Many Redskins fans live in fear of their team letting go of a player and having him go on to play well for another team. Meanwhile, their team struggles to replace the player they let walk.
This not an irrational fear. The Redskins’ trash has turned into another team’s treasure on a regular basis. In the past decade we’ve seen the likes of Antonio Pierce, Ryan Clark, and Stephen Davis make the Redskins look bad by playing well on Super Bowl teams after being shown the door in Ashburn.
But check out this nugget from Dan Graziano of ESPN. “Since [Mike] Shanahan took over before the 2010 season, the Redskins have cut 150 players, and only one of those players -- San Francisco's Carlos Rogers -- is currently starting for another team.”
It appears that Graziano misspoke a bit; Rogers, like some others of the players who were on the roster when Shanahan got here and are playing for other teams now, wasn’t cut.; he signed elsewhere as a free agent. Still, the point is that, other than Rogers, ex-Redskins are not thriving around the league.
Let’s look at some of 2011’s high profile departures. Clinton Portis was cut in February. He has had some tryouts but he has not signed with a team and appears to be headed towards retirement. Albert Haynesworth was traded right after the lockout ended and after an underachieving year in New England and Tampa Bay he is unsigned. Another post-lockout deal sent Donovan McNabb to Minnesota; since then he has made bigger headlines by taking shots at Shanahan than he made for the Vikings, who benched him after six starts and then cut him. Like Haynesworth, he is unsigned.
The Redskins may not be so lucky this time around. If LaRon Landry can get healthy (he says he is but he didn’t show for at least some of the Jets’ OTA’s and was present for minicamp and sat out) he could play well for the Jets. It would not be surprising if Rocky McIntosh winds up starting for the Rams.
It should be noted that not every player who has been released or traded has necessarily been replaced by a superior player. But teams used to getting fat off of the Redskins’ castaways now have to look elsewhere for help.
Note: A few have pointed out that Andre Carter started 14 games and got 10 sacks for the Patriots last year prior to sustaining a season-ending knee injury. He is currently unsigned but he does deserve a mention as a player cut loose by Shanahan who did well elsewhere.
Days until: Rookies report 28; training camp 38; preseason opener @ Bills; #Redskins @ Saints 83; home opener vs. Bengals 97
Rich Tandler blogs about the Redskins at www.RealRedskins.com. You can reach him by email here and follow him on Twitter @Rich_Tandler.
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