Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Goodell gets it

A year ago, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell decided that his league was at risk of gaining a reputation as a collection of thugs. Sweeping changes in the code of conduct and stiffer penalties for violating those standards came into effect almost overnight.

Tank Johnson of the Bears and Chris Henry of the Bengals felt the sting of Goodell's preemptive strike. Pacman Jones, who at some point will be a former Titan, still is feeling it.

Now, Goddell sees a new problem on the horizon and, just as he did with player misconduct, he's moving quickly to nip it in the bud.

That problem is cheating, teams going outside the rules to gain an advantage over an opponent.

Right now, it's not viewed as a league-wide problem. Fairly or unfairly, it's viewed as a New England Patriots problem. They're the only ones who have been caught. The organization was fined and stripped of its first-round draft pick after being caught taping the Jets' coaching staff's defensive signals during the season opener.

There may be more to come as Goodell is interesting in speaking to a former low-level Patriots employee who may know something about taping prior to the Patriots' first Super Bowl win after the 2001 season.

If something comes of that, the league will have an image problem, but the negative perception still would be focused on Foxboro.

Another team caught spying, though, would be a PR nightmare for the league. One team doing it is a maverick; two teams doing it is a trend, a cancer. The brush tarring the league's reputation would become much broader. Congressional hearings certainly would follow.

As he did with player conduct, Goodell has taken a decidedly proactive stance on the cheating issue. A memo obtained by Mark Maske of the Washington Post outlines a series of strong steps designed to strongly encourage teams from going outside the rules of competition, to make it easier to punish them should they do so and to make those penalties more severe.

The measures, some of which Goodell can implement on his own and others of which will need league approval, include unannounced inspections of team facilities including locker rooms, the press box, and the coaches' booth.

Something less than conclusive proof of rules violations will be needed in order for the commissioner to impose penalties.

And, as it was with the players, the punishment will be swift and severe. "Where a violation is shown, I intend to impose more stringent penalties on both the club and the responsible individual(s)," Goddell is quoted as saying in the memo. "I will also be prepared to make greater use of draft choice forfeiture in appropriate cases. I believe this will have the effect of deterring violations and making people more willing to report violations on a timely basis."

Bravo.

The culture of "If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'" has to go by the wayside. If people are going to continue to pay for tickets and watch games on TV they have to believe that the games are being fairly contested. Another cheating scandal would shake the faith that the playing field is level.

You can argue that what the Patriots did in the Jets game gave them only a marginal edge at most and you wouldn't find a lot of disagreement here. However, the perception was the critical aspect in Spygate. It will take the Pats a long time to shake the "cheaters" label that many fans and others have applied.

Instead of waiting for trouble to happen, Goodell going out to find it and stop it before it has a chance to take hold. This approach not only makes him unique among the major pro sports commissioners, but among most of heads of sports at all levels.

Again, bravo.

Rock bolsters Skins ’ stability

Today, for the first time in almost a week, Dan Snyder dusted off the checkbook and signed a player. It was the Redskins' second signing of the free agency period and, like the first one, backup quarterback Todd Collins, the player wore the burgundy and gold last season.

In fact, Rock Cartwright has been a Redskin for his entire six-year career. He was the last player the team selected in the 2002 draft (7^th round). At 5-7 he had to fight to get noticed and establish a niche on the team.

His carries from scrimmage are few and far between, 146 in his career, just seven in the past two seasons combined.

But he's found a place on special teams, playing on most of them and getting his hands on the ball regularly as the kickoff returner. Usually fielding the ball and going straight ahead, trying to find a seam, Cartwright averaged 25.8 yards per return, ninth-best in the NFL.

According to Vinny Cerrato, the contract is for three years, about $3 million with a $300,000 signing. It had been reported that Cartwright was seeking $2 million in guaranteed money in a new deal. While the exact amount in guarantees beyond the $300,000 is not known, but it's certainly far less than $2 million.

In keeping Cartwright, the team takes one more step towards maintaining some semblance of continuity. That seemed to be impossible in mid-January after it was announced that Gregg Williams would not replace Joe Gibbs as head coach and that Al Saunders would be gone as well.

