Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

WP: Skins will open NFL season at Giants

The football offseason is the longest in team sports. According to Jason Reid at the Post, it will be just a little bit shorter this year for Redskins fans.

Reid is reporting that the Redskins will play in the traditional (since 2002, if you can call that a tradition) Thursday night season opener at the home of the Super Bowl Champions. Of course the champs are the New York Giants.

The game will be on September 4 in Giants Stadium.

Not only will the Redskins be opening on an earlier day, the game could come on at an earlier time. The Republican National Convention concludes that night and there is talk that NBC, the network televising the game, is talking to the NFL about moving the start time of the game from 8:30 to 7:00. That would ensure that the game is over by the time that John McCain makes his acceptance speech at about 10:00.

Caldwell signs with the Rams

Receiver Reche Caldwell, who spent last season as a reserve with the Washington Redskins, has signed a contract with the St. Louis Rams.

Caldwell, who will turn 29 on Friday, was picked up by the Redskins early in the season. After being inactive for most of the first 10 weeks of the season, he started to see some action in the latter part of the year. He caught 15 passes for an average of 9.4 yards per catch, a paltry average for a wide receiver.

The Redskins have had a one-year, veteran minimum contract offer sitting on the table for Caldwell since the start of free agency. They also extended a minimum-salary offer to former Seattle receiver D. J. Hackett.

It doesn't take a very sophisticated reading of the tea leaves to figure out that the Redskins have a salary slot set aside for a veteran wide receiver who is willing to play for the minimum salary.

Given Caldwell's rejection, it could be a while before the Skins are able to find someone to fill that spot. The remaining veteran free agents on the market right now consist of the likes of Samie Parker, Tim Dwight, and Aaron Moorehead. They could opt, I suppose, to party like it was Buffalo in 1999 and reunite Eric Moulds and Peerless Price.

Indeed, Caldwell, with his 140 yards of productivity in 2007, was the cream of the remaining free agent receiver crop.

Caldwell's departure leaves the Redskins with seven receivers on the roster—Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle El, James Thrash, Anthony Mix, Billy McMullen, Burl Toler, and Maurice Mann. The team probably will keep five on the 53-man roster.

As of right now, only Moss and Randle El are assured of having roster one of those 53 spots.

I think that Mix will be given a shot at beating out Thrash, who is about to turn 33. Mix could be a younger, cheaper version of Thrash, a special teams standout who also can be productive at receiver when necessary.

It seems almost certain that one of the Redskins draft picks in the first three rounds will be a receiver; that leaves one WR roster spot. If the team finds that vet-minimum guy, he's number five. This hypothetical wideout may not become available until someone is cut in training camp.

That's the scenario that McMullen is hoping for, anyway. The longer it takes the Redskins to find that veteran, the longer he has to convince the Redskins that he could be that guy. If anyone was glad to see Caldwell head West, it was McMullen, a former Virginia standout and a third-round pick by the Eagles who has the size (6' 4") but never has been productive enough to earn a regular spot.

Skins think big at receiver

The Washington Redskins are in need of a big wide receiver.

The West Coast offense, the scheme that Jim Zorn will be introducing to the team this year, works better when a big WR can go to the middle of the field, turn, and shield off a cornerback with his sheer physical size.

Their starters are listed at 5" 10". I'm not sure about Antwaan Randle El, but I know for a fact that Santana Moss is not 5-10. I'm 5-10 and I've talked to him standing in front of him on many occasions and I'm always looking down. He's at least an inch, maybe two, shorter than his listed height.

The other top returning receiver, James Thrash, appears to be every bit of the height next to his name on the roster but that's only six feet even.

There are a couple of wideouts on the roster who are relative skyscrapers—Anthony Mix, 6' 5" and Billy McMullen, 6' 4". If either of those two contributes much of anything in 2008, the productivity would be considered a bonus.

They threw out a hook with an old worm on it to try to reel in D. J. Hackett, but the 6' 2" receiver from Seattle didn't bite on the Skins' minimum-salary offer.

That leaves the draft and it would surprise nobody if the Skins tabbed a large pass catcher early in the proceedings.

There are two receivers who should be available around selection #21 who may be worthy of the pick. One is Limas Sweed, 6' 5" out of Texas; the other is Malcolm Kelly, 6' 4" out of Oklahoma. Neither is a burner, but they're both fast enough (around 4.5 in the 40 at the combine) to get deep.

Not only are their measurables good, both Sweed and Kelly pass the eyeball test. You look at video of each of them on the field and you think, "there's a future NFL receiver". These guys are not combine superstars.

(By the way, you'll be able to give Kelly and Sweed the eyeball test yourself as I'll be rolling out RRTV with video draft features of the two of them later this week when I put them under the microscope here.)

More coming on Sweed, Kelly, and the wisdom of expending the first selection on a WR coming in the next few days.

Fabini back?

According to the Associated Press, Jason Fabini is has re-signed with the Washington Redskins.

Fabini, who will be 34 before opening day, started all but three games of the season at right guard due to Randy Thomas' torn triceps injury. He was adequate in his role, especially considering that he had been tackle for his entire career.

