check this stat out....

[cwboyh8ter]

Of the 11 offensive starters and the 11 defensive starters for the Colts all 22 have only played for the Colts. This is what a good GM does! I sure hope we atleast keep our draft picks instead of giving them away, even if we will never have a GM to use them. HAIL!

[BrudLee]

It's an interesting stat, but I'm not sure if that's "what a good GM does." Does New England have a bad GM (or fancy title equivalent) for bringing in Moss, Stallworth, and Welker?

We found Lorenzo Alexander on the figurative trash heap, and he became a valuable contributor. That's one thing a good GM does - find talent from many sources.

I'd love it if every draft pick we made panned out - but it ain't going to happen.

[cwboyh8ter]

Originally Posted by BrudLee

It's an interesting stat, but I'm not sure if that's "what a good GM does." Does New England have a bad GM (or fancy title equivalent) for bringing in Moss, Stallworth, and Welker?

We found Lorenzo Alexander on the figurative trash heap, and he became a valuable contributor. That's one thing a good GM does - find talent from many sources.

I'd love it if every draft pick we made panned out - but it ain't going to happen.

Point well taken, a GM has many duties and there are many ways to build a team. My underlying message here is our front office has had many free agent bust that have costed us many draft picks as well as cap problems(23 million) that we must deal with this off season! Late round draft picks should be the core of the team for years not trade bait.

[GoSkins!]

Well, I think that if you have drafted all you starters on offense and defense and you are a playoff caliber team then the GM has done an outstanding job! Of course it doesn't hurt to have Payton Manning to cover for your bad picks...

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by cwboyh8ter

Point well taken, a GM has many duties and there are many ways to build a team. My underlying message here is our front office has had many free agent bust that have costed us many draft picks as well as cap problems(23 million) that we must deal with this off season! Late round draft picks should be the core of the team for years not trade bait.

We've been this "cap crisis" for several seasons now, yet we always find a way to sign players and to keep the ones we're really wanting to keep; at least for the most part. A lot of that, I'm sure, could probably be contributed to Joe Gibbs. The poor management of personell in the past probably comes two fold. Dan and Vinny didn't know what they were doing at first, and the coaching staffs of the past were not good with talent evaluation either. I might would throw up an expection with Marty Schottenheimer. Still, Gibbs came in and found some good players to build a team with while hopefully "teaching" Dan and Vinny on scouting for talent. Sure, we had some not so great signings in Gibbs II, but in the end, we've gotten a good core group of guys together to make a run in the playoffs.

If anything, I am hoping the FO has taken note of what Gibbs has done while he was here, and won't do the things they were famous for doing in the past. I'm not sure if another GM will necessarily be what "fixes" everything in Redskins nation. I wouldn't be against it, but I don't know if it's such a glaring need at this point.

[BrudLee]

The cap problem is a phantom issue (as documented here, among other places). We massage our salary cap as well as any team in the league.

As for high profile free agency turds... we may lead the league in those. We didn't pick up any last year, but we held onto Lloyd (partly because we couldn't shed Lloyd and Archuleta in the same year) and that turned out pretty rotten. The thing is, aside from the Patriots this year and the Colts (as you've pointed out), just about everyone has a free agent they'd rather not have grabbed. Someone is always taking up too much space on someone's roster.

Even New England has players that are probably earning more than they are producing. I could easily argue that Donte' Stallworth is overpaid on that roster, considering the production his teammates have put out. He makes $225k less than Moss on the cap, and over a million more than Welker (thanks, PatsCap.com!). They have a backup FB (Kyle Eckel) counting for $5.6 million on this year's cap!

My point (and I do have one) is that nobody does this perfectly. There are a number of teams that believe if you hit on half your picks after the first round, you are successful. It isn't realistic to expect the guys from rounds 4-7 to be quality starters, it's just pleasantly surprising if that happens.