Dan Snyder's worst free-agent signing

[Lotus]

George has a strong case. I never understood the George love when we already had Brad Johnson.

But I voted Arch Deluxe. You could argue that he was paid way too much even if he had been a great. But he was a mediocre player whose style did not fit our defense at all. He had no chance to succeed. He was a vastly overpaid square peg in a round hole from the start.

[artmonkforhallofamein07]

This debate is not even close in my book, for the simple fact that we already had a winning QB here, and not to mention the fact that the last time we had a winning offensive team was with Brad Johnson at the healm. Signing Jeff G segt this team back offensively for years to come after wards. Brad johson was a good QB and the last good one we have had here. So for me the buck stops at Jeff George. He came in and completely f'ed our team.

All of the other guys can have a case made for them, but Jeff was a guy who came in and ruined it.

The others were positions of need at the time and were just busts.

[Longtimefan]

A good case could be made for everyone on the list, I'm going with a name not on the list. Brandon Lloyd, came from an organization Vinny was very familiar with. The word on him spread quickly among players, couldn't figure why Vinnie never got it.

[MTK]

Deion was never a good tackler, just wasn't his game. He was a pure cover corner and one of the best. I believe he only gave up 1 TD his year here.

[FRPLG]

George by a mile. Didn't need him and everyone knew it was bound to be a disaster. After that I go with Arch...but he gets a little bit of a pass since Grills really wanted him.

Deon was a dceent move..no reason to think he was going to be so crappy. AH was a great move...he's a top player...they knew the risk when they took and it isn't hurting us cap-wise since the cap doesn't exist.

[mlmdub130]

from wiki

After the 2005 season ended, he was one of the most sought after free agent safeties. The Redskins made him the highest paid safety in the history of the NFL by signing Archuleta to a six-year, $30 million contract (with approximately $10 million guaranteed) on March 14, 2006 [1] Archuleta started at strong safety for 7 of 16 games played with the Redskins, registering 50 tackles and one sack to go along with career-high 17 special teams tackles. He appeared in all 16 regular season contests for third time in career, registering a sack for sixth consecutive season, the longest active streak for an NFL safety. However, after struggles in the deep passing game for the Redskins, Archuleta was replaced at the strong safety position with Troy Vincent, and played only on special teams the last half of the season. On December 28, 2006, Archuleta expressed his displeasure with the way the Redskins were using him, and the lack of communication from the coaching staff.

it has to be aa it was just an all around terrible move. the guy was beat out of his job by troy vincent, by the end of the season he was a f-ing special teams player that had 10 mil guaranteed, it just mind bottling. we should so put ah on special teams

edit: didn't realize we set records for contracts in the nfl with aa and ah

[ArtMonkDrillz]

Originally Posted by mlmdub130

from wiki



it has to be aa it was just an all around terrible move. the guy was beat out of his job by troy vincent, by the end of the season he was a f-ing special teams player that had 10 mil guaranteed, it just mind bottling. we should so put ah on special teams

edit: didn't realize we set records for contracts in the nfl with aa and ah

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

[Gmanc711]

If we're talking just FA's... its got to be Arch. I mean that guy did NOTHING for us.... I could at least argue that the other guys contributed in some way in at least a couple games.

I mean Haynesworth has all this off the feild drama, but without him, Orakpo and Carter down combine for 22 sacks last year.

Sanders wasnt that bad, IMO... and he had that nice punt return to beat the Bucs in 2000.

I have to think that Jeff George threw at least one TD pass...

The only thing Arch was good for was blowing the coverage on Witten in 2006, to set up the Hands of God block/Taylor Return/Novack winner.....

[Monkeydad]

Archuleta.

[diehard]

AH because of the amount of money he stole.

[over the mountain]

2 things about the arch deluxe if i remember correctly.

before his benching, he lead the skins in tackles.

the nfl and individual teams chart their own stats of tackles, etc. arch deluxe was the only player i remember that had his own team crediting him with less tackles than the NFL.

to some degree, i think arch was made a scape goat. and he sucked in deep coverage which i thought everyone knew was not his strong suit.

