The Offseason has been difficult on your humble host as Skin Patrol is an especially uninteresting and uncreative Blogger. Providing content when none exists is no easy task. And with Ben on vacation and others remaining relatively quiet, I haven't had an opportunity to shamelessly fill my site with other people's insight. But today is a glorious day for Redskins blogging content, as there are actually posts to pilfer!
[Hogs Haven aside: There is no substitute for hearing it from the horse's mouth. Redskins fans are particularly blessed with a robust blogging community, the vast majority of which is better written then this piece I call a webpage. I've provided a Blogroll on the left, and a Links section on the right, that will take you to directly to the content I link to daily. Just make sure you come back, or else they'll take my thumbs.]
Just as I started to really enjoy Ben's expositions on Giant Robots and Ultraman, he had to go bring us back to the dullness that is the Redskins offseason. As he always does, Ben captures the final word on Lavar and Marty Schottenheimer in a way that will entertain and perhaps shock.
Here is the Redskin Report. I don't have any idea what's on today, as I can't view the site from where I currently blog (dreaded "W" word). I'm confident that Lee Gibbons has something up though. He always does.
Jason La Canfora at Redskins Insider agrees with me regarding Adam Archuleta. Earlier in the week I commented on a Chicago Tribune piece that suggested AA was heading to Da Bears based on a "New Rule". I'll let Canfora answer (emphasis added):
know some of you saw a few lines of speculation in the Chicago Tribune the other day about Arch Deluxe possibly buying his way out of contract to go to Chicago, Not sure who they're talking to - or if this is a case of a writer pontificating without a net - but as I wrote during the season, no one close to Arch expects him to pull a LaVar to become a free agent. This dude has $5 million guaranteed staring at his face - whether he gets it all in March or over three years (if he's cut), so there's no impetus for him to do anything. The dude is laying low, and as of now, from what I am told there have been no discussions between him and the Skins.
Methinks Archuleta is a Redskin through 2007.
The difference between good bloggers and bad ones can largely be explained by their ability, or in my case inability, to master aesthetically pleasing graphs and charts. Anthony Brown at Hog Heaven weighs in on London Fletcher/Nate Clements and their potential future as Redskins. In addition to informative statistical chart comparisons, he introduces an interesting concept that I find slightly compelling (emphasis mine):
If we learned anything last season, it's that new players need an adjustment period with their new team. Performance can suffer in the first year. Your Hog Heaven reporters will discount prior year stats by 33 percent when evaluating free agents. (I intend to be pleasantly surprised this year.) That has the side benefit of inoculating against the inevitable hype from Ashburn. On that basis, Fletcher may be no better than Marshall at linebacker, and Clements may or may not be an improvement over Rogers.
I deny the eventual conclusion, as I think Clements and Fletcher are both position upgrades, but acknowledge that it is not nearly as pronounced as the statistics suggest, especially in Fletcher's case. I've previously argued that even if they are upgrades, perhaps even significant ones, there are financial reasons to avoid them.
20 Million of them in Clements case, and remember that London Fletcher will never again celebrate his 30th birthday.
Master4Caster excercises the kind of patient reasoning and forward thinking financial attitude that will guarantee he never works for the Washington Redskins.
[Redskins Offseason Strategy of restructuring is] short-sighted. The owner thinks he's doing what the people want, trying to get a championship. He's operating with blinders. True, we want another Lombardi Trophy. We want a perennial contender more. The team that consistently wins eleven or twelve games in a season is consistently positioned to take a title and a lot more fun to watch. They get higher playoff seeding and home field advantage. Their title odds are good. By taking shortcuts, the Redskins are falling short.
Leaving us with the depressingly on-point final word:
The Skins have about $2.5 million cap room before restructuring salaries. Good thing the coach-in-chief is emphasizing stability and continuity. Will that emphasis extend to Derrick Dockery as he tests free agency in an enriched market? Or, will the Redskins figure another guard can be had for less while they pay outsized bonuses for somebody else's star?
With recent history as a guide, check the 2nd box.
I haven't seen Jack Kogod at AOL Fanhouse in a while, but "Sportz Assassin" comments briefly on the Mark Brunell restructure negotiations.
Personally, I feel if the Skins can keep Brunell cheaply, then they should do so. It isn't that Brunell is horrible, but he just doesn't have it anymore to be a starter....especially when Washington invested in Jason Campbell. However, if he doesn't want to come down on his cap number, then bid him adieu.
I think this partially misses the point. Restructuring might make his 2007 cap number friendlier, but it doesn't mean we'll pay him any less. What is essentially being said is that we'll restructure what Brunell can't earn in 2007 into money that we'll take a dead cap hit on in 2008, 2009, and beyond. But if Brunell can't earn that money this year, why would we reasonably expect him to earn it when he's 2-3 years older? I like Mark Brunell, but a
cut is in order.
Art Monk for the Hall of Fame Campaign released the most recent slew of Art Monk press, all of it supportive. Peter King, Grant Paulson, Matt Palmer, James J. Patterson, Kevin Wright, Joe Thompson, and Joe Gross all lament his snubbing. Relevant snippits from the articles are located at the above link.
I either forgot or was too lazy to mention Steve Czaban's rant against the Hall of Fame generally and a few of the voters specifically (Len Pasquarelli and Dr. Z among them). Counter Try has the scoop.
Must give customary shout out to Hogs Haven friend Dan Steinberg, who is getting the recognition he deserves from all over the place.
Surely there is some news going on somewhere in the Redskins world, so I better return to that. Remember to check out all the blogs and links attached to this site and linked above, as they're all far more interesting than yours truly.
Also check out this Redskins Blog/Podcast site I found today.
Cheers and HTTR.