And, certainly, it's not exactly going to be business as usual in Ashburn this year as neophyte Jim Zorn replaces Hall of Fame member Gibbs as head coach and the well-regarded Saunders as kingpin of the offense.

Every NFL team, though, undergoes some transformation from January to September. The retention of reserves Collins and Cartwright to go along with the 22 starters who are under contract for 2008 means that what has been a tight locker room will remain largely unchanged.

 

More draft picks for the Redskins?

The Washington Redskins' newfound commitment to finding new talent through the draft may get a lot easier.

According to a source very good at predicting which teams will get which compensatory picks in the upcoming NFL draft the Redskins may receive as many as three extra selections in the April 26-27 draft. One might be a third-round pick.

Compensatory picks are award based on a complex formula devised by the NFL. Colonel Sanders did not guard his secret recipe any more closely than the NFL guards the exact formula.

We do know that it's based on the net value of unrestricted free agents lost and free agents signed during the previous offseason. That net value is determined by three factors—the value of the contract signed, the amount of playing time the player got and the player's postseason awards.

So, a Pro Bowl player who signed a fat contract and started 16 games is worth more in the equation than a one who signed a middling deal and spent half the year on injured reserve.

Beyond that, the details are unknown. Based off of the little that is known and extrapolating patterns from the picks awarded in the past, a few intrepid souls have cracked the code and have done a remarkable job in predicting the selections.

One of these niche within a niche experts goes by Adam and he prefers to post the results of his research on various message boards. His forum may be unorthodox, but his accuracy is excellent when it comes to predicting the compensatory picks.

He took the facts and figures regarding Derrick Dockery, T. J. Duckett, Warrick Holdman, Kenny Wright (the qualifying free agents the Redskins lost), and London Fletcher (the sole qualifying FA the Skins signed), applied his interpretation of the formula and he came up with one compensatory pick following the third round and two more following the seventh round for the Redskins.

The three extra picks would give the Redskins nine selections in the 2008 draft. They have six of their seven original picks (the fourth round pick is going to Denver in the last installment of the Duckett trade).

Washington hasn't had that many picks in a draft since 2002, when they had ten picks. Before that, you have to go back to 1993 when they also had nine (in an eight-round draft).

A team can't trade a compensatory pick, but having some can make it easier to deal off some of your original selections. Vinny Cerrato has indicated that the team would like to hold on to all of its picks but this would give them some flexibility should a beneficial opportunity come along.

The official announcement of the compensatory picks will be made at the owners' meeting in late March.

Briggs: “Thought I was headed to Washington”

Lance Briggs thought he had a new team—the Washington Redskins.

Shortly after he agreed to terms with his current team, the Chicago Bears, Briggs revealed that he believed that he was D. C. bound.

"I didn't think I was going to be a Chicago Bear. I actually thought I was headed to Washington," Briggs said. "At the last minute, my agent (Drew Rosenhaus) told me we had a deal with the Bears. We talked for a while, and I told him this was the deal that made sense."

The contract that Briggs signed is reported to be for six years and $36 million, with $12 million guaranteed. That latter figure is a far cry from the $20 million in guaranteed money that was supposed to be the starting point for Rosenhaus in his negotiations.

So, if Briggs and the Redskins almost had a deal, did the Redskins' pledge to be smart in free agency really last just about 36 hours?

It depends on how you want to look at it.

If you interpreted "smart" as going after only the middle- and lower-tier free agents then, yes, the Redskins did get lost on the path to enlightenment, NFL style.

If you interpreted the term as meaning the Redskins would only go after players who appeared to be available at prices that are bargains relative to the rest of the market, Snyder and Cerrato did not stray.

Briggs' now ex-teammate, wide receiver Bernard Berrian, got $42 million over six years with $16 million guaranteed from the Vikings. Yes, they play different positions and there tends to be a bit of a premium paid for the "skill" positions. Still, Berrian has never posted a 1,000-yard season and has never sniffed a Pro Bowl invitation. Briggs has gone to Hawaii three straight years.

So, if you can pick up a player of Briggs' caliber for a price tag that contains well under $15 million in guarantees, it could be considered smart business.

