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(photo by Brian Murphy)

So far this week, we’ve taken a look the Albert Haynesworth signing and the releases of both cornerback Shawn Springs and defensive end Jason Taylor. In our third and final installment, we’ll focus on two familiar names the Washington Redskins brought back into the fold.

In 2008, cornerback DeAngelo Hall signed a seven-year, $68-million deal with the Oakland Raiders. Things didn’t go very well in Oakland and when the dysfunctional franchise opted to clean house, they started with the newest players on the roster – including the former Virginia Tech standout. The Raiders thanked Hall for signing with them and explained that the move wasn’t personal. Owner AL Davis had just decided to take the team in a different direction. But honestly, why should Hall have cared? He got a cool $8 million for just eight games in the silver and black.

Once a free agent, Hall was sought after by well-respected organizations such as the New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers and others. He ultimately chose the Redskins because they were the team he grew up rooting for and playing for them would move him closer to his hometown of Chesapeake, Virginia. The ‘Skins, in what was the steal of the year, signed Hall for the remainder of the season for just $492,000.

When Hall arrived in town he came with potential baggage. In Atlanta there had been questions about his character and rumors of a “me-first” attitude. In Oakland, Hall seemed to get burnt every time a quarterback threw the ball his way. But as everyone knows by now, Hall was on his best behavior off the field and one of the Redskins’ best defenders on it.

In the first quarter of his first game with the Redskins, Hall jumped on a pass by Dallas quarterback Tony Romo that was intended for wide out Terrell Owens. If you want to win over ‘Skins fans, that’s a good start. Although he played in just eight games for Washington, Hall finished second on the team in interceptions and was the only consistent playmaker on the Redskins defense the second half of the season.

Back in early December, we asked Hall how he seemingly overnight transformed from a guy who “experts” thought was toast during his time in Oakland to a bona-fide playmaker in D.C.

“My hat just goes off to the scheme,” he said. “It gives me a chance to see the ball. That was one of the biggest things I didn’t like about Oakland. I’m a guy who likes to try and see the ball and try to make a play for the ball. I feel like I got pretty good hands. I played a little bit of receiver too, so any times I can get my hands on the ball I try to catch it. I’ve just been put in good positions. We’ve made good calls on those plays and I was able to make a play.”

Basically, Hall failed in Oakland for the same reason the Jason Taylor experiment didn’t work out here. The organization, for whatever reason, declined to utilize the Pro Bowl player in a way that maximized his abilities. It wasn’t Taylor’s fault he was a bad fit for Greg Blache’s defense, and it wasn’t Hall’s fault that he’s better suited playing in a different defensive scheme than what they ran in Oakland.

By all accounts, Hall is a perfect fit for the Redskins – both on and off the field.

The other move the team made at the start of free agency involved the return of guard Derrick Dockery, who was a third-round pick by the ‘Skins back in 2003. After four solid years as one of Joe Bugel’s Dirtbags, Dockery departed via free agency when the secretly-inept Buffalo Bills blew him away with a seven-year, $49 million deal. At the time we openly asked for an explanation as to how the Bills came to the decision to offer that much money to the Redskins’ third or fourth best offensive lineman and wondered what they would have paid someone like tackle Chris Samuels.

Dockery was solid and dependable on the field, but was never spectacular. In his early years he was viewed as a big body with raw talent. He’d make a good play, but then follow it up with a head scratcher. Anyone who followed the ‘Skins in his early days knew Dockery was good for one false start or holding penalty a game. Sure, his game improved as he matured, but we seriously doubt anyone outside of the Dockery family ever sat down just to watch Derrick play.

So when the Bills offered a ridiculous amount of cash to bring Dockery to Buffalo, the team wished him farewell and acquired veteran offensive lineman Pete Kendall from the New York Jets. Kendall was more reliable than Dockery, but he’s also seven years older. By 2008, Kendall’s arthritic knees were so bad that he sat out Wednesday practices just so he could be ready to go on Sundays. Kendall is a true professional and will always give 100 percent on gamedays, but he’ll be 36 when the season starts and the Redskins have made it a priority to revamp their offensive line this offseason.

When the Bills screwed up a simple trade that would have shipped Dockery to Detroit because they failed to turn in the necessary paperwork in time and would have had to eat a $4 million roster bonus, they decided they’d rather release him than pay him and then trade him. Seeing an opportunity to bring back a well-respected player who is also a good locker room guy, the ‘Skins jumped at the chance to bring back Dockery – giving him a five-year, $27 million deal.

