Free Agency Updates

[duke1861]

Donald Penn signed with the Raiders

Kenny Britt left without an offer

Akeem Jordan is currently in DC

The offseason continues to get more odd. We are not addressing areas of need as we should and the cap room is almost gone. Allen must be gambling on the draft to provide starters. Its an idea I am not comfortable with as he is not a talent evaluator. His draft classes in Tampa and Oakland were generally terrible.

I have been saying for the past 10 years that we need to build through the draft, but the Skins have NEVER really drafted well at all. We don't develop our players that well either. If we had the Patriots or Seahawks front office, then we could do it. The problem is that we should have promoted Allen to President and then hired a GM to run the operations.

We have made odd free agent decisions no doubt and now we have a parade of needed players coming in and we don't sign them. If they aren't good fits, then its not a big loss, but we must not being doing our homework as nobody is signing with us (Clark, Penn, Britt, Graham, Browner). I think we could have used our cap room more wisely and made other moves that were financially similar

Sign Munnerlyn instead of Porter
Sign Schwartz over Lauvo
Sign A. Jones over Hatcher

The contracts all match up and we could have gotten a better caliber of younger, talented player. Given the fact that we are about out of cap and we don't have a first round pick, we did not address the secondary, OLine or starting ILB to take over for Fletch. Our secondary signings all graded out poorly with Porter, Hall and Merriweather. Porter was almost dead last and Merriweather was the 5th worst rated Safety in the NFL. All we did to the OLine is add Lauvao. We have holes at RT and Center. We have one of the worst OLines int he NFL and didn't do much at all.

At this point, I don't see the plan of the front office. Unless we are going to rebuild for another 5 years, then we aren't really making progress. We have 2 winning seasons since 2000 and we really aren't upgrading the roster.

 

[countryroads316]

I'm all for being smart with their money but this is ridiculous

 

[Buffalo_Nickel_1]

I think just adding gruden can give us more wins then last year follow lineman gettis on twitter he is working hard he is pulling cars and shit there working harder then ever rg3 is holding camps there not playing around trust me

 

[duke1861]

I'm all for being smart with their money but this is ridiculous

I always wanted us to be smart with our money and avoid the big contracts. The fact of the matter is that the Giants have had a great FA class and Dallas just got a big time player in Melton. Philly is doing well good as well.

We just can't keep up with the rest of the league and we have no more excuses. Last year we complained about the NFL screwing us, now what is our excuse? We have been rebuilding for years now. We are now forced to use that 34th pick on a RT because RG3 caqoont survive with the current line. The fact that the FO hasn't figured that out is troubling. He is our franchise player and we refuse to protect him. Now we enter the draft with no gapping holes at ILB, FS, #2 WR and RT.

I really hope the FO knows what they are doing.

 

[duke1861]

I think just adding gruden can give us more wins then last year follow lineman gettis on twitter he is working hard he is pulling cars and shit there working harder then ever rg3 is holding camps there not playing around trust me

No doubt they are working hard. Just like last year though, its the lack of talent on the roster that is hurting this team.

 

[Buffalo_Nickel_1]

Are safetys sucked because we had no pass rush on that list who was ranked number 1 safety I guess a raven our seahawk. Some team with a good pass rush right

 

[Sharkinva]

Guys... relax and let it ride. I think there are some guys I would have liked to see us get. But all things considered, we have not gone crazy in FA. The players we have brought in have been mostly solid although not world beaters. Aside from Safety and maybe RT, there isnt a spot we have not brought some one in that was at least capable. Who knows, maybe we do address RT in the draft. And Im ok with that.

 

[skinsdad62]

guys winning FA with big signings wont get us anywhere . we have missed more then we have hit in signing big name Fa's

you build thru the draft and you mostly build depth and get solid guys thru FA

most of the top teams draft well and have very few Fa's

 

[TCB]

guys winning FA with big signings wont get us anywhere . we have missed more then we have hit in signing big name Fa's

you build thru the draft and you mostly build depth and get solid guys thru FA

most of the top teams draft well and have very few Fa's

We've done well so far. We could not afford to sign everyone we wanted. Time to move on. Agreed Skinsdad. The draft is where championships are born

 

[duke1861]

guys winning FA with big signings wont get us anywhere . we have missed more then we have hit in signing big name Fa's

you build thru the draft and you mostly build depth and get solid guys thru FA

most of the top teams draft well and have very few Fa's

Nobody here minus a few nutjobs want big signings. We want smart signings. We have missed on most FA, I agree.

The only aspect of this organization that is worse than our FA signings is the draft. Vinny drafted horribly and Shanahan drafted horribly.

Its easier said than done to "build through the draft". If it were so easy, every team in the NFL would do it. You have to have great scouts, great player development and great talent evaluators. We have none of the above Skinsdad, so what do we do?

Shanahan left us with a handful of good players (most if not all were first round picks, which even Vinny could get right). He left our defense, OLine and ST in a mess. You expect Bruce Allen to fix this all through the draft? And how did that work out in Oakland and Tampa? The bottom line is that we will have to rely on FA to build a foundation until we have enough early round draft picks to support the organization. We have been trying to build throught he draft since Allen took over and it got us 3-13 last year. What some of you are proposing will literally take this team 4-6 years.