Even in this paradigm, though, it may not have been an intelligent move for the Redskins to sign Briggs. The Redskins have a weakside linebacker in Rocky McIntosh and, assuming that he can return from injury, he should have a number of quality years left in him.

Any dollars spent on Lance Briggs would have would have been dollars that the team would not have available to spend on positions of true need.

In the end, however, I don't think that the Redskins were really seriously in pursuit of Briggs. Certainly, it would not be beneath Rosenhaus (or any other agent, for that matter) to use some very mild interest on the part of the Redskins as a ploy to drive up the price for his client.

As Snyder and Rosenhaus have an excellent working relationship, I wouldn't put it past Snyder (or any other owner who wanted to drive up the price of retaining a key player to a conference foe) to throw out a lowball offer just to indicate to the Bears that Briggs had other options.

Still, all's well that ends well. It's the start of day three of free agency and the Redskins still have all of their draft picks and they haven't blown a hole in the cap.

You can only be smart one day at a time.

Briggs staying put

In the instant information age, instant analysis can instantly be rendered useless.

As soon as I uploaded the Briggs post, word came in that he had re-upped with the Bears.

I was right about one thing though—he didn't get the guaranteed money he was looking for. The six-year, $36 million deal reportedly contains just (just?) $12 million in guarantees.

Redskins in pursuit of Briggs?

Almost as soon as I uploaded my last post about the Redskins becoming smart in free agency, a report on ESPN stated that Chicago linebacker Lance Briggs will be going to Redskins Park for a free agency visit.

According to multiple reports prior to the onset of free agency, Briggs and agent Drew Rosenhaus are seeking a contract with $20 million in guaranteed money.

Now, before getting all up in arms about how the Redskins' new-found intelligence apparently lasted less than 48 hours, consider this:

A visit does not mean a signing.

In fact, the visit could be occurring even if the Redskins have no intention of signing Briggs, at least not for his asking price.

Interest among Briggs, who was supposed to be one of the hot commodities on the market, has been lukewarm at best. He has yet to make a visit with a team as far as we know. Perhaps Dan Snyder owes Rosenhaus a favor (the two have an excellent working relationship) or Rosenhaus will owe Snyder one.

The Redskins could be bringing in Briggs to try to stir up some interest and even to get an offer on the table to start to establish some market value for the three-time Pro Bowl linebacker.

And maybe that offer doesn't have to be through the roof in order to have a realistic chance of a deal being made. The Bears reportedly have an offer on the table that has $13 million in guaranteed money. It's possible that an offer in the range of $15 million would have a chance of landing Briggs. That would be a very reasonable price for a Pro Bowl linebacker who won't turn 28 until late in the coming season.

Bargains aren't necessarily cheap.

What did Vinny say?

What did Vinny say?

"We're being smart," Cerrato said. "We're not just going out there and throwing money around."

Say what?

The irony here is that the Redskins have been the kings shoveling out the long green. In three of the past five years (2003, 2004, 2006) they hit the market early and often. Some of the players scooped up in these frenzies have become the team's mainstays, players like Marcus Washington, Shawn Springs, Randy Thomas, and Andre Carter.

Dan Snyder's strategy was to get them into Redskins Park and pile up the stacks of Benjamins until they would sign on the line.

But that was then and this is now.

Or, if you want to take Cerrato's analysis of it, that was dumb and this is smart.

As of Saturday night, no free agents have joined the Redskins from another team. Their first visit, with safety Will Demps of the Texans, a decent player but hardly a big name, will take place next week.

We will see if Snyder and Cerrato can say smart or if the continued presence of the likes of Lance Briggs on the free agent market is sufficient to make them drop enough IQ points to make a play.

The Redskins may be doing some shopping in the scratch and dent area of the free agency store. Media reports have linked them to Jevon Kearse, the DE cut by the Eagles and Javon Walker, WR just released by the Broncos.

Both have been superb performers at times and both have serious questions about the health of their knees. They could both be good additions depending on the answers to the big three questions:

How much?

How much guaranteed?

How long?

With the right answers—the smart answers—to those questions, the Redskins might have a good player or two with minimal risk.

It's unlikely that it will happen as some of those teams who have been smart in the past will have a bit more money with which to gamble.

If the Redskins can keep on the smart road for a couple more years, they might be there, too.