Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Taylor trade gets thumbs up in media

The trade of Jason Taylor to the Washington Redskins is being hailed as a master stroke by many in the national and local media.

Peter King on SI.com wrote, "I have to hand it to Snyder and Cerrato. This was a very good trade for them."

King, a noted Skins basher, raved on:

The reason the Washington trade makes so much sense is that even if Taylor gives the 'Skins just two years, dealing the 51st pick (that was their second-rounder this year) for two seasons of a top-five pass-rusher would be worth it to any thinking football person.

The King article also goes into the timeline of the trade. From initial phone call to final paperwork, the process took a little over three hours.

On ESPN.com, John Clayton said:

For the Redskins, the price -- second- and sixth-round draft picks -- was worth it. Defensive end was their thinnest position. The first-day practice losses of Phillip Daniels and Alex Buzbee on Sunday left them with only nine healthy defensive linemen. Erasmus James is the 10th defensive lineman left on the roster, but he's on the physically unable to perform list recovering from years of knee problems.

I'm not sure from where Clayton got the number of nine for the healthy defensive linemen. After Sunday's injuries and before the Taylor trade there were 12 of them on the roster. Subtract James and that makes 11. Perhaps he's not counting Lorenzo Alexander, who worked mostly on offense last year but has been assigned to be a defensive tackle for the time being.

Locally, Mike Wise had this take:

This was big and bold -- back to the proactive days when rebuilding through the draft could not hold a candle to rebuilding on the fly, when Daniel Snyder saw a player he liked and promptly bought him.

And before anyone compares acquiring Taylor to throwing money away on Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith or Brandon Lloyd, let's be clear: After watching Daniels go down and out for the season -- and maybe his career -- and after watching a backup like Buzbee crumple to the ground in agony, this was a move the Redskins needed to make.

It was a move the Redskins needed to make, said Wise, because of the way they have handled the acquisition of talent on the D-line in the past:

If Taylor fizzles, the Redskins have to bite the bullet and realize they put themselves in this position long before Daniels went down.

By their own doing, they neglected real upgrades to the defensive line. Andre Carter was the only bona fide change the past five years. Demetric Evans and Anthony Montgomery have yet to realize their potential.

I disagree about Montgomery—I think that he took great leaps and bounds forward last year—but his overall point is valid.

To be clear, I don't necessarily think that they should have taken Calais Campbell or Quentin Groves in the second round of the draft. I stand by my point that the biggest problem this team has had this decade is scoring points, not preventing the other team from scoring.

Still, if one injury to a starter at one position forces you to make a trade that burns a second and a sixth and over $8 million in cap space you haven't done a very good job in building depth at that position. You can nitpick over what player should have been taken over which other player with a given draft pick, but having depth means that you have someone who can step in as a starter in the event of an injury. The Redskins, by their own admission, didn't have that depth.

Even David Elfin at the Times, who never has been accused of being a homer, liked the deal:

Q: Did the Redskins mortgage the future to make this move?

A: Not unless you consider a second-round draft choice in 2009 and a sixth-rounder in 2010 plus a lot of salary cap room consumed this year and next mortgaging the future. If Taylor makes a smooth switch from the right side to the left, it seems like a no-brainer.

I don't know about the characterization as a no-brainer, but Vinny Cerrato and company certainly acted as though it was one. No doubt, however, it was a bold move and like most bold moves it's likely that it will prove to be either a master stroke or a colossal blunder.

Time will tell.

Taylor deal a short-term fix

I don't usually like to do pull quotes from something I wrote just a few hours ago, but I'll make an exception in this case:

From this article posted today a 4:16 PM EDT:

Trading for Jason Taylor and giving up a conditional fifth-round pick and having him work his contract to a cap-friendly deal that would contain a big roster bonus to be paid on opening day of 2009 would be OK. Giving up a second-rounder and having to work around his $8.1 million salary this year, making him a very expensive one-year rental, would be dumb.

