The Washington Redskins supposedly want to overspend whenever free agency begins.
Don’t do it.
Do they not remember the bust that was the Class of 2000? Didn’t the $1 billion-plus they spent on payroll over the past decade without winning a title teach them anything?
If the Albert Haynesworth debacle doesn’t prove that big-name free agents don’t always work out, then owner Dan Snyder deserves a financial beatdown.
Coach Mike Shanahan will spend Snyder’s money in a desperate move to win without a quarterback. Shanahan may be on a shorter leash than anyone thought if the Redskins have another losing season and bring in a rookie quarterback in 2012.
But Shanahan needs to spend smartly. Redskins history is littered with overpaid, underperforming marquee names.
Washington actually has signed many productive free agents since the system started in 1993. It’s just the biggest names are always failures.
The class of 2000 included Deion Sanders, Mark Carrier, Jeff George and Bruce Smith. Sanders and Carrier were gone the next year, and George lasted two games in 2001 before he was released. Only Smith fulfilled his four-year deal, and he was nothing special the last two seasons.
That near $100 million payroll should have been a warning. Instead, there were plenty of all-star snafus, such as safety Adam Archuleta getting $10 million guaranteed and getting benched by midseason. Laveranues Coles earned some of his $13 million bonus with 172 catches over two years but punked out and was traded for Santana Moss.
If Haynesworth’s $41 million guarantee isn’t the ultimate lesson, then Snyder will never learn.
Not that Washington didn’t blow free agency before. Dana Stubblefield was Haynesworth in 1998.
The Redskins need to concentrate on mid-level free agents. Terry Allen, Henry Ellard, James Jenkins, Marc Boutte, Ken Harvey, James Thrash, Phillip Daniels, Casey Rabach, Randy Thomas and Lorenzo Alexander were just a few examples of solid players found for a reasonable price.
Snyder’s best two free agent moves were Larry Centers and Daryl Gardener. Snyder saw on “SportsCenter” that Arizona had cut Centers in June 1999 and immediately told Charley Casserly to sign the fullback. Centers caught 69 passes that season. Snyder overruled his front office and signed Gardener, a defensive tackle who may have been the scariest player in two decades at Redskins Park. But he was the Redskins’ player of the year in 2002, his only season in Washington. Coincidentally, Shanahan gave Gardener a $5 million bonus to sign with the Broncos only to suspend him after five games in 2003.
The best quarterback move wasn’t trading for Mark Brunell or Donovan McNabb but signing mid-level free agent Todd Collins in 2006. One year later, Collins led the Redskins to four straight wins in their best close to a season since winning the 1991 championship.
The Redskins don’t need a war chest, just some common sense money moves. Sanders once said Snyder shopped at Versace instead of Wal-Mart. After 12 years of disappointments, the Redskins need a dollar store approach whenever the lockout ends.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
