Ryan Wilson's NFC East Review went up a few days ago. Ryan also does fantastic work at AOL Fanhouse. As I'm an admitted stat nerd, Football Outsiders is a daily read for me and should be for you too. Nerd.
Anyways, here's what he has on Your Washington Redskins:
Joe Gibbs is entering his fourth year of un-retirement and in that time the Redskins have drafted 16 players, acquired just as many big-name players through free agency or trades, and posted a 21-27 record. Owner Daniel Snyder would never fire Gibbs, but until the three-time Super Bowl-winning head coach gives up his personnel duties, Washington will continue to stumble through the NFC East.
Although we like to throw draft picks away, when we do draft we tend to get value for our picks. Sean Taylor regressed in 2006, though likely because of the poor state of the defense, but remains one of the better Safeties in the league. Carlos Rogers is still a question mark after a sophomore slump, but I haven't lost faith yet. Chris Cooley is comparable to any NFC Tight End and was scooped in the 3rd round. Kedric Golston could be our starter (and a decent one) in 2007 despite falling to the 6th round of the 2005 draft. Anthony Montgomery earned significant playing time and he was a 7th round pick. Rocky McIntosh has much to prove, but closed out the season with 17 tackles in weeks 16 and 17. We eagerly await Jason Campbell's emergence as a star.
High profile free agency and trade disasters eclipse minor successes. We won on the Moss for Coles deal, we scooped Marcus Washington from the Colts and he's had his best years as a Redskin, and Mike Sellers is playing at a much higher level than anyone could have predicted when we picked him up in 2004.
Does this mean Adam Archuleta and Brandon Lloyd never happened? Should we bury our heads in the sand? No, I think Ryan Wilson has an excellent and founded criticism of the Redskins personnel decisions, I just don't think Joe Gibbs' personnel decisions, viewed holistically, are necessarily prohibitive of a winning Redskins future.
Granted, I wish we had a General Manager.
The Redskins have 11 unrestricted free agents but only linebacker Warrick Holdman was a starter. Holdman was often overmatched last season and will likely be replaced by 2006 second-round pick Rocky McIntosh. Running back T.J. Duckett was acquired last August for a third-round pick and then spent the season buried on the depth chart. Duckett's a free agent and wants to be a starter. With Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts firmly entrenched in Washington, Duckett won't be back. Neither will oft-injured kicker John Hall, who is still under contract but seldom healthy.
(Projected Cap Space: -$2.4 million)
Unlike last off-season, the Redskins will be relatively quiet during free agency. The defense ranked last in the NFL in 2006. The pass rush was nonexistent, and as a result the secondary floundered. Opponents threw away from cornerback Shawn Springs when he was healthy enough to play, which meant 2005 first-round pick Carlos Rogers was exposed as the weak link. Washington would love to upgrade the position with Samuel or Clements, but don't have the cap space to do so.