Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Morris: Sitting out not an option

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The 53: Does Cooley stay at tight end?

The Redskins will report to training camp on July 25. Over the next five weeks they will undergo the process of cutting their 90-man roster down to 53. Which players will get those coveted spots and which will join the ranks of the unemployed? Over the next couple of weeks we’ll go through position by position and try to predict what decisions Mike Shanahan and company will make. 

So far in the 53, we’ve looked at the running backs (see projection below). Here is the projection for tight ends.

There are six tight ends on the roster, the Redskins will keep three.

In: Fred Davis, Niles Paul, Chris Cooley
Out: Logan Paulsen, Richard Quinn, Beau Reliford

Changes from 2011: Paul moved from wide receiver to tight end

Bubble watch: Paulsen, who made the team as an undrafted rookie in 2010, will be very difficult to cut. Perhaps they can find a spot for him but right now he appears to be on the outside looking in.

Breakdown

A tight end can be a rookie quarterback’s best friend and the Redskins could have a trio of BFF’s for Robert Griffin III. 

They are looking for big things from Davis. He was on the way to a 1,000-yard season last year before being suspended for the last four games. He is the team’s franchise player and since he signed his tender his $5.4 million salary is guaranteed. 

He does, however, have the threat of a season-long suspension hanging over his head should he slip up and violate the NFL’s substance abuse policy again. And although the organization seems to be confident that Davis can steer clear of trouble his situation it says here that they will keep Cooley as an insurance policy.

With Paul likely spending the season learning the nuances of his new position, the Redskins need a solid Plan B in the event Davis falls off of the wagon. The cost of that insurance will be a $3.8 million salary and a total $6.23 million cap hit for Cooley.

If not for the cloud over Davis they might cut Cooley loose and keep Paulsen, who is the best blocker of the group. As noted, it would not be shocking to see them juggle things to try to keep Paulsen.

Quinn has some talent; he was a second-round pick of the Broncos in 2009. He might be able to latch on to another team with a big showing in preseason games. Reliford looks the part at 6-6, 260 but he looks very green. A year on the practice squad to polish his game might give him a shot in 2013.

Projections to date:

Running backs

In: Roy Helu Jr., Tim Hightower, Evan Royster, Darrell Young
Out: Tristan Davis, Alfred Morris, Antwon Bailey, Lennon Creer

RG3 thought he'd be a Brown

When Robert Griffin III declared for the NFL draft in January, he thought he would end up being a Brown.

Talking to media during an NFL Play 60 youth clinic at the Browns practice facility Berea, Ohio as part of the NFL rookie symposium, Griffin said that it looked like the Browns, who had the ability to move up in the draft.

 “Once I declared for the draft, Cleveland was a place I thought I would be just because they had the most firepower when it came to draft picks and tradeability,” Griffin told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. 

“It could have been a possibility, but it turned out a different way,” he said.

The Browns had two first-round picks in the draft and they reportedly offered both of them plus their first-round pick next year to the Rams for the second overall selection. The Rams ended up taking the Redskins’ offer of their first-and second rounders this year and their firsts in 2013 and 2014.

 

Bullet points: Is 12 receivers too many?

A few quick thoughts to get you rolling on this Wednesday morning.

• One Redskins player you’re not going to hear much out of this year is Keenan Robinson. He will be learning the inside linebacker position, one of the toughest to master on the defense. Robinson might see the field some playing special teams but he is unlikely to get much action in defense.

• O. J. Atogwe’s contract with the Eagles calls for him to get the league veteran minimum of $825,000 with $100,000 of that guaranteed. With incentives, he could earn a total of $1.15 million. That’s quite a haircut from his contract with the Redskins, which could have paid him up to $4 million this year.

• The Redskins have 12 wide receivers on the 90-man roster. That seems like a lot but considering they are likely to keep six of them on the roster it’s not out of line at all and seems to be fairly typical. The Eagles also have 12 WR’s on their roster and the Cowboys and Giants are carrying 11.

• One position of my roster prediction has been posted and already a 2012 draft pick is projected to be released. Competition is going to be fierce.

• Four of the last five Super Bowl winners finished the regular season in the top three in the NFL in sacks. Mike Shanahan knows of what he speaks when he says that defense “happens with the pass rush”.

Also, the Nats bats get hot in record fashion, the heat is coming back, and should the Lions, or any NFL team, lose draft picks if they don’t exercise better institution control.

