, unfortunately. I don’t agree that Fred Davis is a franchise player. He looked good in the latter half of last year, when he came on suddenly, but he’s got to come back and do it again for an entire season before I start calling him a cornerstone or anything.
Albert Haynesworth should be on this list. Clearly he’ll be here for a while, and whoever is in charge of our defense must structure line play according to the strengths that Al has, just as all opposing DCs must account for him in their game plans.
Don’t know how much longer he’ll be here, but as long as he is here, Jason Campbell is just as important as anyone on this team. We’ve seen this offense fail despite his best efforts, but it will never succeed without him playing well. Besides, as far as I see it, the starting QB is one of the top-5 most important players on every team in the league. So if Jason gets replaced this year, then I’ll just replace that entry with whoever the new starter is.

Reed Doughty was the 4th leading tackler on the Skins in 2009. He was actually the leading tackler in tackles per play (.102)
while second to London Fletcher in tackles+assist per play (.120 versus .113). One of the leading criteria for a defensive player is their tackling. What criteria should be a defensive players to be considered franchise? No doubt that Fletcher is a tackling machine.