Well.
The 2010 season is over, the Redskins finished 6-10, ending on another miss by a bad kicker who was needed in crucial situations too many times because of an offense that could not fight its way out of a wet paper bag and a defense that could not stop a three year old from having ice cream for breakfast. Hybrid defensive nose end and hundred million dollar man Albert Haynesworth ended the year on suspension, heralded quarterback Donovan McNabb, acquired for two draft picks we cannot get back, ended the season as the emergency quarterback. Fourteen players were placed on injured reserve. No tailback had more than 750 yards on the ground, and no defensive player had nine sacks.
Netting six wins does not feel as awesome now as getting that fourth, the win tying the 2009 record, did after game seven now does it?
So bravo for the coaches, who still have long work weeks ahead of them evaluating every play and every player before their 2011 offseason begins, I just hope that someone is evaluating the coaches, and if that is no-longer-rookie general manager Bruce Allen then I also hope someone is evaluating him but wait who else would that be but owner Dan Snyder, himself with a terrible record of football judgement?
Oh my.
Let's talk a little bit about what happens now.
Heading into 2011, some moves are going to be obvious, Albert Haynesworth likely will be released and Donovan NcNabb will be elsewhere, I am of a mind that Donovan will gain his release, the better to sign with the team he wants to play for, others knowledgeable football minds are of the opinion that the Redskins will seek to trade Donovan, perhaps for a fourth round pick if just to get some of the scratch back the team lost when it gave up second and a (then-conditional) fourth round picks in April to acquire Donovan.
Folsom Point aside: Kind of seems like the early frontrunners for Donovan's services in 2011 would be the Vikings, the 49ers and the Cardinals of Arizona, where Donovan makes his offseason home. All three teams may be desperate enough for a legitimate one or two season patch at quarterback to give up a pick for a guy that can play, and none of the three teams will view Mike Shanahan's evaluation of Donovan McNabb as objective.
Clinton Portis has likely carried the ball for the last time as a Redskin, with an 8.3 million dollar salary next season, he is not nearly worth the money and I do not see a guy with as large an ego as Clinton agreeing to stay on and help build the Redskins from the sidelines. Santana Moss will be back.
There will also be some less obvious moves, if Bruce Allen could get a pick for Justin Tryon, who by the way played pretty well in Indianapolis, he may be able to pick up a pick or two wheeling and dealing, could Chris Cooley be on the block? Compare Chris' and Fred Davis' numbers from 2009 and tell me if there is a reason to keep both those guys. Could one of the 2010 comeons, like Anthony Armstrong or Brandon Banks be worth something to another team?
The next big date will be Football New Year's, Friday 4 March 2011, the day after the expiration of all completed football contracts and of the Collective Bargaining Agreement overall, with no sudden renegotiation of the CBA notwithstanding, we could be looking at an owner initiated work stoppage, a lockout. What happens after that, mot much is certain. We know there is a provision in the expiring CBA to hold a college draft, so the Redskins will get to use their number ten overall pick, after that though, tough to tell.
Will teams be able to sign free agents with no CBA in force? I presume so since with no collective bargaining or union regulation in force, contracts could still be written between teams and players, with no intervention by a third party. Seems like the owners had this question in mind when they wrote up contracts that last couple of seasons, the 2011 offeseason crop of free agents is widely regarded as being the best ever, see here, here and here. I totally believe union allegations that owners engaged in collusion last season to keep free agents off the market and it is obvious there has been a strategy to ensure big money players in their prime have expiring contracts right at the end of the CBA.
Which brings us back to the Redskins, all issues of money and salary caps aside, there are enough free agents on the market this offseason to make the Redskins a better team in short order... except at the quarterback position.
Peyton Manning is going to re-sign with the Colts, we will not get him. Michael Vick will re-sign with the Eagles, and even if he does not I do not want him in Washington. Beyond that we are not looking at serious quality, Rex Grossman may even be a good deal at this point, go back and check those lists of 2011 free agents and tell me what you think about the quarterbacks. I fully expect the Redskins to pick a quarterback with their first round pick.
Go past the QBs though and there is quite the cornucopia of available players, and this is where the Redskins intelligentsia will make its money this year, go back and start here looking at free agent tailbacks and move down the position list.
NO SERIOUSLY GO BACK AND LOOK, IF BRUCE ALLEN AND MIKE SHANAHAN CANNOT IMPROVE THE REDSKINS WITH TALENTED AND AFFORDABLE PLAYERS IN THE 2011 OFFSEASON THEN THIS WHOLE THING IS BULLSHIT.
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Ben Folsom has intense malaise and is the editor of The Curly R, a blog covering the Redskins and NFL since 2006. The Folsom Point will continue to appear on Hogs Haven throughout the 2011 offseason.