Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

In depth: Why the Redskins need to sign Fred Davis

Redskins tight end Fred Davis will be an unrestricted free agent on March 12. He was designated the team’s franchise player in 2012, a move that guaranteed him a salary of $5.4 million.

He only lasted seven games. In the first quarter of the game against the Giants in the Meadowlands, Davis suffered a torn Achilles tendon, ending his season. At the time he was injured, he was leading the team in receiving with 24 catches for 325 yards. He had not scored a touchdown.

For the rest of the season, he was occasionally seen around Redskins Park as he worked on rehabbing what usually is about a six-month injury. Working on that timetable he should be ready for the start of offseason workouts in mid-April.

But where will he be taking part in those workouts? Will it be in Ashburn? Or in another NFL city? Both Davis and the Redskins have some decisions to make.

Here is my in-depth look at the options and what I think the Redskins should go.

Franchise tag again

If the Redskins franchise Davis again, he would have to make either the franchise tag amount for that season or 120 percent of last year’s salary. It seems unlikely that the salary that goes with the tag will to up much so we are looking at the tag making Davis’ tender worth about $6.5 million.

Go here to read the rest of the post on CSNwashington.com

Redskins try out Maroney, Balmer, others

By Rich Tandler

The Redskins brought in some unemployed NFL player for tryouts, according to Aaron Wilson of Scout.com. Among them were Laurence Maroney (pictured), former starting running back for the Patriots, and defensive Kentwan Balmer, a former first-round pick of the 49ers.  

Maroney was released by the Broncos after some legal issues surfaced that have since been resolved. Balmer spent some time in training camp with Seattle and Carolina before being released.

Also brought in for a look were Panthers defensive end Everette Brown, former Denver Broncos tight end Richard Quinn and offensive linemen Nevin McCaskill and Jonathan Compas.

It is common for NFL teams to bring in player for tryouts during the season. This does not mean that they intend to sign a particular player. Frequently the team is just taking a look so they know if they might be interested in a player if a need should arise due to injury or other reasons.

Redskins try out Maroney, Balmer, others

The Redskins brought in some unemployed NFL player for tryouts, according to Aaron Wilson of Scout.com. Among them were Laurence Maroney, former starting running back for the Patriots, and defensive Kentwan Balmer, a former first-round pick of the 49ers.  

Maroney was released by the Broncos after some legal issues surfaced that have since been resolved. Balmer spent some time in training camp with Seattle and Carolina before being released.

Also brought in for a look were Panthers defensive end Everette Brown, former Denver Broncos tight end Richard Quinn and offensive linemen Nevin McCaskill and Jonathan Compas.

It is common for NFL teams to bring in player for tryouts during the season. This does not mean that they intend to sign a particular player. Frequently the team is just taking a look so they know if they might be interested in a player if a need should arise due to injury or other reasons.

Redskins ’ Hall a Man at Work

In the final weeks before grind of training camp, you generally find NFL players in Bermuda, by a lake, sleeping in at home, hanging out in Las Vegas or engaging in just about any activity that does not involve a football.

But not DeAngelo Hall. The Washington Redskins cornerback was in Minnesota last week attending a camp put on by Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. The focus of the session was wide receivers. The instructors were Jerry Rice and Cris Carter and the attendees included Brandon Marshall of Denver (for the moment), Tampa Bay's Mark Clayton, and the Packers' Greg Jennings.

Here is what Hall told Jim Trotter of Sports Illustrated.com about his attendance:

"Larry hit me up a couple of days ago and was like, 'Hey, let's get back to old times,' " says Hall, who trained with Fitzgerald in Florida in 2005, when each earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl. "I was like, hell yeah. It's good to have players out here who can definitely make you work and get you better. That's why when he ran down the list of some of the guys that were coming, I was like, I'm there."

Hall does not have a reputation for being a particularly hard worker. Not at all lazy, mind you, but certainly one who one would think would be among the 99-plus percent of NFL players who are taking it easy now rather than among the small minority who are at work honing their craft.

It doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to be the first free agent that the Redskins have signed to make a return trip to the Pro Bowl but it does indicate that he's not content to sit on his laurels after signing that fat contract earlier this year.

Schweigert signed for one year

The contract that Stuart Schweigert signed with the Washington Redskins was a one-year deal.

From David Elfin at the Washington Times:

The Washington Redskins signed former Oakland Raiders free safety Stuart Schweigert to a one-year deal yesterday. The 26-year-old Schweigert, who will receive a bonus if he makes the team according to a team source, started 42 games for the Raiders over four seasons.

Several other teams were interested in landing the fifth-year player out of Purdue including Atlanta, Denver, St. Louis and Tennessee, according to Elfin's story.

The veteran minimum for a fifth-year layer is $605,000 and I'll take a stab at his roster bonus being in the neighborhood of $100,000. I will pass along contract details when they become available.

In his Times report on Monday's OTA's, Elfin had a slightly different take on the participation of Rocky McIntosh in practice. Yesterday in his blog, he said that McIntosh was lined up at his weakside linebacker spot. Today in the paper edition of the paper he said that the is "getting close to returning to full-time duty." Still, quite an optimistic outlook for McIntosh.

Schweigert brings starting experience

On Friday, the Washington Redskins signaled that they were not happy with their situation at safety and signed a potential backup in Justin Hamilton.

Today, they made it loud and clear that they wanted to upgrade the position substantially when they signed a potential starter at safety in Stu Schweigert.

In four seasons with the Raiders since the drafted him out of Purdue with the fourth pick of the third round, Schweigert, who will turn 27 later this month, started 42 games. Thirty seven of those starts came consecutively before an injury forced him out of the lineup for a game late last season. The Oakland coaching staff reportedly was unhappy with his tackling and when he was healthy, he was relegated to the bench.

When Oakland signed free agent safety Gibril Wilson away from the Giants, the handwriting was on the wall and the Raiders released Schweigert on May 21.

The acquisition of Schweigert gives the Redskins the option of moving LaRon Landry back to strong safety. That's where he played his rookie season until Sean Taylor went out of the lineup with a knee injury. Taylor, of course, never returned and Landry stayed at free safety while Reed Doughty assumed the SS position.

Schweigert has four career interceptions, but this tribute video from his days at Purdue shows that he has considerable ball hawking skills:

Note that a couple of the picks in the video are at the expense of his new teammate Antwaan Randle El, a QB at Indiana.

He can lay some lumber as well. Here's a shot he took at Tony Gonzalez of the Chiefs:

A good stick, but I have to say that I've seen taunting call for much less than what he did after the hit.

In not-unrelated news, safety Vernon Fox underwent his second knee operation of the offseason recently. He had one procedure done in January and then after he tweaked it again in minicamp he had a second surgery performed.

With sixth-round pick Kareem Moore also hobbled with recent knee surgery, the Redskins were getting rather thin at safety going into the final round of OTA's.

Not any more.

Skins sign S Schweigert

The Washington Redskins further bolstered the safety position by signing ex -Raider Stuart Schweigert. Here's the press release, more later.


Ashburn, VA - The Washington Redskins announced today that they have signed free agent safety Stuart Schweigert (pronounced Shwi-gert).


  In addition, the team released linebacker Rian Wallace.


Schweigert (6-2, 210) played his first four NFL seasons with the Oakland Raiders (2004-07).  He was released by Oakland on May 21, 2008.  In 63 career games (42 starts), he compiled 315 tackles, four interceptions and 18 passes defensed.His best season occurred in 2006, when he totaled a career-best 107 tackles and four passes defensed in 16 games.  Last season, he totaled 69 tackles and tied his career-high with two interceptions in 15 contests.


Schweigert originally entered the NFL as a third-round draft pick (67th overall) with Oakland out of Purdue.  He was named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award and totaled a school-record 17 interceptions at Purdue (besting the previous mark of 11 picks set by Rod Woodson)

James ’ deal has two years left

I made a mistake last night.

