[sportscurmudgeon]

As configured now, the Redskins biggest weakness is DL. You can look at the world through rose colored glasses and imagine a situation where all of the defneive linemen on the team have career years all at once and say that the line is strong. It isn't.

Daniels has had good years in the past; he was pretty mediocre last year. Is he sure to return to his good form or is he on the downside of his career? I think he will be better than last year but never will he be a star or a player that offenses whill have to "scheme around". Here is what is really good about Phillip Daniels. In the last two years, the Bears have stunk and have had lots of games where they could have just laid down and died. The team didn't and Daniels specifically didn't. Hopefully, his hustle will be infectious.

If Noble can play this year it will be marvelous. If he can play as well as he did two seasons ago it would be miraculous. And even if he is as good as he was two season ago, that is not a level of play that will strike fear in the hearts of offensive coordinators around the NFL. A healthy Brandon Noble will certainly be an upgrade at DT, but that ain't sayin' much.

When was Reynaldo Wynn's last "impact season"? Maybe he's due to have one now; maybe he doesn't have one to give?

I have the same questions to ask about Regan Upshaw? Here's a guy who can use a fire lit under his butt and maybe Daniels is the guy to do it? If Upshaw plays like he did last year, this will be his last season in Washington.

Cornelius Griffin is an interesting player to watch. As a rookie, he was one of the guys that people around the league thought could blossom into a star. He hasn't. In fact, some people argue that he has been significantly worse each season after his rookie year. Maybe the departure of John Fox had something to do with that and now Griffin being under the tutelage of another top-shelf defensive coordinator moight just rejuvenate his career. This is a player to watch in the pre-season games and in the early season games. He could be a significant difference-maker for the Skins this year. Or he could be mediocre...

Haley is a guy who can give other players a breather. That's it. If Haley is playing 30 snaps a game on defense, the DL is in deep yogurt.

Another area that may need some upgrading is the interior of the OL. Randy Thomas played well last year and seems to be a solid guard. The center and left guard positions last year were downright bad. Some of the teams blitzed up the middle against the Skins and it looked like the defenders were sprinting to the QB on an Interstate highway. Maybe Joe Bugel can teach these guys how to play better - or maybe they need other guys there who have more ability?

The safeties last year were not stellar. I suspect that the way to improve that position will be to bring in someone else to play the position. None of the folks back there looked like stars-in-the-making.

The CBs this year are not as good as the CBs last year. You can be as angry as you want with Champ Bailey for spurning the Redskins' contract offer, but the flat out fact is that Champ is a better CB than Shawn Springs. Springs is very good; Bailey is excellent. The Skins do not need to upgrade the CB position other than to assure depth at the position.

By the way, someone said that the safeties should be blitzing a lot this year because of the strength of the CBs. Well, if that is the case, then they coulda done that last year too because the CBs were even better last year. Hopefully, Gregg Williams will have some of that blitzing action in his defensive repertoire.

The outside linebackers are more than satisfactory. The inside LBs - on the assumption that Trotter moves on - are not very good. But they can probably pick up a satisfactory MLB after the June 1 cuts.