Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Patriots passed on Landry due to "iffy" medical reports

The Redskins let former first-round pick LaRon Landry leave as a free agent because they weren’t convinced that his injured Achilles would be able to withstand the rigors of an NFL season. It appears that the Patriots passed on signing him for the same reason.

Landry visited New England the first weekend of free agency but left without a contract. According to Boston.com beat reporter Shalise Manza Young, the Patriots passed on signing Landry because “the medicals on Landry’s oft-injured Achilles’ tendon came back iffier than they expected.”

I don’t think that “iffier” is a technical medical term or anything but it certainly seems like the Pats let Landry go for the same reason the Redskins did. 

The Jets signed Landry a few days after the New England visit and Rex Ryan sounded very confident about the player’s health. “We feel good about him medically and everything. Wait till you see this guy. As impressive as he looks, see if he’s not knocking the tar out of everybody.”

The organization, however, did not put its money where Rex’s mouth is (almost always a prudent move). Landry’s one-year deal is worth a maximum of $3.5 million and half of that is in per-game roster bonuses. He will have play to get paid.

 

Allen says team still working to get Fletcher back

London Fletcher is the second best unrestricted free agent left on the market, according to Pat Kirwan of CBSSports.com.

The former Jets GM has the Redskins’ Pro Bowl inside linebacker and team captain is fourth on his list of the best 25 available free agents. But his top two, receiver Mike Wallace and cornerback Ladarius Webb, are restricted free agents. Only former Colts tight end Dallas Clark is ahead of Fletcher.

“He may be old, but he can still lead a defense, make all the adjustments and crank out 90 tackles a year,” Kirwan said. “There are more teams that need him than are willing to admit.”

Perhaps other teams do need him but two weeks into free agency he remains a free agent. Bruce Allen was on SiriusXM radio yesterday and he sounded cautiously optimistic about getting a deal but but maybe not any time soon.

“We’re going to try very hard to get him back in the burgundy and gold,” Allen told hosts Kirwan and Tim Ryan. “And he has told us that he wants to come back. It’s just going to take maybe a little longer than we wanted to work it out.”

If they are unable to work something out, David Hawthorne is the next best inside on the market according to Kirwan. The former Seahawk is ranked 10^th overall. “Hawthorne has started 41 games in the past three seasons at multiple linebacker spots,” Kirwan wrote. “A versatile, 27-year-old linebacker is a good man to put on any team.”

There are no other inside linebacker's on Kirwan's list. 

 

Cap trouble in 2013?

I usually don’t make multiple posts out of a single tweet. However, after addressing the first part of what Alex Marvez of Sirius NFL Radio had to say about his talk with the Redskins’ Lorenzo Alexander it became obvious that the second part needed a closer look. 

Here is what Marvez tweeted on Friday:

 

What veterans is Alexander referring to who could be leaving in 2013? Here are the current Redskins who are slated to be unrestricted free agents in 2013:

• Cedric Griffin
• Fred Davis
• Jabar Gaffney
• John Beck
• Kentwan Balmer
• Kevin Barnes
• Kory Lichtensteiger
• Lorenzo Alexander
• Rex Grossman
• Rob Jackson
• Sav Rocca
• Tyler Polumbus

On this list, the projected 2012 starters are Griffin, Davis, Gaffney, and Lichtensteiger plus the punter Rocca. If Davis continues to progress and, of course, steer clear of the substance abuse policy, he should be in line for a contract extension. Lichtensteiger, if he is recovered from his knee injury, should sign a relatively inexpensive extension. Griffin and Gaffney could be replaced by draft picks or free agents.

Of the non-starters, Alexander himself is the key contributor. It is hard to see the Redskins having insufficient cap space to work something out with him. Beck and Balmer might not make the team this year. As of now, Barnes, Jackson, and Polumbus appear to be easily replaceable. 

You can reach Rich by email at RTandlerCSN@comcast.net and follow him on Twitter @Rich_Tandler.

QB Josh Johnson visiting Redskins today

According to multiple media reports, former Bucs quarterback Josh Johnson is going to visit Redskins Park today.

Actually, the free agent will probably arrive at the team facility this evening and will catch up with Mike Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan and company after they get back from attending Baylor’s pro day in Texas. The player who will be the focal point there, of course, is quarterback Robert Griffin III, expected to be the Redskins’ top draft pick and the team’s starting quarterback.

The Redskins’ interest in Johnson could stem from a few different sources. He is a similar quarterback to Griffin in that he is mobile and athletic. If Johnson was the backup the team wouldn’t have to adjust much in terms of protection and play calling if he had to come in.