Both the Hall and Dockery signings are solid moves because they’re both young – Hall is 25, Dockery is 28 – and both are known commodities. There’s no doubt that Hall and Dockery work in Washington because we’ve seen it. And as an added bonus, there’s even talk of bringing back Kendall to add depth to the offensive line should he not get a better offer on the free agent market. If the team is going to spend big money each year when free agency kicks off, these are the types of players we can only hope they target.

So while we’ve been critical of the ‘Skins front office in the past, there’s nothing negative to say about either of these moves. Here’s hoping this is a sign of a new philosophy at Redskins Park. Gone are the days of fantasy football. Instead, the team will continue to be aggressive in pursuing the players they desire, but this time around they’ll have a better idea that those players actually work with what the team is trying to do.

It’s not rocket surgery, as Joe Theismann would say, but it’s a start.

(photo by Brian Murphy)

Let us start by following up yesterday’s post about the Washington Redskins’ free agent signing of defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth.

While everyone happily reported that Haynesworth signed a seven-year, $100-million contract, Peter King of Sports Illustrated has had a chance to break down the deal and says in all actuality it’s a four-year, $48-million contract. According to King, the contract calls for Haynesworth to earn $29 million in 2013, $10.8 million in 2014 and $12 million in 2015 – numbers Haynesworth will never actually see.

If that is in fact the case, then we like the signing a whole lot more. Even still, we’ll refrain from getting too excited until we see exactly how the rest of the roster shapes up between now and the first day of training camp.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s move on to the second chapter of our 2009 free agency coverage. Since free agency kicked off last Friday, the Redskins have parted ways with two players – defensive back Shawn Springs and defensive end Jason Taylor. Releasing both veterans saved the ‘Skins more than $14 million in cap space, and if nothing else, was a favor to the medical staff charged with the impossible task of keeping both aging players healthy.

Over the last three seasons, the oft-injured Springs has played in just 34 games of a possible 48 regular season games. With Springs turning 34 this month, it’s unlikely he’s magically going to get any healthier. Conversely, cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who Washington effectively re-signed over Springs, is just 25 years old and has missed just one game over the last three seasons.

Taking a deeper look at their stats, Springs has 30 passes defended over the last three years. Hall has 53. Springs has six interceptions the last three years. Hall has 14. No matter which way you spin it, Hall has outplayed Springs. On a defense that rarely creates turnovers, Hall gives the Redskins a definitive upgrade at the cornerback position.

What’s more, Springs isn’t a team player. While 99 percent of the Redskins players understand how this franchise operates and are willing to sit down during the offseason to help the front office create space under the salary cap for roster improvements, Springs routinely declined. He’s also the same Springs who skipped team workouts in favor of doing his own thing out in Arizona each offseason. In the ultimate team game, Springs always remained an individual.

We debated whether or not to reach out to Springs for comment after his release, but we don’t have tits or a video camera, so he wouldn’t be interested in talking with us.

Taylor’s situation was a little bit different. We didn’t really have a problem with the team acquiring the All-Pro after defensive lineman Phillip Daniels suffered a season-ending injury the first day of training camp a year ago. Sure, a second and sixth rounder are valuable, but this team has never really cared about the draft, so why lose sleep over something beyond your control?

The biggest problem with Taylor was he was a bad fit for the Redskins defense. On the surface, adding a former NFL defensive player of the year to a perennial top-10 defense sounds fantastic. But this scheme was always a poor fit and for whatever reason, defensive coordinator Greg Blache and friends never showed a willingness to try and maximize Taylor’s abilities by adapting the defense.

Remember LaVar Arrington? He was a guy with all-world talent, but freelanced too often for the Redskins’ liking. Well, that’s kind of what Taylor brings to the table. He’s best when allowed to survey the situation at the line of scrimmage and then attack however he sees fit. The ‘Skins, rightfully so, are confident that their proven defense works. Therefore, they asked him to play a position he’s dominated for more than a decade in a completely foreign way. It’s that whole “square peg, round hole” deal. If Blache wasn’t going to use Taylor in the way that made him one of the most dominant players of his era, then why have him?

Thanks to injuries and a difficulty adjusting to a completely different defensive philosophy, Taylor finished the season with just 29 tackles and 3.5 sacks. That’s not bad for a journeyman lineman, but it’s unacceptable for Taylor, who took home more than $8 million last year. Even he knew he was stealing paychecks from the ‘Skins. He said so. But don’t fault him. He’s just did what the team asked him to do.

But now that Taylor’s gone, it’ll be interesting to see what comes next. The $8.5 million in cap space the team now has after cutting Taylor will hopefully be used on adding depth to the offensive and defensive line. One would hope the team now focuses on attempting to bring back free agent defensive lineman Demetric Evans, unless he’s asking for too much money.

