Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Tale of the tape: Jackson vs. Colston

There was a report last week that the Redskins are going to pursue a top free agent wide receiver in free agency. We probably didn’t need unidentified sources in the organization to tell us that. The Redskins have been weak and inconsistent at receiver for the most part since Art Monk and Gary Clark left in the early 1990’s.

After the franchise tag took its toll on the crop of wide receivers hitting the market on Tuesday, the two best players left on the market at the position are Vincent Jackson of the Chargers and Marques Colston of the Saints. Let’s stack one up against the other and see who might be a better fit.

Tale of the tape

Vincent Jackson: Age 29 (DOB 1/14/83), 6-5, 241, 2005 second-round pick of Chargers out of Northern Colorado. Seven NFL seasons, all with San Diego. Career stats:

			Receiving
Year	G	GS	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng
2005	7	0	3	59	19.7	0	21
2006	16	7	27	453	16.8	6	55
2007	16	16	41	623	15.2	3	45
2008	16	16	59	1098	18.6	7	60
2009*	15	15	68	1167	17.2	9	55
2010	5	5	14	248	17.7	3	58
2011	16	16	60	1106	18.4	9	58
Career	91	75	272	4754	17.5	37	60

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/9/2012.

Marques Colston: Age 28 (DOB 6/5/83), 6-4, 225, 2006 seventh-round pick by the Saints out of Hofstra. Six NFL seasons all with New Orleans. Career stats:

			Receiving
Year	G	GS	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng
2006	14	12	70	1038	14.8	8	86
2007	16	14	98	1202	12.3	11	45
2008	11	6	47	760	16.2	5	70
2009	16	14	70	1074	15.3	9	68
2010	15	11	84	1023	12.2	7	43
2011	14	8	80	1143	14.3	8	50
Career	86	65	449	6240	13.9	48	86

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/9/2012.

Analysis

Both receivers will be 29 by the time the season starts so there is no real difference in age. Jackson is slightly bigger but Colston certainly is big enough. Jackson has two essentially wasted seasons, his rookie year and 2010 when he sat out most of the season in a contract dispute. Colston has been consistent all of his six years and has significantly better career totals as a result. The big number in Jackson’s favor is his career average of 17.5 yards per catch. The Redskins need a big-play receiver and while Colston certainly can get yards in chunks, Jackson does so more consistently.

Both have red flags. After the 2009 season Colston had microfracture surgery on his left knee. Then prior to last season he had microfracture on his right knee. He also had wrist surgery about a year ago. The microfracture surgery is not the career killer it once was but one on each knee in the past two years certainly is cause for concern.

Jackson pleaded guilty to DUI cases that occurred in 2006 and 2009. He was suspended for four games in 2010 and, like the Redskins’ Fred Davis and Trent Williams, he faces a full season suspension if he commits another violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Both played for top-notch quarterbacks in pass-happy systems so there is no reason to discount the stats of either compared to each other.

They both will command a lot of money. Both are going for their big career payday and the size of the paycheck could well be the major deciding factor for them.

Report: Redskins to pursue Manningham

The Redskins may look to raid a division rival to upgrade its receiver corps.

Speaking to the Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan in Washington, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk said that the Redskins are going to make a big effort to sign Giants wide receiver Mario Manningham.

When he last saw Manningham, the was making a nice catch of a 38-yard pass from Eli Manning, getting his feet inbounds to move the Giants from their 12 to midfield in the late going. New York went on to drive in for the game-winning touchdown.

Would Manningham be a good fit for the Redskins? It depends on the contract. The Redskins do need to upgrade their receiver corps, no doubt about it. And Manningham would represent and upgrad.

But if he gets paid close to what top free agent receivers like Vincent Jackson will get, in the neighborhood of $10 million per year, it would not be a good acquisition for the Redskins. Even at $7 million, the Redskins would be paying him like a No. 1 receiver when his production is that of a No. 2 or 3 receiver.

In 2011, Manningham caught 39 passes for 523 yards and four touchdowns. He missed four games with a knee injury. Playing a full season in 2010, he had 60 receptions for 944 yards and nine TD’s. Even the better season is more like a second wide receiver in a competent offense.

