Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Is Dan Reeves running the Redskins?

They acquired the 25th pick in this Draft, but gave up their third this year and a first and fourth next year? What in G-d's name are they doing? First of all, if they merely gave their 2006 first rounder for Denver's 2005 first rounder, that would still be a bad deal because the Redskins are unlikely to finish better than 8th or higher in the NFL this year. The fact that they threw in a third round and fourth round pick is just further lunacy, especially for a team lacking in depth. Maybe the Skins have their eyes on a certain player, but if that's the case, then why not wait until Denver's pick is up and then make the trade if the player is still on the board?

This trade confirms my impression of Dan Snyder as George Steinbrenner operating under a salary cap. He has absolutely no patience, hence the repeated decisions to get rid of future #1 picks. He doesn't understand that, in order to win operating under economic restraints, he needs to get starters through the Draft; he can't overpay for free agents at every position. If I was a Redskins fan, I'd be looking into Ravens tickets.

And speaking of the Ravens, with the market for trading down from the top picks so depressed, why in the world would they not swing their #22 pick, along with a second rounder, to get up into the top seven picks to take Braylon Edwards or Mike Williams? Heck, it might be worthwhile to spend next year's #1 as well to get Edwards. The difference between Edwards and the receivers available at #22 (Roddy White? Reggie Brown? Troy Williamson?) is significant, and probably worth an extra #1 pick, especially since the Ravens would be a sure playoff team with Edwards and their '06 #1 would be low. Can they do any better than having Derrick Mason, Braylon Edwards (or Mike Williams,) Todd Heap, and Jamal Lewis as their skill position starters? Hell, can any NFL team do any better than that? Once and for all, they could determine whether Kyle Boller is a quality NFL starter.

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