NFL DRAFT SCOUT 1/30 mock (Alan Branch, DT)

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Sheriff Gonna Getcha

I am somewhere in between Grim21 and GTripp. I think the Redskins have done a pretty decent job of scouting free agents (e.g., Washington, Griffin, Springs, Daniels, Coles/Moss, Portis, Rabach, Thomas, ARE). Those guys far outnumber the Lloyds and AAs.

On the other hand, they have overpaid for their free agents. They've given them fat contracts (e.g., AAs being the richest for ANY safety in the history of the league). They've also overpaid to acquire them (e.g., 3rd rounder for Brunell, 3rd and 4th rounders for Lloyd, 3rd rounder for Duckett).

Then there is the whole matter of the draft. Cooley was an excellent find int he 3rd round, Taylor had a bad 2006 campaign but should be stud, Golston is an oustanding find when you consider he was a 6th rounder, Campbell looks very promising and may prove to be worth more than we gave up to get him, and it is still too early to judge Rocky McIntosh. But, Rogers was perhaps a big mistake (especially considering Ware and Merriman were on the board).

I'm not sure what Merriman or Ware would be playing in our defense. I think that Carlos will work out fine after awhile anyway. He already provides great run defense, and has shown flashes of shut down cover skills. I think our current college scouting department really knows their stuff. Look at Campbell; dudes a projected 3rd rounder and we trade our 2006 first rounder to move up into the bottom half of the 1st round to get him. He's probably going to be a top 10 QB in this league by 2008.

But your post is pretty much what I was saying in not so many words. The Skins have built a great core through free agency. They proved that it can be done and sustained. They have just made some idiotic mistakes that are equally as frusterating for me now as they were at the time they were made.

It's going to cost us over 2008 and 2009 since we dont even have 25 roster caliber players under contract for 08, yet we are within 6 million dollars of the cap, and that doesnt even count the signing bonus allocation/base salary of our 6th overall pick and any free agents we get this year and next year, and our draft picks in 2008. We will probably be over the cap by 4-5 million and still need to add 15-20 players to the payroll just to field a team. Then we're in a predicament. We could restructure every and all veterans, but thats only going to make the situation 50% worse in 09 and 10. If you make substancial cuts, you start the road to recovery with little roster talent for the 08-09 seasons. It's unfortunate because this situation could have been completely avoided with our current philosophy with some light film study prior to signing FAs and not giving our draft picks away for nothing.

So in summary, we've pioneered IMO a legit method for roster building, and ultimately screwed it up for ourselves.