Evans is 29 and hasn’t missed a game in four years, not to mention the fact that he had as many sacks as Taylor last season (3.5). If he’s as smart as we think he is, Evans immediately called his agent when Taylor got canned to demand a deal be worked out with Washington. He’s on the record saying he wants to start, well how would he like to do so alongside Andre Carter, Albert Haynesworth and Cornelius Griffin?

It shouldn’t take Evans long to answer that question. And once he does, the team should be able to turn its attention to an aging offensive line that still needs plenty of work. If the team can bring back Evans and upgrade the offensive line with this newfound cap space, then maybe – just maybe – we’ll sit back and smile at what the Redskins have done this offseason.

(photo by John Pappas)

From all of us at Homer McFanboy to all of you in Redskins Nation we have just one word of advice – please proceed with caution.

You would think that everyone involved in this dance would be familiar by now, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. For those who need it, here’s a quick refresher on how things typically play out around here this time of year:

During the Daniel Snyder era the Washington Redskins have always been active in identifying which players they want and aggressively pursuing them. Sometimes that means chartering up the private jet and wooing free agents off their feet with fancy dinners and courtside seats for the once-relevant Wizards. Other times that means sacrificing draft picks in trades to acquire the objects of their desires. Today though, we’ll stick with free agency.

Since the Redskins have hovered around .500 during the Snyder era, players aren’t exactly lining up to play in Washington. That means, more times than not, the ‘Skins front office has to break the bank and overpay to get name players to come to town.

This year, defensive end Albert Haynesworth was the prom queen. He batted his eyes, flashed a smile at Vinny Cerrato and was rewarded with a seven-year, $100-million contract. Even if Haynesworth is a complete bust, he’s still pocketing a record-setting $41 million guaranteed. But don’t hate the player, hate the game the Redskins play.

There are two schools of thought on Haynesworth. The first says that at 27-years-old, Haynesworth is one of the most dominant defensive players in the NFL. He’s a defensive tackle who can take on double and triple teams which frees up teammates to make plays. What’s more, he’s not just a fat body who clogs up the middle – he’s also a playmaker. Haynesworth has more sacks in the last two seasons (14.5) than any other defensive tackle in football. Adding an All-Pro talent to a Redskins defense that at times seems completely unable to get a sack or create turnovers would seem like a no brainer. But in the interest of fairness, let’s look at the other side.

The Redskins rarely develop their own talent. They seemingly prefer to let other teams draft young (i.e. – cheap and affordable) players and spend the time helping those players begin to realize their talent. Once those players become established NFL players and more importantly, are eligible for free agency, the ‘Skins swoop in and hand over a blank check. In an ironic twist, the Redskins even sometimes opt to trade away draft picks for players who fit this mold (see Lloyd, Brandon), which is great fun for everyone because it keeps the vicious circle intact.

While the Redskins are in the mushy phase of the relationship, others seem to already be looking to some of the possible flaws with young mister Haynesworth. They point out that he’s played in all 16 games just once during his seven-year career. Those same critics wonder aloud what Haynesworth’s motivation will be now that the Redskins have made him “Oprah rich.” Plus, there’s that messy story about curbstomping an opponent’s head after losing his damn mind during a game a couple years back. Even if it happened to a Dallas Cowboy, that’s not the type of player you want to be a role model in your local community.

For what it’s worth, Haynesworth seems to understand that with great contracts come great responsibilities.

“You’re not going to remember Albert Haynesworth as a bust or the guy who had the Dallas incident or anything. You will remember him as a great player and that’s what I live for,” Haynesworth said during his press conference Friday. “You know, the money’s awesome. It’s great. But I’m out here, when I line up in front of somebody, when I put the helmet on, it’s to kick butt and it’s to make sure that guy knows that I’m the best player to play against.”

The addition of Haynesworth gives the Redskins one of the scariest defenses in the league … on paper. While it ensures that ‘Skins fans will pick up this year’s Madden video game, it doesn’t automatically ensure anything in … you know … actual games. There’s a reason some sites sell Redskins-inspired “Offseason Champs” t-shirts. It’s the same reason talking heads love to roll out the tired list of Jeff George, Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith. Building a team around free agency rarely works. Most teams get it, but the Redskins front office seems convinced they can make it work.

So feel free to talk yourself into this latest free agent acquisition or even talk smack to rival fans if you see fit. As for us, we’ll be proceeding with nothing more than cautious optimism until we see just how it all comes together on the field.