At something more like $5 million or so per year, Manningham could be a good acquisition. Even though when he came in he might be the No. 1 receiver, he wouldn’t remain that for long as the Redskins would continue to try to upgrade.

The feeling here is that some team with even more cap space than the Redskins have will pay Manningham well over his market value. It would be surprising to see the Super Bowl hero ending up in Washington.

 

Transparency at Redskins Park?

By Rich Tandler

The fact that the Redskins are likely to pursue a big-name receiver in free agency is one of the most poorly kept secrets in Washington.

They have half of what they need to lure a big-time pass catcher like Vincent Jackson or Marques Colston to town. They have more salary cap space that most teams and, unlike some of those teams with cap room, they are willing to use it.

What the Redskins don’t have, however, is an NFL quarterback. John Beck and Jonathan Crompton are the two signal callers under contract. Beck has not established himself as a viable option in five years in the league and Crompton has yet to be on a regular season roster.

Receivers need a quarterback like a car needs gas. It is difficult to imagine how any amount of money would be enough to lure a quality receiver to the Redskins with their current batch of QB’s.

Of course, the Redskins do have plans to upgrade the position in a big way. It seems likely that either Peyton Manning, who has made average receivers look good and good receivers look great, or whiz kid Robert Griffin III.

The problem that the Redskins have is that plans aren’t worth the paper they are written on. Until they have a better quarterback under contract, or at least a clear path to making that happen, receivers are going to be very hesitant to take the Redskins’ money.

That is why it seems possible, perhaps likely, that the Redskins will do something to secure the rights to a new quarterback either prior to the start of free agency or very soon into it. The talks with the Rams to acquire the second pick in the draft have been ongoing at least since the combine, perhaps for longer. The Redskins’ pursuit of Peyton Manning became known almost the moment that it became clear that Manning would be an ex-Colt on or before March 8.

It’s all an effort to not only end the search for a franchise quarterback, which stretches back anywhere from 20 to 40 years depending on how you define “franchise”, but to sell free agent receivers on the notion that there will be a real NFL quarterback, or at least a hot prospect with a strong, accurate arm, in Washington in 2012. If they can seal the deal for either Manning or the rights to RG3 prior to the start of free agency a week from today, so much the better.

The situation has caused Mike Shanahan, who is the master of cloak and dagger games around the time of the draft and free agency, to become almost transparent in the search for a quarterback. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

You can reach Rich by email at RTandlerCSN@comcast.net and follow him on Twitter @Rich_Tandler. 

Another receiver off the market

The Bills have announced that they have re-signed wide receiver Stevie Johnson. The deal is reported to be for five years and $36.25 million.

That is not a good development for the Redskins, who are likely to be looking for a top free agent wide receiver when the market opens up in a week.

The Redskins were not necessarily targeting Johnson. However, the law of supply and demand dictate that the removal of one top free agent from the market means that the price for the ones remaining will go up.

Johnson may not be the only receiver to come off of the market today. The Chiefs are expected to franchise tag Dwayne Bowe. There have been mixed signals about whether or not the Chargers’ Vincent Jackson, expected to be the Redskins prime target, will get tagged. The deadline is today at 4 p.m.   

 

WR's Hill's fast 40 pushes him out of Redskins' reach

INDIANAPOLIS—We knew that Georgia Tech wide receiver Stephen Hill was big. We now know that he is fast.

When we talked to the 6-4, 215 Hill at the NFL Combine on Thursday he said that he hoped to run well in the 40  “I’m thinking about running a 4.3 but, you know, whatever happens on Sunday happens,” he said

What happened was exactly what he thought would happen. He ran the fastest time of any wide receiver at 4.36.

That is good for Hill but maybe not so good for the Redskins. He rarely was able to run away from defenders at Georgia Tech. Since he has posted that time, coaches now know that he has the capacity to do so. They may think of him as less of a project and more of one who can contribute right away and be a solid player with some polish. That could well prompt a team to take a chance on him somewhere in the latter part of the first round. He almost certainly won't be around for the Redskins to take with the sixth pick of the second round and there is zero chance he will slide down to the third.

 

Hankerson surgery will cost him valuable development time

 By Rich Tandler

INDIANAPOLIS—The news that wide receiver Leonard Hankerson had surgery to repair the hip he injured in Week 10 last season is discouraging but not disastrous.

