Redskins Trading Haynesworth?

posted by cochise April 8, 2010

Last summer, the Washington Redskins made a splashy move by signing Albert Haynesworth, widely considered the prize of the free agent pool, to a ridiculous $100 million deal, with $41 million guarenteed.

Now, just a year later, Washington is apparently unhappy with their purchase. So unhappy that they tried to trade Haynesworth for Donovan McNabb, a proposal that the Eagles wanted no part of. And the Redskins are still trying to trade the big defensive-linesmen to several teams.

The problem stems from Haynesworth’s refusal to play nose tackle. But because of Albert’s enormous contract, few teams are interested despite his immense talent.

The simple fact of the matter is that the Redskins, as they often have before, made a mistake by thinking they could win simply through spending more money than others. Nothing good can come from overpaying a player as egregiously as Washington did in this situation.

At this point, Haynesworth is worth an early second-rounder at best. For the Detroit Lions or Tampa Bay Buccaneers, teams who have interest in drafting a defensive tackle, the move could make sense even with the dollars involved. But if they can’t succeed in dealing him, the Redskins will have to just learn from their mistakes and be smarter in the future.

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Pacman Jones A Terrible Idea For Detroit

posted by cochise March 22, 2010

Reports have recently surfaced that the Lions, due to their unbelievably terrible secondary, are considering signing Adam “Pacman” Jones to a contract. Simply put, this would be a terrible, horrendous move. Jones was talented enough in 2005 to be drafted in the top-ten, but his career has been in shambles for quite a few years, both on and off the field.

By now, everyone should know about Pacman’s laundry list of personal problems. Without rehashing them in detail, let’s just leave it at that they were serious enough to warrant him a year-long suspension from the league. Mark me as someone who doesn’t believe he has changed much since then personality-wise. He had a potential contract with a CFL squad rescinded because of less-than-flattering remarks he made about the quality of play in the league publicly. Adding a locker room cancer to a team without vocal leaders that is mostly made up of young players is just plain stupid.

And what exactly has Jones done on-the-field to deserve another chance with any NFL team? As I mentioned before, it has been five years since he was drafted and he has yet to have had a breakout year. Sure one of those seasons was taken away by suspension, but before and after that maturity and consistency issues plagued him. Both the Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys couldn’t seem to wait to cut ties with him. Yet somehow Pacman continues to garner interest from teams by his reputation alone, which is amazing given his past. Why would anyone want to sign a player who hasn’t played for any team since 2008 and doesn’t seem to work hard enough to be an elite player? How does that improve a team?

There are only so many roster spots in the NFL, and Adam “Pacman” Jones no longer deserves one of them. He isn’t someone you would want to root for as a fan, and he isn’t someone you would feel comfortable about as a teammate. I can only hope the Lions do the right thing and send him home without a contract.

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NFL Mock Draft: Picks 1-5

posted by cochise March 18, 2010

By now, my philosophies regarding the draft should be clear. So now there is not much left to write outside of who I think each team should do and why. Unlike most mock drafts, I will project trades as well. We’ll start with the first five picks of the first round.

1st Pick – St. Louis Rams – Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma – I have already written enough on why the Rams should avoid the pitfalls of drafting a quarterback here. But one additional note should rest my case; the Rams were second-worst in the league in points allowed, giving up over twenty-seven points a game. The team isn’t going to win any games until they rectify that problem, and McCoy would go a long way in starting the healing process.

2nd Pick – Washington Redskins (traded from Detroit Lions) - Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma – If the Lions get to their pick with Bradford still on the board, they should be able to start a bidding war for him. Both the Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins have expressed great interest in Bradford. The Seattle Seahawks are another team that could be interested in grooming a rookie quarterback.

Using ESPN’s draft pick value chart, the Lions could trade their 2nd overall pick for Washington’s 4th overall pick and their 2nd round pick, 37th overall. If they can make a deal to move back a few spots for an additional second-rounder, it should be a no-brainer.

As for the Redskins, they desperately need to upgrade their offense. They have given Jason Campbell chance after chance to show he can be a NFL starter and he has been mediocre at best. The Redskins have too good of a defense to continue giving away games because of no firepower. This is a team that could have a quick revival with good quarterback play, much like the Atlanta Falcons had with Matt Ryan, and so Bradford should be their primary focus.

3rd Pick – Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska – The Buccaneers would jump in joy if Suh was available at the third pick. He is a top-tier talent who could anchor their defense much in the same way Warren Sapp once did. And after giving up 25 points a game in 2009, they sure could use a player like Suh.

4th Pick – Detroit Lions (traded from Washington Redskins) – Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State – When you make an investment as big as the Lions did in 2009 in a quarterback, you should do everything you can to protect it. Matthew Stafford spent way too much time last season on his back, and twice suffered injuries that kept him out of games. And Detroit has almost no semblance of a running game to rely on either. With the offseason additions of Kyle Vanden Bosch and Corey Simon, Detroit can afford to focus on bolstering their offensive line. And Okung is the best player available to do that.

