Redskins Gab

6 year veteran TE Sean Ryan signed with the Washington Redskins this morning. Rumor has it that he’s being brought in to fill the gap left by UFA Todd Yoder, who has primarily served as a blocking TE the last 4 seasons.

Ryan has bounced around quite a bit over the course of his career — moving from Dallas for two seasons, to the Jets for two, to Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco, KC last year — and now he’ll be in Washington for 2010.

My read on this is simply a status quo move to help provide some depth in terms of blocking, and this is absolutely nothing to get excited about. Frankly, Ryan had a dismal year in 2009 and was one of the least productive TE’s in the NFL — scoring 6th worst in overall productivity of any TE in the league by PFF.

We all know how stats can be misleading, and you can prove just about anything using them.  Let me show you what I mean:

Here is a screen grab of Ryans career stats from NFL.com

His highlights in 2009 for the Chiefs where he caught a career high 14 passes came on a 43 yard completion. Not bad for a blocking TE… right? And he was used a couple times in scoring position because he logged 2 touchdowns… perhaps he was a safety valve on those plays, we’d have to go to the tape to be sure.  But from these stats — this is great! Just by the numbers we can deduce he’s clearly a career blocking TE, and the Redskins can surely use this guy to their advantage each and every down and he can double as a red zone threat if need be.

Not so fast.

Let’s look at the productivity of his game play last year before we get too excited.

Of the first 9 games he played in and started, Sean Ryan was awful.

In only 2 of 9 games did he log positive performance in run blocking, and they were the first two games of the year.

In 4 of 9 games, nearly 50% of the time — his pass blocking was a detriment to the team.

In only 2 of 9 games was he was thrown to and did an even adequate job with the ball.

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So what is my point?  My point is that the Redskins are going to lose a much better (ranked Top 26 productivity in NFL) blocking TE in Todd Yoder; and they are bringing in a bottom ranked, often moving, only slightly younger but much worse TE in Sean Ryan.

There are stats, and then there are meaningful stats. See for yourself.

The Redskins have a choice to make for themselves, and it amounts to this:

Do we want two 30 year old running backs in decline on our 53 man roster next year?

After releasing Ladell Betts last week, I have to think that the Redskins have made up their minds that they are committed to going younger and will look to draft their next RB.  But their actions seem to conflict that notion, as both the Bengals/Chiefs’ RB Larry Johnson and the Steelers’ Willie Parker have come to town looking for jobs.

First, let’s tackle Willie Parker – he isn’t 30 yet but he sure isn’t getting any younger at age 29, and his numbers on the field aren’t getting any better with age either.  Yes, he’s been seasoned on a winning Pittsburgh team.  However, just in case you were wondering, Parker failed to log a single rushing touchdown last year. NOT ONE. And of course we all remember that Parker lost his starting position to the 22 year old Rashard Mendenhall who had a break out 1,100+ yard season and 7 touchdowns in only 12 starts of his second season. After that season, wouldn’t you be left deflated?

Speaking of which, that takes us to RB Larry Johnson.  Over 14 starts — 7 for the Bengals, 7 for the Chiefs…. ZERO touchdowns. After that showing for two different teams/schemes in 2009 wouldn’t you be embarrassed?  How about emasculated?

I know I would, and that’s why I think the Redskins would be wise to steer clear of the sinking ships that are Willie Parker and Larry Johnson…. and look for more youthful, greener pastures in the draft.

For crying out loud, Ladell Betts had 2 starts and 2 touchdowns and HE GOT FIRED!!  What more is there to say?

There is no room for backtracking in the RB department for the Redskins in 2010 – because the sad fact is that Clinton Portis’ best years are behind him as well. The Redskins need a young and hungry rookie to come in and provide a spark to this offense, and it’s not going to come from a former workhorse RB in decline.

Nothing is set in stone, nothing is signed – but for a team that is supposed to be committed to rebuilding their team with youth via the draft, bringing in 2 different running backs aged 30 doesn’t sit well with me. Just sayin…

Am I the only one that feels this way?

Per the rumors last week, Former Carolina DT Ma’ake Kemoeatu visited with the Redskins and came away with a 2-year $7 million contract as reported today by ESPN’s Adam Shefter.

Kemoeatu is 31 years old and is coming off a 2009 season ending torn Achilles tendon, surgery, and a secondary procedure to aid the healing of the wound… which makes this move by the Redskins a bit of a gamble to say the least. The downside of course is that Kemoeatu never fully recovers. The upside is that the Redskins found a veteran short term 350 pound run stopping machine.

Time will tell of course if the gamble pays off, but if Kemoeatu can return to the form of his 2008 self, the Redskins will have an extremely potent and dangerous combination in Haynesworth and Kemoeatu owning the line of scrimmage.