The hope was that he would be able to treat his hip subluxation (basically a partial dislocation) with rest and rehab. Towards the end of the season Mike Shanahan indicated that while Hankerson had not yet had surgery, he wasn't totally out of the woods. As we found out, he was still very much in the woods.

Hankerson said that he will be ready for the start of training camp and that certainly is a good sign. However, he will miss the offseason activities, which are invaluable for younger players still trying to learn the game. The conditioning sessions, OTA's and minicamp were cancelled last year, prior to Hankerson's rookie season, due to the NFL lockout.

Hankerson was very raw going into training camp last year and was inactive for the first five games of the season. He was just hitting his stride in the Miami game as he gained 106 yards on eight catches. On his last catch of the game he was injured and he lost seven regular season games of valuable developmental time.

This situation probably will not affect the Redskins' draft or free agency strategy very much. They were likely to try to acquire a playmaking wide receiver before Hankerson's injury and their plans probably won't change.

Although he has potential nobody really knows if Hankerson will become a player who is a threat to take it to the house from anywhere on the field. The Redskins need a player like that. If they get one and Hankerson also turns out to be one, well, the more the merrier.

Assuming that he gets and stays healthy, Hankerson has enough natural ability to contribute in 2012. He may be able to reach his full potential with only a partial season under his belt but the chances are that we will have to wait until 2013 to see what Leonard Hankerson really can do.

Rich Tandler will be covering the NFL Combine from Indianapolis all week. Any questions? Hit him up on Twitter @Rich_Tandler.

 

Georgia Tech WR Hill made the most out of limited chances

By Rich Tandler

INDIANAPOLIS—Stephen Hill of Georgia Tech caught just 28 passes last year in the Yellow Jackets’ ground-based offense. But he made the most of them and he has the attention of many NFL teams, including the Redskins.

The 6-4, 215-lb. wide receiver gained 820 yards on those catches, a jaw-dropping average of 29.3 yards. To be sure, a lot of that had to do with passing being a surprise element of the Tech offense. But his size and speed helped him get the job done as well. He’s pretty fast for a big guy. Hill expects to run an elite time in the 40-yard dash on Sunday.

His speed apparently is of great interest to NFL teams. “Every one of them did ask what I was going to run in the 40,” Hill said when asked what coaches want to know about him in interview sessions. “I guess they just want to see what kind of speed I have.”

What does he tell them?

“I’m going to run fast,” Hill said with a smile.

He said that he has been clocked in the range of 4.4 seconds. “I’m thinking about running a 4.3 but, you know, whatever happens on Sunday happens,” he said.

If something close to a 4.3 is indeed what happens, his draft stock could shoot up. Right now analysts project that he will go anywhere from late in the first round to somewhere in the third round. A fast time in the 40 certainly would push up those assessments.

Hill doesn’t seem to be particularly worried about it. He said he has “no kind of feel” for where he might be picked. “I’m here to show my talents and if I put up some good numbers I hope I get a good draft pick,” he said.

The Redskins could well be looking to add a receiver in the draft. Adding one with Hill’s size could help their prospects in the red zone, where they struggled last year. According to some scouts, Hill needs a lot of development to become a well-rounded receiver but he is talented enough to contribute in packages in areas like the red zone right away.

Hill said that he talked to Redskins wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard on Thursday. That’s a very preliminary expression of some interest and we will see if the process plays out further from there.

 Rich Tandler will be covering the NFL Combine from Indianapolis all week. Any questions? Hit him up on Twitter @Rich_Tandler.

 

Combine preview: WR interest could be high or low (or mid)

By Rich Tandler

There is no doubt that the Redskins will have wide receivers under the microscope in Indianapolis this week. The degree of their interest on draft day, however, could well depend on what transpires in free agency.

There is no question that the Redskins need to add talent at the position. It is their second-greatest area of need behind quarterback. But it is hard to go too deeply into what they might be looking for as far as receivers in the draft until we see what unfolds in free agency. That, of course, is true with vitually any area of the draft but it it seems to be more up in the air here.

If they solve the quarterback issue in free agency by signing someone like Matt Flynn or Peyton Manning they could be looking for a wide receiver early in the draft, putting receivers like Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State or Kendall Wright of Baylor in play. They are both projected to be taken somewhere in the first round. Blackmon could cement himself into a spot in the top 10 with a solid 40 time at the combine.

