Pierce Expected to Become UFA

[JWsleep]

Here's a theory: This is the result of Danny-boy overpaying over the last five years. Gibbs is in town, and the purse strings are being held a little tighter this time. No over-the-top payouts. And Gibbs was burned by the Brunell thing. The skins are playing it tight, so players and their agents are holding out.

So be it. I for one am tired of overpaying for players. What has it got us in terms of wins? Find the players that want to be here, and go with them. We have to lose our reputation as a player/agent ATM.

[Daseal]

I mean - this is posturing. Expect a lot of it. Many of these guys will probably stay unless they get an unreal offer from another club. Both Smoot and Pierce saw a lot of success in the scheme. I can also understand how lack of wins could really start to drag a player down emotionally and they want to rejuvinate themselves somewhere new.

[CROOKEDSKINS]

Hopefully Smoot and Pierce stay.Pierce had a great year he was just flat out playing ball and i think he would fit into anyones system.I dont blame him for wanting to see whats out there but i hope he stays home

[ST21]

I agree, we need to stop over paying players...do you guys know if this was NE, that Bill would say....watch the door nob on your way out....let their ass go....by by

[MTK]

If Pierce leaves we'd better hope Barrow can get back to 100%, or perhaps someone like Marshall can slide in to the middle like Pierce did last year.

Imagine an offseason where we lose Smoot, Pierce and Coles?! It could become a reality.

[MTK]

I know this stinks but it's time for us to face reality. We can't just re-sign everybody and then turn around and pursue every major free agent on the market. Every NFL team has these sort of contract battles each offseason, time for us to take some lumps.

I'd love to see guys like Smoot and Pierce back in Redskins uniforms next year, but they have to be back at the right price. The team obviously has a number in mind for what these guys are worth, and surprise, surprise the players think they are worth more.

Hopefully we can find a middle ground and get these guys back, I think we are bound to lose one of them, but losing both of them will be hard to swallow.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

It would be terrible to start losing all these players, but I think this is one of those "Going to get worse before it gets better" situations. Snyder has had a history of over-paying and now it is coming back to bite him in the ass.

[CRT3]

He has a history of getting good players to. Players want to come here and with Gibbs here it can only get better. They were pretty close last year.

[Redskins_P]

I wonder what kind of money Pierce is asking for? I really hope we get him resigned.

[Daseal]

Whoever alluded to the Patriots, do you think they'd be in team mentallity if they were winning 5 or 6 games a season? I doubt it, we're going to see guys (like Patton) come out and get overpaid because they have their championships so they're ready to make a buck elsewhere. Winning cures a LOT of problems. I honestly think these guys are curious about what they can get on the market

I also stand that Smoot is more important than Pierce. Barrow, Marshall, someone can play MLB. We have lots of young good LBs. We're quite a bit shorter at corner. I'd like to keep them all, but let's wait and see what happens.

[MTK]

3 straight NFC Championships and a SB appearance? I wish we had those sort of problems.

Say what you will about the Eagles, but for the last 4 years they've been one of the best teams in the NFC and the entire league.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

3 straight NFC Championships and a SB appearance? I wish we had those sort of problems.

Say what you will about the Eagles, but for the last 4 years they've been one of the best teams in the NFC and the entire league.

I agree If you notice I ended by saying I wish we could fail like that.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by firstdown

I agree If you notice I ended by saying I wish we could fail like that.

Yeah I know, I was just elaborating on your point.

[Shane]

Losing Antonio Pierce would likely be a serious loss. He has been a coach on the field, the quarterback of the defense. Our defense could take a serious step backwards without him on the field.

Still, you can't overpay for one player - that would have a worse consequence. If Mike Barrow can get healthy, though, that would mitigate the loss of Pierce a lot because he can fill in that quarterback of the defense role. But Pierce would be a mainstay for years to come if we could sign him. Hopefully, he won't sign somewhere else just to make a little more money.

With the mess with Coles, this is what can happen when you don't sign "all for one and one for all" team players, and instead shoot for all the big star signings. Fortunately, in the Gibbs era, we have changed our philosophy. However, we are still in transition and it takes time to restructure your team.

Losing Smoot would be unfortunate, but we have good players who are ready to move into that spot, who may turn out to be new Antonio Pierce's, and there are free agents out there we can look at.

[sportscurmudgeon]

BrudLee:

You forgot to mention Washington and Griffen as two of our top-shelf signings in free agency last year. They played a lot and they played VERY well!


CRT3:

I suggest that Danny Boy has a history of getting three catagories of players:

1. Players who used to be good (Deion, Bruuuuce, Mark Carrier) but are living on their reputations when he signs them.

2. Players who have prodigious physical skills but never seem to be on winning teams (Jeff George)

3. Players who are good but who get paid as if they are already in the Hall of Fame (Trotter, Morton, Coles)

You said they were "pretty close last year" . Pretty close to what? They were 6-10 and the division winner was 13-3. It looks to me as if they lost the division by 7 games and that is more games than they won all year.