The deal that went down this evening was the "dumb" deal and then some. The Washington Redskins gave up an '09 second and a '10 sixth for the right to Taylor's contract as is.

The only potential mitigating difference here is that Vinny Cerrato is "100 percent confident he'll play more than one year." There's some reason to believe that this is the case as, according to Jason LaCanfora, the relationship between Cerrato and Taylor's agent Gary Wichard is "uncommonly close" (not that there's anything wrong with that).

So, if Taylor plays for two or three years, the deal starts to make a little more sense—but only a little. A second is a lot to give up for a short-term player and by any definition two or three years is short term.

The trade does improve the defense, immediately and considerably. Taylor was the league's defensive MVP just two years ago and he immediately becomes the team's best defensive linemen, perhaps their best overall player. For the first time in years the Redskins will line up bookend defensive ends, both of whom should post double-digit sacks. Andre Carter posted 10.5 sacks in 2007.

It's the kind of deal that would be great for a team that is just a player away from being a legit Super Bowl contender. Are the Redskins, a playoff team two of the past three years, that sort of team?

If not for a couple of factors like a head coach and a quarterback who are going to be doing some on-the-job learning, maybe. By Zorn's own admission, it's going to take Jason Campbell a few years to master his version of the West Coast offense. Jason Taylor won't be playing here in a few years and neither will the second-round talent that the Redskins gave up to obtain him.

Initially, the news that the Redskins had pulled the trigger on this trade surprised me. It seemed like they were changing their ways and using draft picks on college players instead of dealing them for short term quick fixes.

But then I remembered all the way back to April when Cerrato had an offer of at least one first-round pick and possibly two for Chad Johnson. They were saved from that one by the Bengals insistence that they were not going to trade away Johnson.

The Dolphins weren't inclined to save the Redskins from themselves on this occasion.

Maybe Taylor will play for three seasons, post 35 sacks, and be a key to a couple of deep playoff runs. Or he may provide a few, very expensive thrills before riding off into the sunset after the 2009 season.

The Redskins are all in betting the former.

Skins pull the trigger on Taylor

According to multiple sources, the Redskins have traded for Miami defensive end Jason Taylor.

It appears that the cost—reported to be a second-round pick in 2009 and a sixth-rounder in 2010—was quite steep for a player who has said he will play for one more season.

More coming.

Buzbee out, Smoot limps off

The Washington Redskins lost a second defensive end for the season today as it was announced that Alex Buzbee ruptured his right Achilles' tendon during the afternoon practice.

Phillip Daniels went out in the morning practice with an injured ACL.

Unlike Daniels, who was a projected starter, Buzbee was a long shot to make the team. Still, the departure of two DE's from the lineup in one day leaves the Redskins thin at the position. With
Erasmus James unable to practice while he is recovering from knee problems of his own, the Redskins will have to do some shopping in a hurry.

One possibility would be to bring back Tommy Davis, a 2007 practice squad member, who was cut last week. They may work on a trade to fill the position, but in the meantime they need to get two warm bodies in there.

Cornerback Fred Smoot also suffered an injury in the afternoon, although his didn't appear to be as serious. He sprained his left ankle and, according to Jim Zorn, the hope is that he will miss less than a week.

Daniels out for the season —Taylor coming in his place?

According to Jason Reid at the Post, Washington Redskins defensive end Phillip Daniels is indeed out for the season.

John Clayton at ESPN reported that it was an ACL injury to his left knee.

Clayton also said that the phone lines between Ashburn and Miami have started to hum to try to work out a trade for the Dolphins' Jason Taylor. A Redskins source in the Post blog entry denied that the team is pursuing a trade for the Dancing With the Stars runner-up.

I generally don't comment much on pending trades because the wisdom of any deal depends on the details. Trading for Jason Taylor and giving up a conditional fifth-round pick and having him work his contract to a cap-friendly deal that would contain a big roster bonus to be paid on opening day of 2009 would be OK. Giving up a second-rounder and having to work around his $8.1 million salary this year, making him a very expensive one-year rental, would be dumb.