The leaves the Redskins still looking for help on the interior line. The team still would have just three guards on the roster, Pete Kendall the third in addition to Fabini and Thomas. Casey Rabach is the only center listed, so there is plenty of opportunity in the interior of the Redskins' offensive line. The position is certain to be one that the Redskins will attempt to beef up in the draft in addition to keeping an eye out for a bargain veteran like Fabini was last year.

Redskins ’ draft offers plenty to chew on

Most years, you have to worry about being too early in looking at the Washington Redskins' draft.

Free agency changes needs and, despite all the talk that all teams talk about taking the best available player, the draft revolves around needs. In past years, the Redskins have been filling many needs through free agency, sometimes well into April.

That has made their draft needs a moving target. As soon as one draft article saw the light of day, a signing filled a hole and the picture shifted, often invalidating the freshly-minted analysis.

This year, however, there is no moving target. In retrospect, given the Redskins' lack of activity in free agency, a serious look at the upcoming draft could have started on February 9, when Jim Zorn was hired as the Redskins' head coach.

There actually is quite a bit to chew over. The Redskins have all of their selections in the first three rounds, six out of the seven in all and in about a week or so it should be confirmed that they will get some compensatory picks, perhaps one as high as a third-rounder.

So, no three-picks and out draft like 2003 and no one and done until round five as we saw last year. There's a lot of meat on the bone this season.

So, it's time to jump into that fray here. In case you're new here, a few things about how the subject will be approached

For the most part, the focus will be on the first three rounds as far as matching any specific players to specific picks goes. I might bat around a few names in rounds five through seven, but that's just way too much of a shot in the dark to qualify as meaningful, intelligent discussion.

I will not do a mock draft. It's tough enough for me to figure out the Skins' needs and who is on their radar screen. I'm not about to pretend that I have a good enough handle on the needs and desires of the other 31 teams in the league. Of course, 99.9% of all mock drafters are in the same boat, but they don't let their lack of meaningful insight stop them. I have other ways to make a fool out of myself.

I'm actually going to be introducing (drum roll, please) multimedia into this staid old blog with some You Tube videos that I'm creating. I'm still trying to figure out some of the nuances of the software I'm using, but I should have everything ready in the next day or so.

As usual, I'm not going to be following any set pattern, wide receivers one week, linebackers the next, anything like that. This space is event-driven and it will go where events such as prospect visits and the like take it.

As always, your questions and comments are welcome.

Frost back in the fold

The Washington Redskins finally have a punter on their roster.

Derrick Frost agreed to terms with the club today meaning that he will return for his fourth season with in Washington.

Frost, who was an unrestricted free agent, signed on for one year. He took over the position two games into the 2005 season and he has managed to hang on to the job ever since. He has averaged 41.2 yards per punt for the Redskins.

His most serious challenge came in training camp in 2006 when the team brought in an Australian punter named David Lonie. The rookie impressed early but didn't look as good in the preseason games and Frost held on.

Speaking of holding, that's another important function for Frost on the team. He holds for kicker Shawn Suisham, who had a fairly successful 2007 campaign.

It is unlikely that Frost will receive any competition in training camp. Preseason rosters are limited to 80 players and, since NFL Europa no longer exists, there will be no exemptions for players who were in action in the spring and early summer. There is a greater need for additional defensive tackles to rotate through in the August heat and a fourth quarterback to help run multiple units install the offense than there is for an additional punter.

Skins ’ shunning of free agents goes against their nature

The Washington Redskins have slammed the "Closed" sign down in front of the bank teller window. They've shut down the ATM. The capologists and other bean counters in Ashburn can take the rest of the week off.

The Redskins are done looking for free agents.

From Redskins.com:

"If something comes up [in free agency], we'll run it down," head coach Jim Zorn said on Tuesday. "There isn't anyone that I'm hot after. There's nothing on the hot list."

No hot list? After zero signings of any other team's free agents? After having only one visit, that from wide receiver D. J. Hackett, and offering him a lowball deal?

That seems to go against nature. It's like a dog is standing by the side of the road as car after car drives by. The dog only chases one of them and even then it makes only a few, halfhearted steps in the direction of a slightly damaged sedan. The gleaming sports cars and loaded Hummers that used to set off furious chases pass by without so much as a bark.

The Redskins' active stance in free agency didn't start when Joe Gibbs came to town. In fact, it didn't start when Daniel Snyder bought the team. In the beginning of modern free agency in 1993, the class included wide receiver Tim McGee, linebacker Rick Graf, and defensive tackle Al Noga.

In fact, it goes back even further than that. The Redskins were one of the few teams that signed free agents before '93.

In Plan B free agency, a system that allowed teams to protect most of their rosters but let a few free when their contracts expired, Washington acquired Super Bowl XXVI starting safeties Danny Copeland and Brad Edwards, among others.

Before that system started they gave up two first-round picks to sign linebacker Wilbur Marshall away from the Bears in 1988.

Going back further, they gave up multiple high draft picks as compensation for signing Dave Butz away from the St. Louis Cardinals in 1975.

