It hurts me to do this. I mean, it physically makes me ill to do this. Click on the "Redskins suck" tag and see who the author is for each and every post.
The Redskins did the right thing on Saturday. They took LaRon Landry, at a marginal need position, with the salary cap-consuming 6th pick.
When the Redskins went on the clock with the 6th overall pick, Adrian Peterson, RB from Oklahoma, was the far and away most needed player on the board. No, he wasn't the BEST player on the board, but there were teams who desperately needed him.
Breakdown:
MINN - 7th pick overall
RB stable - Chester Taylor, Artose Pinner, Mewelde Moore, Cedrick Fason
QB stable - Tarvaris Jackson, Brooks Bollinger
In other words, Minnesota was passable at RB but dying at QB. They just invested in Tarvaris two years ago and he hadn't really gotten a shot. It was probable that Minnesota would pick the RB, Peterson. However, if Peterson was gone, they certainly would have taken QB Quinn. There was no reason for Minnesota to swap with the Skins just to preserve Peterson.
TENN - 19th pick overall
RB stable - LenDale White, Chris Brown (drafted Chris Henry out of Arizona with 50th pick)
Tennessee absolutely needed a feature RB. LenDale White has looked like a bust since day one, but never has looked chiseled. At best he can hope to become Mike Alstott without the fumbling. Chris Brown can't stay healthy in long enough stretches to be effective. To boot, he's an attitude problem.
They had the Michael "Burner" Turner market cornered in SD, or so the media led us to believe. The whole world had a deal in place prior to the draft between the Titans and Chargers, with most sources having the teams swap first rounders (Chargers were 30th) and the Titans throwing in their 4th rounder. This didn't happen, but no one knows why. Since the Chargers pulled Turner off the table officially today, we have to assume either Tennessee renegged or the Chargers never found the swap/4th deal sufficient.
GB - 16th pick
RB stable - Vernand Morrency, Nick Herron, PJ Pope
And they drafted DT Justin Harrell, then RB Brandon Jackson out of Nebraska with the 63rd pick. GB was clearly the place for Michael Turner to go. The team has NO viable options at RB, an aging QB, and no truly frightening receivers (Greg Jennings, seriously?). Much like the Titans and Turner, Moss to GB was rumored to be just waiting for the ink to dry on draft day. We now know that Randy Moss cost NE's (later than GB's) 4th rounder. GB had a 2nd, two 3rds and a 4th. They obviously could have moved up to get Peterson and gotten Moss. I can't understand this team.
Buffalo - 12th pick
RB stable - Marshawn Lynch (12th pick this draft), Anthony Thomas, Shaud Williams
I'm going to forgive the Bills here. They apparently targeted Lynch from the start. Teams 8 through 11 (Atlanta, Miami, Houston) either didn't need an RB or didn't need one bad enough to pass up other need positions. They could feel confident that Lynch would be there.
So...............the Redskins got offered nothing, supposedly, for their 6th pick. That's the pick that guarantees the trading team Adrian Peterson. RBs have the shortest learning curve from college to the pros, so if you want to improve your team fast that's the best position to pick. As much as I would LOVE to believe otherwise, I truly believe the Redskins got offered no value for the pick. I'm led to this conclusion NOT because I have an iota of faith in Gibbs/Snyder/Cerrato, but rather because Gibbs sounded like his dog had been shot when he gave his post-LaRon Landry fan/press conference at FedEx. I actually believe the Redskins planned to move down in this draft.
So the Skins did what they had to do. They picked the player they had rated highest on their board, based on their needs (and SS was a need, just one that will only provide marginal improvement next year). All the cliches are in play: "You can't make a deal that isn't there", "We weren't going to take peanuts", "This is the guy we wanted all along", etc etc etc. For once I don't blame them, but I do have to wonder what the Titans and Packers were thinking.
April 30, 2007
In Defense of the....<gulp>....Redskins
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I left the Dolphins out of the "should have made a trade" conversation on purpose.
The Dolphins should have been salivating over the opportunity to jump ahead of Minnesota to get Brady Quinn. Of course, we now know that they didn't want Quinn. Or, more likely, they had ruled Quinn out as the Browns or Vikings pick and they spent too much time convincing themselves that they really wanted Ted Ginn, Jr. all along. This happens sometimes.
I like Randy Mueller (formerly Saints' GM, now Dolphins' GM) as a person. I've met him and he's very charismatic. I don't understand how he's gotten two more opportunities than I have to run a football team.
And by the way, Mueller is a either a horrible speller or a horrible typist. I remember being appalled by his spelling during one of his ESPN chats.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt then since his signings for the Saints were impressive (Head Coach Jim Haslett, along with Darren Howard, Norman Hand, Joe Horn, Jeff Blake, Fred Thomas, Aaron Brooks in 2000; Deuce McAllister, Jay Bellamy, Michael "Beer Man" Lewis, Boo Williams in 2001; Traded Ricky Williams to Miami, Donte Stallworth, Charles Grant, LeCharles Bentley, Jerome Pathon, Victor Riley, Grady Jackson in 2002).
His 2002 firing by the Saints was a surprise to most in the industry. That he spent 4 years with ESPN was even more surprising, especially when his hometown Seattle Seahawks had a GM vacancy (Holmgren abdicated) in the 2006 offseason and passed him up.
Now I'm not sure whether he's a bad typist or just an idiot.
To be clear, Holmgren gave up his grocery shopping role in 2003. Bob Ferguson was Seahawks GM from 2003 to 2005. Tim Ruskell took over for Ferguson in 2005 and is still the GM. Mueller, once a Seahawks ballboy and eventually a VP for them just prior to becoming Saints' GM, was considered for the GM position in 2005 offseason, not 2006.
oh.....my.....God.
Jason, I know that this was painful for you. I'll have crisis counselors come to West Baltimore Street ASAP.
They're so badly run now that it's gone from being a fun rivalry to just being pitiful.
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