Franchise Players
I'm running this as a series across the SB Nation NFL blogs. Five most important players to the franchise. Just one catch: they must be with the team for the long term (four years or more).
In no order:
Brian Orakpo, OLB/DE: A sack artist as a rookie; good OLB's are hard to find for a 3-4 defense. Orakpo is going to be good.
London Fletcher, ILB: ILB's keep going. Just ask Ray Lewis. Fletcher works and plays too hard to not find a role in the 3-4.
Chris Cooley, TE: Ol' Reliable for whoever starts at QB. He and Davis form a very nice TE tandem.
Fred Davis, TE: Started to breakout last season. Causes huge matchup problems with him and Cooley.
Derrick Dockery, LG: Washington's signing proved to be a smart one, as helped the line start to coalesce late in the season. Should be with the team for a while.
Your turn!
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Good picks
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.
Franchise players
Devin Thomas- Im making a prediction that he will be something special with Mike Shanahan at the helm.
Brian Orakpo- He’s gonna be a savage in the 3-4 if used correctly.
London Fletcher- enough said.
Fred Davis- He has the opportunity to be something special.
Rocky McIntosh- he should be a redskin for life.
Chris Cooley- The most consistent player on the team beside Fletcher.
Albert Haynesworth- Say what you want but he’s a beast
DeAngelo Hall- If we blitzed more he could have 10 picks a season. He definitely has the best hands on our defense.
I think Cooley is expendable with Davis as nasty as he is.
At least Davis has the potential to become a good blocker.
That is just silly....
Cooley blocks far better than Davis.That was his only weakness that I saw when he took over the reins. But he was blocking better than some of the linemenbandaids. Two options for the Cooley Davis question…
Either
go with a twin TE set which has its perks..
or Slim Cooley down and put him in the slot and have Davis as the TE…
" IF YoU Are aRgUinG WiTh ME, YOU ArE WRonG!!!! "
Hmm...
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).
OK
Orakpo – No question here
Landry – Ok, he hasn’t played up to his potential, but if and when he can put it all together, watch out!
Hanesworth – The 2nd most disruptive player on our defense.
Thomas – Showed flashes last year. Is poised for a break-out 2010.
Hall – Our best playmaker on defense(and still pretty young)
several injuries this year... Might not mean anything just a concern i have
He was injured off and on this year… I could of had a lot to do with Zorn’s BS conditioning program though…
" IF YoU Are aRgUinG WiTh ME, YOU ArE WRonG!!!! "
He was? I must be confusing him with someone else because I could have sworn he only got injured at the end of the season.
I know Kelly was somewhat hurt off and on and I think Moss had an off and on hamstring problem. But Thomas? I think he just hurt his ankle when it was 1 or 2 games left.
Stephon Heyer, Colt Brennan, and Hunter Smith
Just kiddiing…you got em all.
"I am excited about starting 2009. We are looking forward to an outstanding year. We're on our way. We have a lot of healthy players this year." - Vinny Cerrato
Spot on with Hunter!
He can do everything!
I would add Yoder, but they don’t seem to be in any hurry to re-sign him.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I thought we were trying to trade campbell so hunter could get more playing time?
by Nobetterthenbob on Mar 18, 2010 8:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Hunter is actually what 75% passer rating...
Just saying… something to look at… Could be worse… We could sign someone like Grossman…. Oh wait… SHIT!!! nevermind…
" IF YoU Are aRgUinG WiTh ME, YOU ArE WRonG!!!! "
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.
Fletcher?
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.
I pretty much ignored the 4-year rule
but used it as a sliding scale going forward and back. So shoot me!.. :)
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Gotcha
Not that I don’t think London is a great player… He’s just not gonna be around much longer.
using Scott E's rationale for the 4 year rule
I go
B-Rak – Goes without saying
Big Al – As someone wisely said above ‘He is paid 100 mil for a reason" and in my opinion he is worth it (as in thats what it was going to cost to get him, and I am glad we have him, and if Dick Fuld at Lehman Brothers was worth 300 mil, Haynesworth is prolly worth a billion)
London Fletcher- Nothing fancy, jsut gets the job done week in week out, can see in 20 years some Stat Geek starting a massive campaign to get him in the Hall of Fame
Fred Davis- Once Zorn was forced to take the Training wheels off when Cooley went down showed everyone what he could do (though am concerned about how often he is the nearest player to an interception, i’m just saying..)
and my fifth one, no one else seems ot have mentioned
but it is
Andre Carter. Did just as well as B-Rak last year (yet more proof Big Al is worth the cash) and I know the 3-4 may not suit him, but we may go Hybrid this year….
I’ve got no qualms if people want to replace Carter with Hall though
Pommylee
Fletcher and JC 17 would be on this list but one is old, and the other is not appreciated.
Orakpo, stud needs to work on his coverage skills though
Haynesworth, needs to get in better shape and allowed to run stunts instead of playing a base defense tech.
D. Thomas, Is our number one receiver at this time.
Chris Horton, is a great sure tackler (unlike landry) he reads run plays well. He just needs to stay healthy and work on coverage skills. In a aggressive defense he will be a monster similar to Troy P.
Malcolm Kelly, this guy can be a star depending on how hard he works, and if his knee is finally 100%. HIs size and speed if his knee is healthy will be hard to contend with. He also has the best hands on the team.
The only thing is old is how you always bring him up in a conversation....
Fanchise now that is funny… His average is about the same as Eli’s is and everyone laughed when he got franchised and he even had a SB ring…. truely classic and funny…
Screw it… Im gonna go and talk to a brick wall… at least it wont keep repeating itself…
" IF YoU Are aRgUinG WiTh ME, YOU ArE WRonG!!!! "
Hopefully he will get his head outta his rear and try and earn his spot... you can be fast but you have catch the ball during the game to have the speed even matter..
" IF YoU Are aRgUinG WiTh ME, YOU ArE WRonG!!!! "
He will definitely get a chance to earn a spot this year.
And were you referring to LJP about his head being in his rear because I don’t believe Kelly was like that at all. He had some good moments but he didn’t play much. I’m just trying to figure out what speed LJP is talking about. Kelly isn’t that fast. As I recall, in the chargers game didn’t he have something like an 80 yard catch and run but got caught directly in front of the end zone? Like a foot away? I don’t think he is that fast for that to happen.
I dunno about last year
but next year our franchise players will be
B-Rak
Haynesworth
Fletcher
Cooley
Some combination of Grossman, Brennan, and Tebow. One of the 1st two will get hurt, then the 3rd will take over.
A player who was not that flashy.
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.

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