You don’t have to go very far to connect the dots from Johnson to the Redskins. Tampa Bay drafted him in the fifth round in 2008. The Bucs’ general manager at the time was Bruce Allen. Raheem Morris, now the Redskins' secondary coach, was the head coach in Tampa Bay from 2009-2011.

The Redskins had some interest in Johnson that year as well. J. I. Halsell, who worked in the team’s front office as a salary cap analyst at the time, tweeted “Remember Skins being high on Johnson in draft when I was there. Taken by Bruce Allen/Bucs in 5th; we took Brennan in 6th.”

While most of the upper-level positions in the player personnel department have changed hands since that draft, a number of others remain.

In four years with the Bucs, Johnson started five games. He completed 96 of 177 passes (54.2 percent) for 1,042 yards with five touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

 

Redskins announce signings of Carriker, Lichtensteiger

The Redskins have officially announced that Adam Carriker has re-signed with the team after being a free agent and that Kory Lichtensteiger has signed his restricted free agent tender.

Carriker was not a free agent for long. Reports of him agreeing to terms with the Redskins started to come in about an hour after free agency started. Carriker himself confirmed that timeline when he blogged about his free agency "experience" last week. 

Lichtensteiger started five games at left guard for the Redskins before a knee injury knocked him out for the season.

The team's press release follows:

ASHBURN, Va. – The Washington Redskins announced today that they have re-signed unrestricted free agent defensive end Adam Carriker and restricted free agent guard Kory Lichtensteiger. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Carriker, 27, returns for his third season with the Redskins and his sixth overall in the NFL in 2012. He has played in 63 career games, with 57 starts, and registered 188 tackles, nine sacks and three forced fumbles.

In 2011, Carriker’s 5.5 sacks surpassed the 3.5 sacks he amassed in his first four seasons in the NFL.

Prior to joining the Redskins in 2010, Carriker played for the St. Louis Rams, who selected him in the first round (13th overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played collegiately at Nebraska, where he was an All-Big 12 first team selection following both his junior and senior years.

Lichtensteiger, 26, played in five games in 2011, starting all five at left guard before being placed on the Reserve/Injured list with a knee injury. Lichtensteiger has appeared in 37 career games with 19 starts in three seasons of NFL service.

Dolphins lose game of QB musical chairs, Redskins pay price for safety

The game of quarterback musical chairs is almost at an end. The Dolphins got the last chair and it has David Garrard’s name on it.

Miami signed the former Jacksonville quarterback, who sat out the 2011 season with a back injury after the Jaguars cut him shortly before the season began, to a one-year deal. Garrard had a few good seasons but at age 34 he isn’t going to be anyone’s franchise quarterback.

The Redskins got one of the three gems of the available quarterbacks. Not quite two weeks ago, before the music really started playing, they locked in either Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin by picking up the second pick in the draft. The Colts, who earned the first pick in the draft by collapsing to a 2-14 record in Peyton Manning’s absence, get the other one, likely luck.

The other big QB catch was, of course, Manning and when he landed in Denver a team that was not thought to be in the market for a quarterback ended up with the biggest free agent prize ever.

Matt Flynn ended up in Seattle just before Manning signed. That left the Dolphins, who wanted Manning, Griffin, and Flynn and anyone else who might sell a few extra season tickets, ended up with Garrard, who could cause cancellation. It’s still possible that the Dolphins could land Alex Smith but he is likely to return to the 49ers after they lost out on Manning. Even Smith, who had an OK season in 2011 after five very spotty years with San Francisco, is not likely to get South Floridians to pack Whatever the Name of it is Today Stadium.

The Redskins paid a heavy price for RG3, no doubt about it. But the cost of ending up with someone like Garrard would have been disaster.

In other words, it’s worth a premium of a first-round pick and maybe even a second to not be the Miami Dolphins today. They are left hoping to figure out a way to get Matt Barkley a year from now. 

 

Armstrong could benefit most from RG3

When considering which Redskins will benefit the most from the presence of Robert Griffin III at quarterback, the obvious answer is anyone who catches the ball. But after seeing one tweet by an NFL analyst one name in particular came to mind.

The analyst was Doug Farrar of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner. Tweeting about the RG3 trade, Farrar said:

And the deep ball accuracy is just silly. I'm tempted to make some very bold pro comparisons already.

The Redskins’ best deep ball threat going into the 2011 season was Anthony Armstrong, who had a big year in 2010 as a 27-year-old rookie. He gained 871 yards on 44 receptions, an eye-popping average of 19.8 yards per catch.

Last year, however, his production plummeted to 7 catches for 103 yards, a more pedestrian average of 14.7 per. He did suffer a knee injury that slowed him for a while but the injury does not fully explain the dropoff.