And, in 1976, there was a loophole in the rules that made it legal from free agents to sign with other teams with no compensation. There was a gentleman's agreement among the owners and general manager—something that would be called collusion today—to stay away from each other's free agents.

George Allen would have none of this gentleman's agreement stuff. He went out and signed Dallas tight end Jean Fugett, Cowboys running back Calvin Hill, and a running back from the Jets named John Riggins.

Although it took six years for the Redskins to figure out that Riggins was best utilized as a battering ram and not a blocking back or outside runner, he eventually was the difference in a Super Bowl winning team.

The Redskins have been trying to buy championships ever since, with results that never have been as successful.

Clearing out the WR logjam

Two wide receivers who have shown some promise during various preseason stints with the Washington Redskins have been released.

Mike Espy and Seven Harris were waived by the Redskins on Monday. The team's unfiltered announcement of the move on its website gave no reason for the cuts.

At least part of the reason could be that the injury but bit both of them last year. Both Espy and Harris spent 2007 on injured reserve. Harris suffered a knee injury during minicamp last year and Espy had surgery after blowing out a knee ligament during the preseason. Carlos Rogers and Rocky McIntosh are given all the time they need to recover from knee surgery. Players on the fringes of the fringe are not given that luxury.

In addition to being damaged goods, Espy and Harris were victims of the numbers game. Before the moves there were nine receivers on the roster (Espy, Harris, Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle El, James Thrash, Anthony Mix, Billy McMullen, Maurice Mann, and Burt Toler) and the Redskins have a standing offer for unrestricted free agent Reche Caldwell on the table.

In addition, the Redskins are likely to add a wide receiver in the upcoming NFL draft. Counting Caldwell, that would make 11. That makes it tough for everyone to get sufficient reps in the OTA's and in training camp.

They probably will keep only five, six at the most, so there is little sense in keeping around so many WR's.

Having an excess of players at one position keeps you from having enough at another. There were only five defensive tackles on the roster, for example, and there are two of those in the game at a time as well. To avoid wearing out their DT's in camp, more of those were needed.

In fact, the Skins did add a DT in ex-Bengal Matthias Askew, who had a cup of coffee at Redskins Park during last year's training camp. More on him coming later today (teaser: "tased but exonerated").

Brunell goes marching out

We won't have Mark Brunell to kick around anymore.

It seemed clear that this would be the case on the first day of free agency when Todd Collins signed on to return as the Washington Redskins' backup quarterback. It became official on Thursday when Brunell signed a contract with the New Orleans Saints.

Brunell was the first player that Joe Gibbs went after when the Hall of Famer returned to coaching the Redskins. Many will say that that first decision doomed Gibbs' second run as coach to mediocrity.

The view here is that Gibbs' unwillingness to take chances—crossing the line from coaching conservatively to coaching scared—was the main issue that led to the 30-34 record from 2004-2007.

There are those who will argue that Brunell's game, mainly his lack of arm strength, forced Gibbs to play things close to the vest. It's really a chicken-or-egg argument and I can see that side of it.

Brunell did have his moments. In the second game of the 2005 season the Redskins were down 13-0 midway through the fourth quarter and looking horrible offensively. Like a bolt out of the blue, Brunell cranked out two touchdown bombs to Santana Moss, both deadly accurate thrown made without much margin for error.

But in between the high points there were way too many dump offs to a back on third and eight, way too many passes thrown to a cheerleader when there seemed to be plenty of time to continue to scan for a receiver.

They don't do approval polls for quarterbacks, but if they did it's likely that we would have found that, for most of his career in Washington, Brunell's would have matched that of other Washington residents such as W or the members of Congress.

Through it all, though, Brunell remained a class act. He cheerfully answered questions through two benchings and a demotion to third string. No teammate ever had a bad thing to say about him either publicly or off the record.

I wish him well.

WR Hackett to pay a visit

Put out the nice towels in the bathroom.

Clean the dead twigs and leaves out of the shrubbery.

Vacuum and mop and get some fresh flowers for the vase.

Company's coming.

The Redskins will receive their first free agent visitor of the signing period. And maybe Jim Zorn doesn't have to get the place all that gussied up on Wednesday night. It's an old friend that coming to see him.

Wide receiver D. J. Hackett will come calling this week. His three previous NFL seasons were spent with Zorn's former employer, the Seattle Seahawks. It's been thought for a while that Washington was a logical landing spot for Hackett. At 6-2, he fills the bill for the Redskins' need for a WR with some height.

That height can only come into play if Hackett's on the field. He missed all but six regular season games last year after he sprained his ankle in Week 1.

Because of that, he's being called fragile or injury prone. There may be some truth to that as he missed three and two games in his first and second seasons, respectively in addition to the 10 missed in 2007.

But it's not as though he has a bum knee or a shoulder that might pop out or any other sort of chronic injury. The Redskins need to keep the injury issues in mind should they get down to contract negotiations, but they should not exclude him from consideration.

Hackett, 26, was a major factor in the Seahawks' win over the Redskins in the Wild Card game last January. He caught six passes for 101 yards and a touchdown in that game.