Once again the Redskins are off-season champions and so comes with it the expectations of a Super Bowl. Given the current state of the roster, I'm not biting on this. A 4-12 team does not go to the Super Bowl with the addition of one player and a few over the hill RBs. Of course, the Redskins have a lot of work to do with the draft and trading Campbell, so saying this was a stupid trade now would be naïve. History, however, shows this will not work out for the Redskins. I'm not referring to history in the sense where the Redskins fleeced the Eagles for Sonny Jurgensen 40+ years ago. I'm referring to the modern era.
Doesn't this trade reek of the past blunders?
- The Redskins lack youth and they trade away 2 picks
- The Eagles obviously don't consider the Redskins or McNabb much of a threat if they trade him in-division.
- The Eagles have 11 draft picks this year, which is how many the Redskins have the next 2 years.
- Eagles starters at QB, both WR spots, TE and RB are all under the age of 25...They can grow together
- Eagles players (even before the trade) appeared to be for it
If you were a new fan to football, which organization would you rather be behind?
The positives:
- For a 2nd round pick and a future 3rd/4th, it was a good trade. McNabb is an upgrade for sure at QB. Jason Campbell's inability to keep plays alive doomed him, which was evident in his 20-32 career record.
- McNabb wants to be here: "Happy to be a part of a great organization who is willing to do whatever it takes to win. Look forward to working with Coach Shanahan and his staff. Hail to the Redskins."
- As Shanahan said, "He knows our division and the roadmap to success in the NFC East".
- The Redskins finally have a leader in the QB position that can be that on-field coach and develop the young guys.
McNabb is a huge upgrade, but this roster is a mixed bag of previous coaches' flavors. In addition, this is a team with zero identity and almost nil team chemistry. To make matters worse, Haynesworth and Landry were reportedly first offered up in the trade.
"The Redskins actually offered - I'm told by two league sources - Albert Haynesworth, the outstanding defensive tackle, but Albert Haynesworth has an enormous contract," Caplan said, adding that Haynesworth was a pain to the Redskins' previous coaching staff. [Philly.com]
How do you think that's going to go over in the locker room? I agree that both of these players are expendable, but to say this is a "win now" team is laughable. Competitive...absolutely, but that's the same diarrhea soup we've been served the last ten years. After the draft, the picture should become clearer and bring this deal more into focus, but there are so many holes in this team right now it's hard to praise this. I'm just hoping Shanahan isn't falling into the same trap of all the previous coaches where they mortgage the future to win now.
The RB situation is laughable right now. The Redskins are not sniffing a Super Bowl with the current backfield. Same goes for the safeties and LB core. How are you going to fix all this with so few draft picks. Time will tell....which is what I'm afraid of.