There is a subject that is very near and dear to my heart. It is probably one of the most important things in terms of my sports life. It brings me great joy and, more often, great disappointment. And they have recently been in the news with one of their risky, splashy off-season moves.
Washington has sold the farm in order to acquire the second round pick in this years NFL Draft. A pick that will almost surely bring them one Robert Griffin III.
I haven't spoken on this subject. Not in a blog post or a tweet or anything. I'm not upset about it. I've just been marinating on it. And I feel I'm ready to discuss my feelings.
First let me take you through how I found out about the RG3 news. I was convinced, despite everyone else's opinion, that Peyton Manning would be coming to DC. I mean why not! It's not like they've had a terrible history of QB's there since Lawrence Taylor created the reason for the movie the Blind Side (Theisman was one thing LT, but did you have to give us that film too?).
All sarcasm aside, I figured DC would be a Manning town. Of course RG3 was in the back of my mind, but he was a distant dream for me. A young QB who could be implicated as our long time franchise player would be amazing but he would cost us a great deal. The Ram's set the price tag for their pick, and if they were going to go that option, I knew the Skins would have to go above that call. So even though Manning was a more short term option, he was cheaper and could give more immediate results. Lock it up! Let's go!
Then, on Friday night, I was hanging out with my girlfriend. We were watching not SportsCenter on TV (her turn to pick). Then my phone blew up. All of my friends were texting me and informing me of the move made by the Washington. I was caught way off guard. I was excited but a little confused about how I should feel at the same time.
They traded this years 1st and 2nd round pick along with 1st round picks for the next 2 years, for this year's 2nd pick. It's not hard to see how this hurts the growth progress for years to come.
Washington has been notorious for making terrible free agent moves and, recently, have made up for that shortcoming with good drafting. Unfortunately, they don't have the best odds of this for the next few years. It is very possible they strike oil late in the draft this year (they're highest pick being number 70) but without the first round for a while, it's going to be a struggle.
So that's it. Let's call it a franchise. Send it in as a loss boys. No! That would be stupid! We just got RG3! And here's my crazy, outlandish call of the week! RG3 will make Andrew Luck look like Wolfgang Puck! SHABAM!
The truth of the matter is, were not really that bad at free agency anymore. Since the Redskkins signed GM Bruce Allen after the 2009 season, Washington has actually been pretty good. They signed Donte Stallworth and Jabar Gaffney, both of whom had big seasons. He brought in Tim Hightower, who should be a dangerous combo with Roy Helu now that he is healthy for 2012. And he brought in coach Mike Shanahan and his staff! If nothing else, this got rid of Jim Zorn, and I couldn't be happier about that. You can even leave the McNabb deal in there (which I do because I think it was a great deal if they could have just followed up and given him his second year chance) and that's still an impressive resume for only 2 years in the league. Has Allen revolutionized the franchise by taking the reigns out of Dan Snyders completely incapable hands? It's too soon to tell right now.
But the future is looking less and less hopeful every day. Yesterday, news came down that Washington and the Cowboys would face salary cap restrictions due to deals made during the break in CBA's. I don't understand this or even pretend to and hopefully this will be overturned. But at this point it looks as if Washington will lose $36 Million of cap space. Ouch NFL. Why don't you take our kidney's while your in there! I hardly use my right lung!
So what's the thing to do when you can't draft and free agency is looking bleak as well. Develop the players you already have of course! Thanks to good drafting over the past few years, Washington has accrued some young talent. Like WR's Leonard Hankerson from the U and Niles Paul from Nebraska. They also picked up the backfield threats in Evan Royster and Roy Helu, both of whom have already made contributions. And that's not even mentioned the explosive defense that reached a turning point with the addition of Brian Orakpo in 2009. Factoring in having Shanahan and his staff, we really have a chance to create some real hometown heroes.
Washington has been in a 15 year rebuilding period. Giving up so much to get a true franchise QB solidifies this thought process. Are the Skins finally reaching the end of this rebuilding? Can we rebuild it? Do they have the technology? Yes they do, but annabolic steroids are kind of a bugga boo right now.
When it comes down to it, there are only a couple key questions. Who will RG3 throw to? Who will protect RG3? Are we going to have to call him RG3 for the rest of his career? Is "Griffin" appropriate or do we have to say "Griffin the Third"? Is "Robert" too informal? Such great questions ahead of us. Maybe RG3 can help us find the answers.
No comments:
Post a Comment