Here is what you need to know on this Tuesday, February 12, 29 days before the start of the NFL's new league year.
Glut of tackles on market will help Redskins
The laws of supply and demand will help the Redskins if they decide to go into the free agent market in search of a right tackle.
There will be what Pro Football Talk described as “a glut” of tackles hitting the free agent market when it opens on March 12.
Among the Pro Bowlers and longtime starters who are slated to be free agents are Jake Long, Branden Albert, Sebastian Vollmer, Ryan Clady, Sam Baker Gosder Cherilus, Winston Justice, Phil Loadholt, Brian McKinnie, Jermon Bushrod, and Andre Smith.
In other years, these players might be looking for contracts in the range of $8 to $12 million per year or more with $10-$20 million or so guaranteed. The supply, along with the fact that the salary cap will essentially remain flat this year and it isn’t likely to go up much in 2014, will force many of them to set their sights considerably lower.
The Redskins probably are not shopping for players of the caliber of Clady, Long, or Albert and others on the list are not all fits for the Redskins’ zone-blocking scheme. But that doesn’t really matter. If oversupply pushes down the price for the top talent, there will be ripple effects into the second and third tiers that will help the Redskins afford a decent tackle.
With Jammal Brown now off of the roster, the Redskins have a number of options at right tackle. They could bring back Tyler Polumbus, last year’s starter who is now a free agent, at a reduced rate. If they choose to go younger at the position they already have Maurice Hurt and Tom Compton.
What do you think the Redskins should do about the right tackle spot? Let us know in the comments.
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- The Redskins’ secondary improved later in the season but issues remain.
- It’s going to be an important offseason for Leonard Hankerson.
Days until: Start of new league year 29; NFL Draft 73; Training camp starts 164
I guess what I would have to think on this would be dependent upon how some of the salary cap figures shake out. Is there any word on folks like Hall, Cooley, Moss and others that have higher cap hits with less production?
Can we afford to do a free agency pick up even if we free up say 10 mil in cap space? With the additional .5 mil in space with the cap edging up and the 1.1 mil in cap space freed up with Brown, I'm figuring we have about 2.4 mil we have left to free up to be even. Then we have to have enough for a rookie pool for the draft picks - and I frankly am not sure how that works.
Then we'd have to free up, what, 5-7 mil per free agent on top of that at the rates you're talking about.
Perhaps it would behoove us to keep building through the draft even if it takes us a couple more years - they seem to be hitting a heck of a lot more than they are missing that way - most of the draft 2 years ago are still on the team, and last years was pretty good as well.
As a side question - heard anything about Chase Minnifield? He was put on IR or was he released? And I think many folks are forgetting Merriweather and Gomes and Tanard coming back after injuries/suspensions. We aren't as bad off at safety - but corner? I would think that is a higher need than RT especially considering that the line we had got better and better and helped our team be one of the best at rushing in the league.
Posted by: Drscoundrels | Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 06:48 PM