The New Look Washington Redskins: We Hardly Knew You

They had me. The Washington Redskins, my hometown team that I grew up cherishing and loved until my necessary allegiances to the Packers took over, had me impressed on their strategy and management this off-season.

They were resisting the previous urges they had show towards quick-fix free agent signings. They were demonstrating learned behavior from their past ways that included years in 2001 and 2002 where they seemed to put together an NFL all-star team – from 1996! The days of signing the likes of Bruce Smith, Deign Sanders, Mark Carrier, Jeremiah Trotter and other defensive players long past their prime seemed to be a thing of the past.

They seemed to be focused on building a young team with savvy draft choices, albeit precious few of them due to past trading of future for present. They seemed committed to growing the product with a young, ascending player, Jason Campbell, at the most critical position of quarterback. They drafted solid young receivers to grow with him and have the makings of a nice offense that is built to last.

They had grown their salary cap to a workable number, in the 10M range, after being the only team in the NFL with negative Cap flow prior to the start of the league year. 10M is hardly the neighborhood of the teams most flush with Cap room such as the Chiefs or Packers with over 30M, but a nice cushion and a far cry from where the Redskins have been with their regular scrambles to stay above the Mendoza line of ground zero on the available Cap room chart.

So much for all that. That 10M just went to a little more than 1M and that strategy of building and no quick fixes just became a previous strategy. A couple injuries on the defensive line on the first day of practice of training camp (the first day for any NFL team) and, after a relatively silent few months, the Dolphins’ phone lines were ringing about Jason Taylor. There is no doubt there were high-fives and fist bumps in Miami when they were able to unload 8M in salary (9M next year) and a 33 year-old player that did not want to be there (on a team that didn’t seem to want him there) for a second-round draft choice next year (and a sixth the following year).

I know the Redskins argument. The need was there and a player of the highest caliber was available; thus the trade was made. This was clearly not a trade they were interested in making but for the desperation of the injuries. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and those measures were taken.

Jason Taylor has been and may continue to be a productive player (and dancer). He may lead the Redskins in sacks and continue to be one of the league leaders. He may be in incredible physical shape and continue to show no signs of age. That is the best-case scenario. Then there is reality.

Jason Taylor is 33 with a load of wear and tear on his body (he has started every game for the past 8 seasons). Despite all the rhetoric about him being in great shape, he is 33 and he would readily admit – unless he is lying – that he is not the same player he was years ago. 33 year-old joints are not the same as 26 year-old joints, even in the most highly conditioned athletes such as Taylor. And he is moving to a new defense, a schematic change for someone who has been in that system for 11 years.

It is hard to come up with names of defensive players in their 30s who have made impacts with new teams, by virtue of trade or free agency. One reason for that is that there are not that many as teams, save for the Redskins of years ago, shy away from players with age for good reason.

The Redskins have mortgaged their second-round selection next year for a 33-year player with an 8M salary that says he will play two years, although there is nothing holding him to that statement. I suppose they can never get far from that statement of former coach George Allen some 35 years ago, “The Future is Now”. As with everything in life, time will tell.