Days until: Rookies report 19; training camp 29; preseason opener @ Bills 43; Redskins @ Saints 74; home opener vs. Bengals 88

You can reach Rich Tandler by email here and follow him on Twitter @Rich_Tandler.

 

The 53: Stability at running back

The Redskins will report to training camp on July 25. Over the next five weeks they will undergo the process of cutting their 90-man roster down to 53. Which players will get those coveted spots and which will join the ranks of the unemployed? Over the next couple of weeks we’ll go through position by position and try to predict what decisions Mike Shanahan and company will make. 

The first area we will look at is running back, including fullback.

There are eight running backs on the roster, the Redskins will keep four.

In: Roy Helu Jr., Tim Hightower, Evan Royster, Darrell Young
Out: Tristan Davis, Alfred Morris, Antwon Bailey, Lennon Creer

Changes from 2011: Hightower back from injured reserve, Ryan Torain released just prior to the end of last season

Bubble watch: Morris, a sixth-round pick, has a chance if he can learn to play fullback as well as halfback. However, there appears to be no room for him. His best shot is to wind up on the practice squad and wait to be called up if someone gets hurt. 

Breakdown

This should be one of the most stable units on the team. All four of those who are expected to make it were with the team a year ago. Royster came off of the practice squad in Week 12 and Hightower was the starter in five of the first six games before winding up on IR.

It seems like Helu is penciled in as the starter right now, given how he finished up 2011, but it’s a very light pencil. Nobody would be surprised in the least if Hightower lined up for the first snap in New Orleans. During the course of the year, Royster could get his share of starts as well.

The starter could be the hot hand, he could be the last man standing. Hightower is coming off of a knee injury and Helu was banged up the last few games of last year after carrying the load for a month. 

Davis, Bailey, and Creer have talent but the numbers are stacked against them. Fortunately, to coaches are unlikely to work the front-line players too much during preseason games so those three and Morris should get plenty of carries. That will give them to get a shot at the practice squad or to get a look by another team.

 

Kyle: RG3 'has picked it up faster than I expected

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Offseason review: Redskins hire Morris

While the offseason has another month to go, it’s safe to say that offseason personnel and coaching moves are pretty much over. There might be a minor trade or a waiver wire pickup here or there but the cake is mostly baked.

So before training camp starts, let’s take a look back at the five biggest moves of the offseason. We’ll count them down in order of how important they were. Today, we look at the hiring of Raheem Morris.

Usually, when a team has 11 wins over two seasons there are some changes made to the coaching staff. One happened by attrition as linebackers coach Lou Spanos left after the season to become the defensive coordinator at UCLA. But there were more to come.

In Tampa, the Bucs fired head coach Raheem Morris hours after their season ended with their 10^th straight loss. He had gone straight from defensive backs coach to head coach at the age of 32 and that appeared to be too much of a leap for Morris.

But he was an excellent position coach and possibly was ready to be a defensive coordinator. And he let it be known that he was not interested in taking any time off. Morris interviewed with the Vikings and Redskins within days of being fired. 

Morris signed with the Redskins as their secondary coach on Jan. 11 (although the team did not formally announce the move until Jan. 23). There are reports the the Vikings offered him their defensive coordinator job the day after the signed on with the Redskins. Although the Redskins likely would have let him out of his contract in order to take the coordinator position, he elected to stick with his commitment to the Redskins.

As the news of Morris’ hiring came out it was reported that the Redskins had fired two coaches. Safeties coach Brian Jackson and wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell were shown the door.

The departure of Jackson still left an awkward situation for the Redskins. Bob Slowik, a longtime assistant under Mike Shanahan, was the cornerbacks coach. The secondary had been split between two coaches since Joe Gibbs’ second stint as head coach. But just working as the safeties coach was too big a step down for Morris. 

The solution was to move Slowik to coach the linebackers in place of the departed Spanos and put the entire secondary under Morris. 

Morris has already brought some fire and enthusiasm to the field and he routinely talks trash with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. That’s all well and good but his main job is to coach up a secondary that routinely is among the league’s worst in interceptions and has some issues with tackling from time to time. With the Redskins facing Eli Manning, Mike Vick, and Tony Romo twice a year (along with top-notch receivers on those teams) as well as seeing the likes of Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, and Ben Roethlisberger on their schedule, solid secondary play is vital. 

