Adam Archuleta and Brandon Lloyd Redskins through 2007?

by Skin Patrol on Jan 11, 2007 11:37 AM EST in Redskins News

Coach Gibbs says so. Kind of sort of.

There are also the headaches caused by the $5 million guaranteed base salaries for Archuleta, benched during the Oct. 29 bye week because of his horrendous struggles in coverage, and Lloyd, benched for the final four games after drawing the ire of coach Joe Gibbs for tossing his helmet late in the Dec. 3 loss to Atlanta that guaranteed a non-winning season.

Gibbs said that he expects both players to return, but was less definitive about Archuleta, who figures to released as one of Washington's two exceptions to the June 1 rule. He would then count a pro-rated $1.83 million in 2007 with the remaining $7.1 million of his guaranteed money counting in 2008.

Since Lloyd, 25, is four years younger than Archuleta and played regularly into December, he figures to be back with his release due in the winter of 2008 if he repeats anything like his ugly (23 catches, zero touchdowns) 2007 season.

The article also says we're nearly 1M over the salary cap with 41 players under contract which is slightly different but comparable to my numbers. I have no explanation nor apology for the discrepency, but their numbers are more damning.

As I argued elsewhere (click link for hot picture of Jennifer Walcott), I think it is in the team's best interests to keep Archuleta for an additional year. His cap hit in 2007 is 2.4M, which is substantial but earnable. If Gregg Williams and this coaching staff can somehow set their egos aside and utilize Archuleta in packages that play to his strengths (such as clear running downs or even as a linebacker in obvious passing downs) then there isn't any reason why he cannot earn that 2.4M. His dead space hit will either be 9M or 9M+. Around two million of that, at a minimum will be paid in 2007.

If we play him in 2007 rather than send him packing, we can get some of that 9M in production (1.833M in 2007). We all know that Archuleta won't make his 2009 4M base salary, but there's no point rushing to cut him. He has valuable skill sets. He won't cost us a fortune in '07 or '08 unless he is playing for another team or drinking margaritas in Mexico. He's worth far more to us on roster than off.

As far as I can tell we've got the same problem with Lloyd: He has 4M in signing bonuses and 5M in "OB Alloc" owed on contract. Is he worth a 9M dollar hit just to cut? To "save" the 2.4M we owe him this year? Naw.

What Brandon Lloyd needs is some tough love. He screwed up a few times this year. His production was low. But he's worth more on our bench then on the market, and I think we can get more from Brandon Lloyd than bench time. He also has a valuable skill set -- combined with an attitude that I clearly could not predict for shit -- and can earn 2.4M this year, or close to it.

In other words, I think Brandon Lloyd is coachable. Perhaps this is simply because I cannot stomach the salary cap hit we'd take to send him packing.

In other news, from the same article:

The Redskins want to re-sign [Offensive Lineman Derrick] Dockery, who had his best year in 2006 and fits in well with the rest of a solid offensive line. However, recent history suggests that when Washington doesn't get a holdover signed before the end of the season, he's gone (linebacker Antonio Pierce and cornerback Fred Smoot in 2004 are the prime examples).

Very bad news on the Dockery front. It does not look like we're making progress signing Dockery. I'd love to have the continuity on the O-Line, but that means the front office has to pull the trigger and get him signed. Without knowing anything about where the team or Dockery's agent are at, I have no way to evaluate the likelihood of this deal. It's a tough year to be a free agent owed a big paycheck, as we're currently over the salary cap.

I will keep you posted on all three players' immediate future in Washington (or elsewhere).

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