Will $7 million over two years be worth gambling?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

The Washington Post reports another free agent is coming to town on Tuesday:

Former Carolina nose tackle Ma’ake Kemoeatu is scheduled to visit the Redskins on Tuesday, a league source said. Kemoeatu, whom the Panthers released this week, missed the 2009 season because of an injury. In 2008, Kemoeatu started 14 games for the Panthers and was credited with 31 unassisted tackles.

The Redskins have spoken about wanting to keep QB Jason Campbell in the fold, and they took another step in making that happen on Wednesday, placing a first round tender on the soon-to-be restricted free agent.

A first-round tender for a player that has been in the league five years, like Campbell, is generally around $2.621 million dollars. However, Campbell carries a higher price tag, around $3.1 million; the amount is determined by calculating 110 percent of a player’s 2009 base salary.

Campbell was the rumor of some trade talk last week, as a report said the Buffalo Bills were interested in his services. Now though it looks as if the Skins want to keep him as their starter in 2010, but don’t rule out new coach Mike Shanahan going after one of the high profile rookie QB’s in the April NFL Draft.

The Redskins confirmed today that six-time Pro Bowl left tackle Chris Samuels will announce his retirement tomorrow in a press conference at Redskins Park.

A serious neck injury suffered last season, compounded by pre-existing stenosis, spelled the end of Samuels’ 10-year career. He was the No. 3 pick of the 2000 draft.

The Redskins have known since October that Samuels’s career was over because of the injury he suffered early in an October loss at Carolina.

The Dolphins, Bears, Giants and Redskins have all expressed interest in Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby, according to the Palm Beach Post. As expected, Dansby has already begun be targeted by a number of teams. He’s apparently looking for around $30 million in guarantees and could receive an offer somewhat close to that figure.

Cowboys wide out Miles Austin still does not have a new deal, and while free agency approaches, there’s an interesting piece today on National Football Post which talks about the Cowboys rival – the Redskins, trying to swoop in and take Austin away, which would not only help Washington but would really hurt the Cowboys.

The Dallas Cowboys have made it clear that they have no intentions of losing wide receiver Miles Austin but whether or not they succeed in this mission is entirely up to them. With just three days until the start of free agency, the team has yet to reach an agreement with the restricted free agent wideout on a long-term deal, in addition, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that the organization will not place the franchise tag on Austin this offseason.

Doing so would require the team to pay Austin a one-year salary of $9.521 million ,the expected course of action for the Dallas front office will be to place the highest restricted free agent tender possible on Austin, giving him a $3.168 million salary in 2010, enter Redskins owner and NFC East rival Daniel Snyder, we all know Snyder isn’t shy about spending cash, in addition, the Redskins have a pressing need at wide receiver.

Matt Mosley of ESPN has a piece today on Clinton Portis, and also talks a bit about the shot at L.T. coming to the Skins at some point in 2010:

A lot of folks are focused on the Washingon Redskins’ quarterback situation, but there’s also some intrigue at running back. On Friday, coach Mike Shanahan did not want to discuss Clinton Portis’ future with the club but he’s made it clear that he needs to see a committment from all his players in the offseason program. As some of you know, Portis’ offseason “workouts” have often taken place in South Florida.

“Let’s not talk about Clinton,” Shanahan said when asked about Portis’ offseason plans. “Let’s talk about everybody on the Washington Redskins. Let’s not focus on one guy. I want everybody to be as good a football player as they can be. I want all the guys on our football team to make a commitment in the offseason to work, and work extremely hard. That’s how we’re gonna get better as a team … It’s very important to show your teammates exactly how hard you work and how dedicated you are to the program.”

After Shanahan left the podium Friday, I asked him about any potential interest in former Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson. Shanahan didn’t say anything definitive, but he indicated that he and Tomlinson are close friends who stay in contact. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Tomlinson end up on the Redskins’ roster.

There’s been plenty of chatter about the return in 2010 of Jason Campbell to the Redskins. It seems that despite never doing much of anything good in his NFL career, new coach Mike Shanahan is ready to see what Campbell can do once again under center. Maybe.

Jason Reid of the Washington Post was having dinner with old co-worker Jason La Canfora Wednesday night, and they both were talking about a rumor about Campbell being sent off to the Buffalo Bills:

we both were busy checking out rumors about a potential Redskins trade that supposedly would send Jason Campbell, a restricted free agent, to the Buffalo Bills for safety Donte Whitner and a draft pick. The Campbell-Whitner talk has been out there a while and really got rolling on a Buffalo Bills message board recently.

The Bills need a QB, and Campbell is a guy that could come in and take the starting job right away. In his career in 52 games, Campbell has a QB rating of 82.3, and has thrown for 10,860 yards with 55 touchdowns and 38 picks. Stay tuned to see if there is smoke on this rumor soon.