Redskins Lions postgame

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

One important thing to keep in mind: teams that have great continuity from year to year don't have great continuity because they fear changing their starters, they just have a great player development system that promotes players from within right when they are entering their prime.

The Redskins don't have this. They didn't promote even one starter from within between 2012 and 2013. So what they have is the second oldest team in football (after the one that just beat us) thats just hanging on to declining vets because they feel they are limited to replace them only through current year draft picks and free agents (cap space).

So while it was a pretty impressive accomplishment that they were able to keep last year's team together, it also meant they're really struggling to improve the roster on last year.

I think that goes back to the cap hit we took the past two years.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by firstdown

I think that goes back to the cap hit we took the past two years.

Cap penalty or no cap penalty, a football team can choose it's veterans. You're stuck with the young talent you bring in because of rookie contracts and the waivers system, but the veteran market is different. You can always save money by cutting.

If the players in their first three seasons were struggling, and that's why the team was 0-3, you might suggest that the cap penalty was limiting the team from getting enough talent to compete. But the young players who were drafted have been thrust into the lineup almost immediately and have more than held their own.

If you make a list of guys who aren't helping, you get Fletcher and Meriweather near the top, but also Fred Davis, Will Montgomery, Tyler Polumbus, Stephen Bowen, Adam Carriker, and probably Josh Morgan (though I'm feeling more charatable yesterday after AlfMo's TD run). There's just a ton of cap dollars tied up there that have nothing to do with the penalty.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Cap penalty or no cap penalty, a football team can choose it's veterans. You're stuck with the young talent you bring in because of rookie contracts and the waivers system, but the veteran market is different. You can always save money by cutting.

If the players in their first three seasons were struggling, and that's why the team was 0-3, you might suggest that the cap penalty was limiting the team from getting enough talent to compete. But the young players who were drafted have been thrust into the lineup almost immediately and have more than held their own.

If you make a list of guys who aren't helping, you get Fletcher and Meriweather near the top, but also Fred Davis, Will Montgomery, Tyler Polumbus, Stephen Bowen, Adam Carriker, and probably Josh Morgan (though I'm feeling more charatable yesterday after AlfMo's TD run). There's just a ton of cap dollars tied up there that have nothing to do with the penalty.

I don't think your last sentence/paragraph is particularly accurate, the cap penalty not only limits spending, but precludes "arbitrary" use of dead space. We could have cut one or two of the players you listed, but it would have forced more restructures that the team obviously wanted to avoid. I am also surprised to see Bowen in your list, because my understanding is his play hasn't been in the category of Meriweather/Davis/Carriker, and once Jenkins/Jackson are back in the rotation, I imagine our front will have a better rotation to it.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

I don't think your last sentence/paragraph is particularly accurate, the cap penalty not only limits spending, but precludes "arbitrary" use of dead space. We could have cut one or two of the players you listed, but it would have forced more restructures that the team obviously wanted to avoid. I am also surprised to see Bowen in your list, because my understanding is his play hasn't been in the category of Meriweather/Davis/Carriker, and once Jenkins/Jackson are back in the rotation, I imagine our front will have a better rotation to it.

No, Bowen hasn't been underperforming (or not performing) like Meriweather, Davis, Carriker have, but he's in a different pay grade. Cofield is in that pay grade, but Cofield is arguably our most dependable defensive player, a lever of performance you expect for $6 mil/year.

My point is not that the cap penalty isn't constraining the team at some level, it clearly is, but rather that at the rate we waste money, $18 million extra in cap space isn't buying us a 2-1 start or even a 1-2 start. It probably makes Baccari Rambo a backup, but I really think that for the most part the coaches to a man would vouch for the roster they built. It's strictly a player selection issue: these vets we have are not the very best that were available to us.

The draft pick value we gave up in the RG3 trade constrained the organization a lot worse than the cap penalty did.