[Defensewins]

Originally Posted by over the mountain

2 things about the arch deluxe if i remember correctly.

before his benching, he lead the skins in tackles.

the nfl and individual teams chart their own stats of tackles, etc. arch deluxe was the only player i remember that had his own team crediting him with less tackles than the NFL.

to some degree, i think arch was made a scape goat. and he sucked in deep coverage which i thought everyone knew was not his strong suit.

This is where stats are misleading. His tackle numbers were so high because opposing QB's would look for him and throw to whoever Archuleta was covering. Archuleta was the weak link in the secondary and every Qb knew it. He was benched for a reason, because his level of play was terrible, not because he was made a scape goat. A safety being bad in deep coverage is like a running back being bad at running the ball or a QB being bad at throwing.

[rbanerjee23]

I went with Arch b/c Fat Al, George, and Sanders were established players. Archuleta was only average to slightly above average and we gave him a monster contract.

[JoeRedskin]

Each bad in their own way. My list from bad to worstest:

4. Deion: Eh. He played hired gun all his career and that's exactly what we got. Didn't really address a need or significantly improve the team, but he punched the clock played the game and went home. He came here for the money, gave a decent (but not outstanding) effort, and left. I don't think he was cancerous to the team or a liability on the field.

Ultimately, the problem with the signing was that Snyder paid prime time bucks for late night entertainment. Ohhhh, Snyder overpaid. shocker.

3. Fat Al: Was okay with the signing at first, bought his act about wanting to succeed, be a HOF'er and Skin forever. He fed me the drug I love and I ate up. Shame on me. He lied. He's a malcontent and a player who's own team mates feel is unreliable during a game. Shame on him.

As for the signing itself, he was the top player in the UFA class, and we had a real need at DL for a playmaker. In hindsight, horrible signing. At the time of signing - obscene though the money was, it wasn't that bad a move.

2. Archulleta: Snyder lowballed Ryan Clark in order to make a slow, injury prone safety the highest player at his position? A guy who's coverage skills are suspect at best?? Why, when we have a perfectly suitable home grown talent who is a mentor to our best defensive player? At the time of signing this was an idiotic move.

Then he gets here! Guess what, the boy can't play. He's a whiny little boy who feels he been treated badly and goes crying to the press (I am sure it was he who was behind the Tom Friend article blasting the Skin's defensive coaches). He is the NFL's answer to "Mr. Softey". In hindsight, it was an even worse signing than it appearred to be originally.

1. Jeff George: I just don't know where to begin. A prima donna all his career, a guy with a rocket for an arm and rocks for a brain. Team? What team? I'm Jeff F'ing George and I can throw the ball through a wall so it doesn't matter that I don't give a sh** about the rest of you.

I don't remember the game - but my most memorable picture of George was in a game we were losing (shocker) and the O-Line was over matched (In part b/c "standing tall" was not one of George's better qualities - why bust your butt for a QB who isn't going to do the same for you). You could f'ing smell the fear radiating from George as he looked out over center. The announcers saw it, the opposing team saw it, and his own team mates saw it. The ball snapped, he took a 3 step drop and literally fell to the turf as an opponent grabbed his shoulder pad. You could see the disgust on his linemen's face (BTW - he had had a couple sacks but that game, but nothing like JC had to deal with on a regular basis this season).

All of Snyder's worst mistakes - paying too much for moderate talent, going for the splashy player rather than the better team player, being incredibly petty (Snyder wouldn't even shake Johnson's hand after a victory) and meddling in the management of the team at all levels were brought out in the George signing and in his time with the Skins.

He was diva, a coward and a loser. And b/c of him, we let a tough as nails, Super Bowl wining QB hit the road.

[CRedskinsRule]

I said Archuleta although he may have been a scapegoat. The thing with Deion is he set the trend of stealing DS' money, and kinda led the way for future FA stealers, culminating with AH thinking he could take 21M and just walk away. I am very glad the FO now is trying to put an end to that specific image!