Should the Redskins use their first-round pick on a quarterback like Robert Griffin III or Ryan Tannehill, Wright and Blackmon will be long gone by the time they pick again. One second- or third-round prospect they are likely to be keeping an eye on is Stephen Hill of Georgia Tech. Although his game needs some refinement, at 6-5 he is about to go up and pluck the ball out of the air like a pro already. If he proves to have good athletic ability the Redskins could look to him as a potential red zone target fairly soon and a playmaker from anywhere on the field at some point in the future.

Another second-day prospect is Joe Adams of Arkansas. He was the on the South team in the Senior Bowl, the squad coached by the Redskins’ staff. He looked good as the South’s Most Outstanding Player has he hauled in six passes for 116 yards.

The Redskins often go with the best player available later in the draft. An interesting prospect here might be Tommy Streeter of Miami. He’s another big guy at 6-5. Streeter didn’t play much until his 2011 junior season. Streeter became a big-play guy leading the ACC with an average of 17.6 yards per catch. He should get a good look from the Redskins at the combine as a third-day project.

The complete list of wide receivers invited to the combine is available via the link below. They are in the order of Wes Bunting’s scouting grades. 

Download 2012 WR combine list

CSN Washington will have wall-to-wall coverage of the NFL Combine starting Feb 23 and our Rich Tandler will be in Indianapolis. If there are any players on the list you’d like to know more about, let us know in the comments or hit Rich up on Twitter @Rich_Tandler.

Is Marques Colston the best fit for the Redskins?

By Rich Tandler

There are hundreds of NFL players who will be free agents on March 13 and Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com decided to match up one of them to each NFL team. The player he saw as the perfect fit for the Redskins was Saints receiver Marques Colston.

“They need to get a reliable pair of hands in their offense,” Prisco explained. “Colston could really be a big help to a team that needs it in the worst way.”

A few issues with this match made in heaven. Colston is 29 and that is getting to the edge of the age range for free agents the Redskins will consider signing. Also, he had microfracture surgery on his right knee last year. He recovered nicely, having one of his better seasons with 80 receptions for 1143 yards and eight touchdowns. But that surgery has to set off alarm bells for the long term.

The big issue when it comes to Colston and the Redskins, however, is that the receiver will be looking for a big payday. He was a seventh-round draft pick in 2006 and he signed a three-year, $8 million extension in 2009. Our corporate cousins at Pro Football Talk recently reported that Colston “intends to go to the highest bidder.”

Under Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen, the Redskins have not gotten into bidding wars. They will go to a certain point with a player and when they hit what they think is reasonable value, they stop. It is hard to see the Redskins winning a flat-out bidding war for the services of Marques Colston.

Will Chiefs let WR Dwayne Bowe walk?

By Rich Tandler

Recently we had an article on the Redskins’ wide receiver choices. In it, we assumed, as most do, that the Chiefs would use the franchise tag and not let receiver Dwayne Bowe hit the open market.

Not so fast.

On Pro Football Talk, Gregg Rosenthal wrote an article predicting who would get the franchise tag around the NFL. And he projected that the Chiefs will tag cornerback Brandon Carr and not Bowe.

Here was Rosenthal’s logic:

If Vegas set odds on franchise tags, Dwayne Bowe would be the heavy favorite in Kansas City. I’m going with the underdog.

Bowe is not a Scott Pioli type of guy in terms of attitude or consistency. He’s a better fantasy football player than in reality.

 If the choice is Carr or Bowe, the rising young cornerback is the pick.

Now this is an analyst trying to read the tea leaves, not a sourced report from the Chiefs organization. But Rosenthal’s logic does make sense and the possibility has to be considered.

Bowe has three seasons with over 1,000 yards receiving in the last four years. He led the league with 15 touchdown receptions and made the Pro Bowl in 2010. If the Redskins signed him, he would instantly become the best receiver on the team by a large margin.

Of course, Bowe could improve many teams in the NFL and if he does hit the market as a free agent the bidding will get fierce. He will be 28 shortly after the season starts and a contract that would pay him some $10 million per year is certainly a possibility.