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Redskins might trade draft pick... to move up???

By Skin Patrol

I've already made clear that I think the Redskins should trade down in this year's draft to acquire much needed picks to bolster an ageing roster as well as get many players on the cheap. With just one 1st day draft pick (at #6) the Redskins are in dire need of more picks, not less.

So uhhh, towards that end Mark Maske's NFL Insider provides the scoop, with my emphasis:

Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs said here today that nothing is "imminent" in a proposed trade with the Chicago Bears for linebacker Lance Briggs, and indicated that the Redskins also are giving serious consideration to trading up in the first-round order in next month's NFL draft.
Maybe it's smoke screen, maybe this is clever planning, or maybe I just don't know what the hell is going on.
Gibbs said the Redskins will consider that trading for Briggs would give them three highly paid linebackers--along with Marcus Washington and recent free agent addition London Fletcher--and possibly cut into the playing time of Rocky McIntosh, a second-round draft pick last year.
The good news is a willingness on Gibbs' part to acknowledge that point, but let's make it explicit.
  1. Marcus Washington will cost the team 6M in '07, 6.4M in '08, and 6.5M in '09. 6M of his 10M signing bonus remains, so cutting him in '07 would not save any money.
  2. Fletcher will cost the team 3M in '07, which accelerates to 4.3M in '09, and 7+M in '10 and '11. All 10M of his signing bonus remain, so cutting him is of course ludicrous and crazy and won't even be considered (hopefully) until his base salary gets far too high in '10. I think it's a poor decision to sign a 30+ year old man to a contract that accelerates drastically towards in 2010, considering he'll be 36 at the time, but maybe that's just me. You might as well just say "The Redskins agree to pay Fletcher X amount through 2009, and 4M in dead cap space in '10."
  3. The numbers mentioned earlier for Briggs as a Redskin: "$20 million in guaranteed money as part of a multiyear deal that will average $7.5 million per season"
And picking up Briggs would be a tacit acknowledgement that Rocky McIntosh is not nor was ever good enough to play for the Redskins, thus making us look really ridiculous for trading a 2nd round pick in '06, our 6th round pick in '06, and our 2nd round pick this year to the Jets. This is of course contrary to everything Redskins fans saw on the field from McIntosh, who by all indications was ready to start in front of Warrick Holdman by Week 1.

Does this have an eerie '06 offseason feel to it? The Redskins were about one Santana Moss complementing receiver away from being truly awesome so instead they add two high priced guys and implement an entirely new offense. This year, one of our (many) needs turns out to be Linebacker -- despite many of us recognizing our failed front four pass rush and secondary as larger needs -- and instead of settling with London Fletcher we have to pursue another high priced LB as well?

But history repeats itself. The Redskins were one Santana Moss complementing receiver away in '05, they fixed that by adding two more but it turns out we're still one short. So, why not, let's get one more? I mean we'll worry about our Pass Rush some other time, ok?

Gibbs said the Redskins have spoken to two teams about trading up in the draft order. He said the Redskins have a "couple players" in mind if they land a top-five selection, and hinted that one of them might be Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson.

"I think everybody here would like to have him," Gibbs said.

Smokescreen-smokescreen-smokescreen or else the Coaches really have no idea that they finished 31st in total defense last year, last in total sacks, last in opposing QB rating, last in takeaways. Put differently, last or damn near close to it in categories typically reserved for defensive positions and not Wide Receivers.

All that other shit will probably fix itself though.

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