Morris and the Redskins have an agreement that he can take a defensive coordinator position next year if he is offered one. Turning around Washington’s secondary would be a nice feather in his cap if he wants to move back up the coaching ladder. 

 

Bullet points: Will Banks make it?

A few quick thoughts to get your Tuesday morning going:

• Although this is not an official prediction, it does’t look like the Redskins are headed for the playoffs this year. They don’t need to do that to have a successful season. The Redskins need to be exciting, relevant to the NFL conversation, and win more than half of their home games. That would give them something to build on in 2013.
• What Richard Hurd allegedly tried to to do Robert Griffin III was pretty sleazy and low but if convicted he won’t be the worst criminal in the history of the Baylor basketball program. 
• I’m rolling out my 53-man roster prediction position by position starting today. Although I reserve the right to change my mind, I don’t have Brandon Banks on it. I just don’t think that he can contribute as an NFL wide receiver at his size. Be warned, I have been wrong about Banks before.
• Remember in 2010 how Derrick Dockery started the season at guard but Kory Lichtensteiger rotated in on a regular basis and was starting by October? I think we could see the same thing play out this year with Jammal Brown getting gradually replaced by Willie Smith or Tom Compton or possibly James Lee. 

Also, the Nats give Strausburg no help, you couldn’t ask for a better day in late June, and pointless complaining over the pointless NFL top 100 players list continues.

Rich Tandler blogs about the Redskins at www.RealRedskins.com. You can reach him by email here and follow him on Twitter @Rich_Tandler. 

What will Moss' role be?

There have been a few posts in this space during the past few months that have questioned whether or not Santana Moss would be on the Redskins’ 2012 roster. Barring a drastic change in the situation you will not see any more such articles. 

In 2011, Moss had his worst season since 2002, when he was a returner and reserve receiver for the Jets. And then the Redskins added Pierre Garçon and Josh Morgan as free agents and have been talking up a bigger role for second-year receiver Leonard Hankerson. It appeared that Moss, a Redskin since 2005, and his $2.65 million salary could be gone.

Moss didn’t have to read tea leaves to see that his job was in danger. Mike Shanahan recounted a conversation he had with Moss earlier in the offseason. “We talked to him very frankly and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to come in in the best shape as you get older.  Sometimes your skills will go down a little bit unless you’re in great shape.’”

So Moss got in great shape. He lost 15 pounds. With Hankerson and Morgan sidelined with injuries during most of OTA’s and minicamp, Moss took full advantage and developed good chemistry with Robert Griffin III. 

“He’s been impressive,” said Shanahan.

Where he will fit in when September rolls around remains to be seen. In discussing who will play as the slot receiver, Kyle Shanahan said he sees Moss as “one of the premier guys in the NFL at that position.”

But he also said that Morgan and Hankerson are “very capable” of playing the slot. So, do Mike and Kyle give the majority of the action to Morgan, the expensive free agent, Hankerson, the potential future star, or Moss, who is 33 and is unlikely to be around when Robert Griffin III starts to hit his stride? The answer seems evident.

But if the Redskins run 1100 offensive plays this year thee will be some 2800 snaps at wide receiver to be distributed among the group, possibly more if they run more three- and four-receiver sets. Moss likely will be able to grab a good number of this snaps. From the looks of things now, he should be able to make the most of them. 

 

Ex-Baylor hoop player arrested for trying to extort RG3

Some details of the strange case of a former Baylor basketball player who has been arrested in connection with an alleged attempt to extort Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III have started to emerge.

According to court documents in the case of Richard Hurd, who played at the university from 2004-2008, Hurd contacted an agency in St. Louis identified only as “B. D.” 

“Hurd communicated that he had derogatory information on a client of B.D., and that he intended to release that information to the media to damage or injure the reputation of B.D.’s client unless the client paid Hurd a substantial sum of money,” states the affidavit.

Bond for Hurd has be set at $25,000.

Griffin’s agent is Ben Dogra. His agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has an office in St. Louis.

On Friday, Hurd met with authorities posing as Griffin's representatives. He told them the alleged "derogatory" information, signed a non-disclosure agreement, and received a check. Shortly after the sting, he was arrested.

The FBI returned him to Waco where he is in custody in McLennan County Jail. 

Griffin won the Heisman Trophy playing for Baylor last year