In either case, however, it would be highly discouraging for the Redskins to have to make a trade for Taylor or any other defensive end for that matter. Throughout the offseason, Vinny Cerrato has insisted that the Redskins did not need to expend a high draft pick on a defensive end nor did they need to pursue one in free agency. The team's personnel guru insisted that the Redskins were fine at the position.

My definition of "fine" would describe a situation where you should be able to anticipate that your 35-year-old starter may get injured and that you still should be "fine" after that happens without having to make a trade.

Of course, as of now, any criticism is premature. That can wait until if and when a deal is made what the details of that hypothetical trade turn out to be.

Back to Daniels, it's quite possible that he has played his last down for the Redskins. A defensive end who is closer to 40 than to 30 and who is coming off of a serious knee injury and carrying a cap number just south of $3 million isn't likely to be in the team's plans.

Daniels' fragility has been overstated. He has missed just 19 of a possible 190 regular season games in his 12-year career. In 2004, his first year with the Redskins, he played in just five games but since then he has appeared in 16, 16, and 15 games.

He was a reliable in the locker room as he was on the field. No matter what had happened, win or lose, he would be there to answer as many questions as we wanted to ask.

I hope all Redskins fans join me in wishing him well.

Daniels dinged

Washington Redskins defensive end Phillip Daniels was carted off the field during the team's first training camp practice today with what was described as a hyper-extended left knee.

According to various reports (WaPo, AP), he was hurt during the first play of seven-on-seven drills. This doesn't make any sense, as defensive linemen don't participate in such drills. They are passing game drills conducted without offensive or defensive linemen.

Regardless of what type of drill it was, Daniels was on the turf for several minutes before being taken to the locker room on a cart. He was seen after practice unable to put any weight on his left leg. He will be making a trip to the MRI machine sometime soon and after that we'll have a better idea as to how much time the 35-year-old will miss.

Daniels is one of eight defensive ends on the roster. Alex Buzbee, Andre Carter, Demetric Evans, Kevin Huntley, Rob Jackson, Erasmus James, and Chris Wilson are the others. His immediate replacement in the starting lineup will be Evans, who has started just a handful of games during his seven-year NFL career.

The injury also creates a void at defensive tackle. On passing downs, Daniels rotates inside and linebacker Marcus Washington puts his hand in the dirt and rushed the passer from the left defensive end spot.

Should the tests reveal that Daniels will be out for an extended period of time, we'll look at the ripple effects that could have on the rest of the lineup at that time.

Training camp to open on July 20

According to my friend David Elfin at the Washington Times, the Redskins will report to training camp on Sunday, July 20. The team's initial full-squad practice under Jim Zorn will be on Tuesday, the 22^nd.

The first practice of what would prove to be Joe Gibbs' final training camp last year took place on July 27.

The earlier reporting date this year is due to the Redskins' participation in the Hall of Fame Game against the Colts on August 3. That gives the team 13 days of practice before the game

The team's initial preseason game last year came on August 11, so the team had 16 days to get ready for that one.

The full training camp schedule will be released sometime in June.

Outline of preseason schedule released

The opponents for and weekends of the Redskins' preseason schedule have been released.

Aug. 3 -- Hall of Fame game against Indianapolis in Canton, Ohio
Aug. 7-10 -- vs. Buffalo
Aug. 14-17 -- at New York Jets
Aug. 21-24 -- at Carolina
Aug. 28 -- vs. Jacksonville

The HOF game will be on NBC at 8:00 PM and the Jacksonville game also will be on NBC at 7:00 PM. The other exact dates and times will be announced in the next few weeks.

Absent from the schedule are the Baltimore Ravens. They have been playing the Redskins during the preseason for the past several years. The teams are playing during the regular season and perhaps that is why they skipped their meeting this year.

Five preseason games is about three too many.