Redskins are Under New Management

The 2010 off-season should be very interesting and somewhat different because it will be an uncapped season in the NFL. Like every year, over the past decade or so the Washington Redskins came roaring out the gates. Unlike last off-season none of the Washington Redskins early moves come close to tampering. New General Manager Bruce Allen and new Head Coach Mike Shanahan didn’t bother to wait for the starting bell to ring, shortly after left tackle Chris Samuels announced his retirement, they began to release several veteran players. Six players were released and signaled that the first order of business would be to get younger. Running back Rock Cartwright was the first of the group to be contacted, the seven-year veteran said “Bruce Allen just called me and told me I'll be released tonight”. Offensive lineman Randy Thomas and wide receiver Antwaan Randle El were next to get calls from Allen. Running back Ladell Betts, cornerback Fred Smoot and defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin were also among the six players released almost eight hours before the scheduled start of free agency. Shortly before Bruce Allen announced “ it's a day of change for the Redskins" at a seven p.m. news conference, at Redskins Park the Redskins announced they had released the seventh player from last year’s roster that is 30 or older, when backup quarterback Todd Collins let go. Marcus Mason, Eddie Williams and J.D. Skolnitsky were also released prior to the start of free agency. Allen said the reason the moves were made today, "is to give these players an opportunity at the starting line of free agency."


In a surprising move center Casey Rabach, who was due to become an unrestricted free agent at midnight, signed a three-year contract worth $12.3 million. Rabach may have been able to earn more had he waited until free agency opened because of the way contracts can be structured after midnight. Quarterback Jason Campbell and cornerback Carlos Rogers received first-round tenders from the Redskins earlier this week, Rocky McIntosh, Kedric Golston, Reed Doughty, Stephon Heyer and Chris Wilson received second-round tenders. Anthony Montgomery, Will Montgomery, and Lorenzo Alexander also received low tenders. Some of the tendered players will re-sign with the Redskins shortly after they hit the market and take advantage of the fact that there is no salary cap and the 30% rule will not apply.


The Redskins brought in veteran center Casey Wiegmann, who played one season for Mike Shanahan in Denver on Thursday for a visit, but was not signed. Shortly after Bruce Allen left the podium media reports started rolling in that “defensive end Julius Peppers to the Redskins was a done deal” and Lance Zierlein of KGOW in Houston reported, via Twitter, that the Redskins would be "charging hard" after Peppers and that he expects a deal to be done by Friday. Two hours later the Redskins had an additional seventeen million dollars (due to Thursday’s cuts) and the clock struck midnight. Thirty minutes later, Julius Peppers was still a free agent, “Redskins -1” (actually three different corporate Jets) was still grounded, and the off-season champs had signed a total of zero Free Agents. ESPN reported a bidding war between Washington and the Bears for Pepper’s services. As the Bears head coach landed in Carolina, “Redskins -1” remained grounded in Virginia. The first ten hours came and went without a single free agent signing.


Over the past eleven years the Washington Redskins have entered the free agent signing period as if they owned the first three picks in a NFL fantasy draft. Over the past twenty-four hours, management has lower the average age of last season’s oldest NFL roster, have been linked to Julius Peppers, Jason Babin, Chad Clifton, Darren Sproles and Tony Pashos. On day one of free agency the Redskins have focused on their own roster. Bruce Allen stated that “Peppers just wasn't in the team's plans”


The Washington Redskins are definitely under new management and are being led by Bruce Allen. For those that don’t know Mr. Allen, he’s the guy that went in to his first free agent signing period as the Washington Redskin’s GM not thinking the team was one player away from the Super Bowl.