Perhaps a quarterback with “silly” deep accuracy is just what Armstrong needs to revive his career. Maybe if he can get a step on a defensive back a couple of times a game Griffin will be able to find him and put the ball on the money.

That could revive Armstrong’s career and give Griffin a go-to guy when it’s time to go deep. As the big play was notably absent from the Redskins’ offense last year, that could serve to revive the whole attack. 

Clearly Mike Shanahan was not happy with the production of the wide receiver corps last year. Otherwise, he would not have made bringing in Pierre Garçon and Joshua Morgan and attempting to sign Eddie Royal his the very first things on his to do list when free agency started. There will be real competition for roster spots. If Armstrong can fill a niché in the offense, his chances of staying around will get much better.

 

Grossman not ideal but best fit as backup QB

Often building a football team means choosing from imperfect options. The Redskins did just that in signing Rex Grossman to be their backup quarterback.

They signed Grossman, who started 13 games for the Redskins last year, to a one-year contract. Although the team has not yet confirmed the deal, Grossman himself did when he spoke to the Washington Post Saturday night.

To many, the ideal backup quarterback is a game manager type. If he needs to come in, he will be able to hand off, complete safe passes and not lose the game. That description, of course, does not fit Rex Grossman.

He will throw the ball and move the team. However, he will make big plays for both teams. In 16 starts for the Redskins Grossman has thrown 24 interceptions. And he has given gifts week in and week out. Grossman has turned the ball over at least once in every start he has made for the Redskins.

So why bring him back? The pluses outweighed the minuses.

When the trade between the Redskins and Rams for what amounts to the draft rights for Robert Griffin III bringing in Grossman became the best option and here’s why.

RG3 will be the starter but the rookie will be coming from Baylor’s very simple offense. Although he has been doing some brushing up on NFL offenses in general, and the Redskins’ scheme in particular, he essentially will be learning from scratch starting when his name is called in Radio City Music Hall as the team’s pick on April 26.

The new CBA has drastically reduced the amount of time that teams can spend on the practice field in the spring and in training camp. The coaches need to spend every available moment, every possible practice rep, getting Griffin up to speed.

Had the Redskins gone with Kyle Orton or Josh Johnson or with anyone else from the outside as their backup, they would have needed to us precious time teaching that player the offense. That is time that is needed to teach Griffin.

With Grossman, that is not an issue. Rex will need work but not instructional time.

There is another advantage to have Grossman as the backup. The players on offense like him and respect him. If they look up and he is in the huddle instead of Griffin, there will be no panic, not learning curve to get used to the backup quarterback. There is a lot of comfort in familiarity.

The Redskins hope that this move proves to be meaningless. Ideally, Griffin will come in, have enough of a grasp of the offense to be able to start from Week 1 on and will play every snap. However, the ideal does not always happen in the NFL so Grossman is a good player to have around even though he is not perfect.

 

Redskins sign RG3 to back up RG3

The Redskins have their backup for RG3. And it’s RG3

According to media reports, the Redskins have signed Rex Grossman, who started 13 games for them has year, to a one-year contract. The move was reported first on Pro Football Talk and has since been confirmed by other media outlets.

Grossman (full name Rex Daniel Grossman III) is expected to back up whichever quarterback the Redskins draft with the second overall pick. That is widely expected to be Robert Griffin III, the Heisman Trophy winner out of Baylor.

Last year Grossman completed 265 of 458 passes for 3,151 yards and 16 touchdowns. His major bugaboo was turnovers. He threw 20 interceptions and fumbled eight times.

Although the Redskins were ready to move on from Grossman as their starter, he likely was the team’s choice to be the veteran backup because he knows Kyle Shanahan’s offense as well as anyone. He spent a year with the younger Shanahan in Houston before coming to Washington when Shanahan was named the Redskins’ offensive coordinator in 2010.

It remains to be seen if Griffin (or possibly Andrew Luck if the Colts do the unexpected and draft Griffin) will be ready to start the first game of the season. If not, Grossman would start until the rookie is ready to go.

The Redskins are 6-10 in Grossman’s 16 starts for the Redskins in 2010 and 2011.

 

Report: Ross visit still on

Aaron Ross is still scheduled to visit the Redskins today, according to a report on Twitter from Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan.

The free agent cornerback who played with the Giants last year was reported to be visiting today earlier this week. However, there were doubts that he would come to Redskins Park after he spent Thursday night in Cincinnati after visiting the Bengals. Often that is a sign that the player is about to sign.

Ross, who will be 30 shortly after the season opens, started 15 games for the Super Bowl champion Giants last year. If he came to Washington he would serve as the third corner along with starters DeAngelo Hall and Josh Wilson.