Casserly Keeping his options open

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Originally Posted by Bill B

I would say sign either Lloyd or ARE but not both. I am not saying go out and use the money we saved by not signing both to go sign Steve Hutchinson - everyone knows he is a all pro and a starter. I say you get quality backups if you can. I know that finding these guys is tough but at least if you have the money you have the chance to go get them. Maybe you strike out and some of the quality backups are not that great, but at least you have the cap space to do it.

Also I would say you try to get these backups without giving up draft choices as they did in the Duckett deal.

All in all I say try you try to get descent backups without giving up draft choices, sign a big free agent or two but don't break the bank for every top flight player out there, and keep as many draft choices as you can so you have more chances to pick a couple of good players. Just maybe this will provide the team with some good depth.

Heck the Patriots had a couple of lineman go down and they had some backups to replace them and they are in the palyoff hunt. They were able to get these backups by not breaking the bank and having the cap space to do it - whats wrong with that philopshy?

There's nothing wrong with that, what I'm saying is what's wrong with OURS? Why not get both Lloyd and Randle El? We still have money leftover. If there's anything the Skins know how to do, it's stretch cap space. You'd think that if whoever the GM was KNEW that Portis, Springs and Pierson would go down, they would have gone out and GOTTEN the aforementioned quality depth.

[Bill B]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

There's nothing wrong with that, what I'm saying is what's wrong with OURS? Why not get both Lloyd and Randle El? We still have money leftover. If there's anything the Skins know how to do, it's stretch cap space. You'd think that if whoever the GM was KNEW that Portis, Springs and Pierson would go down, they would have gone out and GOTTEN the aforementioned quality depth.

Would the GM know that these exact players you mentioned got hurt - no but I would hope a prudent GM would know that injuries are part of the game and therefore they should try to get as many good players as the the 51 man roster will allow. By focusing on the 22 starters yes you may win the offseason championshiop as our Redskins seem to do, but when the inevitable happens and some of your players get hurt you need to have someone to go in and pick up the slack. The Redskins do this somewhat in my opinon: I give an round of applause for the Todd Wade signing as ths was a great pickup for depth as you can't expect all 5 linemand to go through the season injury free. I also love the resigning of Betts as I think that a running back has a much higher chance to have some injuries - especially if the Redskins go with their smashmouth, run first identity. When Portis carried the ball as much as he did the first two years there had to be at least a discussion that he may be getting a little too much wear and tear.

But I hope the Skins FO changes their collective mindset and accepts the fact that injuries can happen - even to your star players as you listed above and therefore they should put a little more focus on the backups.

Other teams have had their star players go down too - for example when the Eagles FO meet in the offseason they probably asked a question along these lines "Do you think the one of our best players by the name of McNabb has a tendency to scramble a lot and therefore his chances of getting hurt are higher". The collective answer was most likely yes so what do they do - the sign a quality backup in Jeff Garcia and when Mcnabb goes down theie season is not lost and they still have a chance to get in the playoffs. They wqere able to get Garcia because of the availble cap space.

Is any team going to able to find quality backup starters for every position - no way in my opinion. But the goal should be to get as many contingency starters/backups as you can and if that means forgoing not signing all the top level free agents to have the cap space to me that seems the more prudent thing to do.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

There's nothing wrong with that, what I'm saying is what's wrong with OURS? Why not get both Lloyd and Randle El? We still have money leftover. If there's anything the Skins know how to do, it's stretch cap space. You'd think that if whoever the GM was KNEW that Portis, Springs and Pierson would go down, they would have gone out and GOTTEN the aforementioned quality depth.

But we did get (if not already have) that depth. Portis goes down, we had Betts and got Duckett. Springs goes down, we had Kenny Wright (a starter on the Jags last year), Pierson goes down we got Vernon Fox and later Troy Vincent. So it's not like we couldn't or didn't get depth. Question, as I've brought up before, is did we get the right guys?

[Bill B]

Originally Posted by TAFKAS

But we did get (if not already have) that depth. Portis goes down, we had Betts and got Duckett. Springs goes down, we had Kenny Wright (a starter on the Jags last year), Pierson goes down we got Vernon Fox and later Troy Vincent. So it's not like we couldn't or didn't get depth. Question, as I've brought up before, is did we get the right guys?

TAFKAS - would you also question the method in which some of the depth was obtained - specifically giving up a 3rd rounder and either a possible swappage of 1rst rounder or 4th rounder next year?

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by Bill B

TAFKAS - would you also question the method in which some of the depth was obtained - specifically giving up a 3rd rounder and either a possible swappage of 1rst rounder or 4th rounder next year?

Specifically in regards to the Duckett case, which is the one you're addressing here, yes that move has really baffled me to this point.