Without checking, I reported something about the Washington Redskins that came directly from the team's primary beat reporter for the largest paper in Washington. I should know better than that and I apologize to my readers for doing so.

Erasmus James has two years left on his rookie contract, not one as was state here yesterday. He will make $695,000 this year and $1 million the next.

That avoids the unpleasant potential scenario of James rehabbing with the Skins, reviving his career, and then cashing in on the free agent market in 2009.

Calendar helped Skins land James

The Memorial Day holiday came at a good time for the Washington Redskins.

The Minnesota Vikings announced on Friday that they were going to waive defensive end Erasmus James. However, due to the fact that it was the Memorial Day weekend, the league office was closed. The waivers could not be finalized until 4 PM Eastern time on Tuesday. That seemed to be a mere technicality.

According to John Clayton of ESPN.com, however, several teams contacted the Vikings and James' agent about making a possible waiver claim. The Redskins were one of those teams, but since priority for claims is given in reverse order of last year's won-loss record (just like the draft), 20 other teams would have a shot at James before the Skins be able to secure him. It was apparent that wasn't going to happen.

When the Redskins raised the possibility of giving the Vikings some conditional compensation for James, the Vikings were able to rescind the move.

Rookie free agent defensive end Dorian Smith was released to make room for James on the roster.

June 1 has come and gone

I know that many of you out there are hoping for help for your favorite National Football League team coming from a wave of talent hitting the free agency market after June 1.

I hate to tell you this, but you should look elsewhere. As far as the NFL is concerned, June 1, for the most part, has come and gone.

No, you do not need to adjust your calendar. It says it's late May. But the NFL's June 1 came over two months ago.

The whacky calendar is due to a change in the collective bargaining agreement. Prior to 2006, a team could release a player after June 1 and have most of the salary cap implications of the release come in the following year rather than accelerating immediately into the cap.

The players didn't necessarily mind being cut; it frequently gave them the opportunity to collect a little more signing bonus money.

However, they were hitting the market at a bad time, after most team's free agent budgets were shot. In addition, they frequently were in an awkward position. In many cases it was well known that a player would be a June 1 cap casualty, but he had to go to his current team's facility to work out and participate in minicamps and OTA's.

And the teams became increasingly concerned about the risk of a player getting injured while working out at the team facility. If that were to happen, the team would be liable for the player's entire salary for the upcoming season.

These issues were addressed in the '06 CBA extension. Teams now are allowed to release up to two players as soon as the league year begins (the start of free agency) and designate them as post-June 1 cuts. The players get their freedom immediately, so they can pursue employment while the market still is hot.

While the teams don't get any salary cap relief until June 2—the players' salary for the coming season still is counted against their cap number until then—they don't have to have dead men walking around their facilities and their exposure to issues due to workout injuries is greatly reduced.

Since the rule creates such a win-win situation, teams have taken advantage of it. Most, if not all, of the players who would have been released post-June 1 in the past already have received their pink slips.

There are a couple of reasons why a team might choose to wait to release a player it intends to cut under the June 1 cap rules. If they have three or more players to release, they would have to wait until the date actually passes to get the cap relief. This would be highly unusual as few teams would want to dump that much dead cap money into the following season. I don't have complete list, but I don't think that any team designated more than one player.

An organization also might want to hold on to a veteran to see if they can draft his replacement and see how the rookie performs in a minicamp or two before deciding whether or not to cut the vet.

Again, this would be an unusual situation and if you're at that point, you might as well let the battle for the position and the roster spot go all the way to training camp. You get the same cap benefits if the veteran is cut on September 1 as you do on June 1.

The bottom line is that the free agent pickings on the morning of June 2 will be just about as slim as they are today. If you're hoping that your team can pick up some help then, don't hold your breath. The time for doing that was back in March.

You can reach Rich Tandler by email at rich.tandler+bleachers@gmail.com. His Redskins blog archive is located here.