 

[duke1861]

We've done well so far. We could not afford to sign everyone we wanted. Time to move on. Agreed Skinsdad. The draft is where championships are born

We could have signed alot of the players we wanted, but we overspent on some. The draft is where you build championships, I agree.

What most of you are failing to understand is that Bruce Allen CANNOT draft.

 

[Sleepy T]

Well there is more to the FO than Snyder and Allen. I thought Shanny made most all personnel decisions the last few years? There are other people who watch the film and evaluate players in the draft, including the new head coach. Let's not proclaim this to be a Dan/Vinny situation just yet. Give the new regime a chance. Let's hope they start to hit on some mid rounders n the draft the next couple years.

 

[duke1861]

Well there is more to the FO than Snyder and Allen. I thought Shanny made most all personnel decisions the last few years? There are other people who watch the film and evaluate players in the draft, including the new head coach. Let's not proclaim this to be a Dan/Vinny situation just yet. Give the new regime a chance. Let's hope they start to hit on some mid rounders n the draft the next couple years.

I just don't understand why they didn't hire a true GM. Allen is a cap master and appears to be a smart business man. He is not a talent evaluator at all. I wish we would have promoted Allen to team President and brought in a younger GM to sign players and draft.

It also bothers me that Shanahan left us in such a mess. He was supposed to clean up Vinny's mess. He only drafted 2 defensive players of note (Amerson and Kerrigan) and got us one OLineman (Trent). He drafted several mid-round OLinemen and not one of them have worked out. No need to mention the awful ST he left us with and the complete lack of depth in this organization. Good Lord, this team literally is a mess.

 

[Sharkinva]

I just don't understand why they didn't hire a true GM. Allen is a cap master and appears to be a smart business man. He is not a talent evaluator at all. I wish we would have promoted Allen to team President and brought in a younger GM to sign players and draft.

It also bothers me that Shanahan left us in such a mess. He was supposed to clean up Vinny's mess. He only drafted 2 defensive players of note (Amerson and Kerrigan) and got us one OLineman (Trent). He drafted several mid-round OLinemen and not one of them have worked out. No need to mention the awful ST he left us with and the complete lack of depth in this organization. Good Lord, this team literally is a mess.

Duke, you have to give Shanahan some credit. He brought us a starting OLB in Kerrigan, a starting RB in Morris. Brought in Garcon and drafted Reed. He also brought in Griffin all on his own (I dont believe that for a moment, but for the sake of arguemment). He left us in much better cap space over all than we have ever been in the past 15 years.

As for Allen and talent evaluating... thats all supposed to be on Brown and company at this point. So we shouls sit back and see how this plays out first.

 

[duke1861]

Duke, you have to give Shanahan some credit. He brought us a starting OLB in Kerrigan, a starting RB in Morris. Brought in Garcon and drafted Reed. He also brought in Griffin all on his own (I dont believe that for a moment, but for the sake of arguemment). He left us in much better cap space over all than we have ever been in the past 15 years.

As for Allen and talent evaluating... thats all supposed to be on Brown and company at this point. So we shouls sit back and see how this plays out first.

So in 4 years, Shanahan hit on 4 draft picks and brought in 1 free agent of note. That is not that good. Also, it was Allen who got us the cap space, not Shanahan. I am not being a debbie downer here but I am mentioning the facts.

I hope Gruden turns this thing around but I have my doubts. For starters, he didn't bring in a staff at all. The OC and DC were hold overs from a 3-13 team. I just get the feeling that the organization is lost and has no real sense of direction. Maybe Brown and Campbell can turn this thing around. I am tired of the FO being a revolving door and I am tired of not drafting well or developing the players we draft.

Looking forward, I think we need to bring in at least 3 more FA. Hopefully a RT (Eric Winston or Charles Brown), and ILB (Arthur Moats or Akeem Jordan) and a FS (Clark or DeCoud). We have too many holes at this time.

 

[Sharkinva]

So in 4 years, Shanahan hit on 4 draft picks and brought in 1 free agent of note. That is not that good. Also, it was Allen who got us the cap space, not Shanahan. I am not being a debbie downer here but I am mentioning the facts.

I hope Gruden turns this thing around but I have my doubts. For starters, he didn't bring in a staff at all. The OC and DC were hold overs from a 3-13 team. I just get the feeling that the organization is lost and has no real sense of direction. Maybe Brown and Campbell can turn this thing around. I am tired of the FO being a revolving door and I am tired of not drafting well or developing the players we draft.

Looking forward, I think we need to bring in at least 3 more FA. Hopefully a RT (Eric Winston or Charles Brown), and ILB (Arthur Moats or Akeem Jordan) and a FS (Clark or DeCoud). We have too many holes at this time.

Duke, to a degree I have to ask, how do we develope our own players if we sign even more FA's??

Once we resigned Merriweather.. to tell the truth Im fine with it. Yea we could sign Jordan. I dont think another Line man is a must, more of a sure bring him in. But at some point we are going to have to see what we have in guys like Thomas, rambo, Compton and a few others.