Free Agency Recap
What’s Up Redskins Nation?! I’m a little late sharing my thoughts on the 2018 free agency period, but figured with the draft still a couple of days away my timing is still acceptable. Big names getting released, blockbuster trades, and fully guaranteed contracts highlighted a crazy start to the league year. The trade for Alex Smith became official on March 14 and we were finally able to welcome our new signal caller to the Nation’s Capital. He aced his initial press conference and seems genuinely happy to be here (what a concept). Speaking of that, how about our boy Kirk getting a fully guaranteed contract from the Vikings?? $84 million over 3 years and he’ll get every penny. Good for him. However, that does contradict his previous comments of “It’s not about the money”. We’ll see how he handles the pressure of that big contract and Super Bowl aspirations Minnesota has. No doubt Kirk and Alex will be compared throughout the 2018 season. I’m just happy there is finally stability at QB and the front office can focus on building out the rest of the roster.
The early splash in free agency came at a position of need — wide receiver. Signing speedster Paul Richardson to a 5 year, $40 mil deal was a good signing. It’s a reasonable contract and the Redskins will have the option to part ways without any negative impact to the salary cap after year 3. The ability to stretch the field was a missing component of last year’s offense after Desean Jackson left for Tampa Bay. Richardson should help open up the passing game and give Smith another weapon on the outside opposite Doctson. Richardson had a career year last year and averaged 16 yards per reception, which ranked near the top of the NFL. That big play ability will be welcome addition in 2018.
Re-signing Zach Brown was also a move the team had to make. Even though he missed the last three games of the season, Brown ranked in the top 10 in tackles for the 2017 season. His sideline to sideline speed was a key element for our defense last year. The combo of Foster and Brown in the middle of the defense helped solidify an improved unit against the run. However, when Foster (and Allen) went out after week 6 with season ending injuries, the defense never seemed to recover. ZB was still a standout in multiple games and one would think his production will only increase now that he has a year in Greg Manusky’s system.
Aside from the Paul Richardson signing and Zach Brown coming back, it has been a relatively quiet free agency period. I mean if you want to count the Alex Smith blockbuster trade as part of that, you could argue it’s been rather eventful. The front office chose to let Trent Murphy, Ryan Grant, and Breeland all walk. I was surprised to see Murph get nearly $7 mil per year after missing all of 2017 and really only having one productive year. The fact Grant and Breeland both failed physicals is still mind boggling to me. Re-signing Dunbar and Everett should signal that their roles will increase this year. Fabian Moreau I know is a guy the coaches love, and he figures to see his snap count sky rocket with Breeland and Fuller both gone.
As it stands today, the Redskins still have $17 million in cap space. You figure they’ll need to set some aside for draft picks and potential in season signings. Will they chose to add another impact player on the defensive line (Jonathan Hankins) or roll that money into next off-season. Preston Smith and Brandon Scherff are playing on the final years of their rookie deals and figure to be strong candidates to earn extensions at some point during the season (Skins already picked up Scherff’s 5th year option). Crowder could also fall into that category as well. I’m anxious to see what talent the Redskins are able to add via the draft in the coming days. With as many as 4 quarterbacks projected to go in the top 10, the hope is another projected defensive stud will be available at 13. Adding young talent and immediate impact players is a must. Let’s get it done.
Cheers & Hail,
Kevin (Your fellow die-hard fan)