5th Pick – Kansas City Chiefs - Bryan Bulaga, OT, Iowa – Matt Cassel was sacked a whopping 42 times in 2009. The Chiefs have talent on offense with Cassel, Jamaal Charles, and Dwayne Bowe, but until they shore up their line they won’t see any consistent production. The Chiefs would probably be OK with trading down a few spots before making this selection, but don’t see any incentive for a team to trade up with Bradford already gone.

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Foote Departure Embarrassing For Lions

posted by cochise March 16, 2010

The Detroit Lions are a terrible team. That sentence, unfortunately, is not an opinion but a fact, proven by the last decade of on-the-field action. As a Lions fan, it has been tough to watch the team continue to struggle.

Larry Foote seemed to be a player who could help turn the team’s fortunes around. He was a Detroit native who played his college ball in Ann Arbor. And he also was an experienced veteran who had played on a championship team in Pittsburgh.

But after only one season with the Lions, Foote chose to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Apparently the constant culture of losing got to him as early as mid-season last year.

Now the reason Foote left Pittsburgh in the first place was because the team had another player, Lawrence Timmons, groomed to usurp him as a starter. That hasn’t changed. So basically the Lions are so bad, that Foote decided he’d rather be a role player outside of his hometown city than stay in Detroit.

I don’t blame Foote for leaving, who could? He saw a bad situation and got out. The onus was on the organization and the coaching staff to prove they were heading somewhere, and obviously they didn’t do that.

Detroit isn’t an attractive spot for free agents. No one wants to go to a bad team that resides in a city with a bad reputation (though it isn’t as bad of a city as people may think.) Losing a player who should have been a home run so quickly is nothing more than another embarrassment to a franchise and fanbase used to them.

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Rams Ponder Bradford, McCoy For Top Pick

posted by cochise February 27, 2010

At the end of the 2009 NCAA football season, Ndamukong Suh seemed to be the surefire pick for the top selection in the upcoming NFL draft. His stock had never been higher, as his play down the stretch in big games had impressed fans and scouts alike.

But with two months left before the draft, most reports seem to indicate that the Rams are going in another direction. St. Louis is one of the growing number of teams that feels that the best defensive tackle in the draft isn’t Suh, but rather Gerald McCoy from Oklahoma. And positive reports about Sam Bradford’s build have brought him back into the picture as well.

First things first, the Rams should not take Sam Bradford. Putting a quarterback in that offensive system would be a disaster. As described in my last post, teams that draft quarterbacks without having a solid foundation first often flounder with their selection.

As for the McCoy vs. Suh debate, I personally don’t know enough about either to choose between the two. My impression was that Suh had more upside, but now I’m reading McCoy is like “Warren Sapp only bigger and faster.” While I somehow doubt that McCoy is better than one of the best defensive tackles ever, I can see why the Rams would take him.

As a Lions fan, I’m happy to leave the tough decision to another team. And happy that no matter whether it is Suh or McCoy, Detroit’s defensive line will be bolstered by a unique talent (barring an unforeseen selection of Dez Bryant or Golden Tate, of course.)

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Why Drafting Quarterbacks Early Can Be A Mistake

posted by cochise February 26, 2010

For bad teams in the NFL, one solution seems to come to all; draft a quarterback with your first-round pick and everything will solve itself. This belief, however, has proved itself to be incorrect year after year, with many teams struggling to improve with their highly-selected, and well-paid, passers. The crux of the problem? Drafting a quarterback is just not as important to team improvement as general managers and draft experts perpetuate them to be.

Most seasoned football fans should realize that the best teams are built from the lines out. Meaning that once the offensive and defensive lines have been solidified, then only will the specialty players perform at their best. A quarterback, in particular, depends on many other of his teammates for success. He cannot complete passes without a reliable receiver to catch them. He cannot fool defenses with play action passes without a steady running game to support him. And most of all, he won’t have enough time to make plays without an offensive line able to protect him consistently.

So why is it, then, that terrible teams with holes all across the board decide to stick inexperienced and young passers into a flawed system? Last year, the Detroit Lions, a team that finished 0-16 in 2008, selected Matthew Stafford with the first pick despite having a terrible offensive line. What happened? Stafford throws twenty interceptions and misses six games, at two different points in the season, due to injuries. In other words, he was hung out to dry and paid for it.

The point here is when a team decides to make an investment in such an important position, they should be sure they can protect it first. It is no coincidence that the teams that have success with first-round quarterbacks (such as the Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers, and San Diego Chargers) are teams that were fringe playoff teams that suffered one down year because of injuries. Those teams had the personnel to win games before they drafted their passers. Teams like the Lions and the Cleveland Browns don’t.

And it isn’t like the only way to acquire a franchise signal-caller is through the first round either. The Houston Texans traded for Matt Schaub after their first-round fiasco, David Carr, failed to pan out and found success.

So my advice to the St. Louis Rams and Browns, the two teams most likely to erroneously select a quarterback, is don’t do it. Focus on your other weaknesses and fill all the holes you have, and success should eventually come.

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