What salary cap sanctions? The Washington Redskins don’t worry about salary cap sanctions.
Within 90 minutes of the start of free agency on Tuesday, the Redskins were once more the NFL’s offseason leaders with signings of receivers Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan, while also re-signing defensive end Adam Carriker.
Peyton who?
The Redskins rebounded after losing $36 million in salary cap room over two seasons following a blindside penalty by the NFL on Monday over 2010 salary dumping. Washington simply stampeded past rivals to grab the early headlines.
It makes you wonder what coach Mike Shanahan really thought about last year’s receivers after firing assistant coach Keenan McCardell and rendering carryover pass catchers expendable.
Surely Santana Moss is vulnerable given all the newcomers. Moss was never supposed to be the Redskins’ top receiver, but the team couldn’t replace him. They tried with two second-round picks in 2008, but both were busts.
The pecking order should be last year’s leading receiver Jabar Gaffney and Garcon with Moss and Morgan in packages. The Redskins are a pass-first offense with rookie Robert Griffin III likely coming as the second pick in the draft. The Redskins passed three of five snaps last season, though losing games will force more throws. Still, Washington’s running game lacks star power so Shanahan will have to ready Griffin to throw regularly and carry a few times himself.
Washington picked up solid young receivers. Garcon is 25, Morgan 26. No more aging free agents paid for past performance. The Redskins found upgrades while seemingly downgrading their young stars Leonard Hankerson and Niles Paul. Shanahan rambled on about the pair last season, but now he might not call their names much this fall.
Garcon caught 70 passes for 947 yards last season in Indianapolis. District native Morgan (H.D. Woodson High) caught 96 passes over two seasons from 2009 to 2010 and 16 in five games last season for San Francisco before getting injured. Multiple moves at one position seem excessive for a team that badly needs offensive line and secondary help, too. Maybe those will come next. But Shanahan is all in on Griffin and signed enough extra help to ensure the rookie has options. Throw in tight ends Chris Cooley and Fred Davis, and the Redskins might only run a dozen times per game. Roy Helu could finish with the fewest carries among NFL starting running backs. Washington won’t need to platoon runners because one is more than enough.
If Griffin can quickly adapt to the NFL, the Redskins’ moves are saying they’ll try to win shootouts after losing low-scoring games last season. Washington was 1-8 when scoring 20 or less points, 4-3 when scoring more than 20.
Air Shanahan is about to begin. Maybe it wins more games. It surely will put more fans back in those empty FedEx Field seats. Who knows, the stadium might even be majority Redskins fans this season.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
