We noted with some delight last week that it looked like the Redskins were going to get back to being the Redskins in free agency this year, based on some comments from G.M. Bruce Allen.
Allen tried to tone down the comments over the weekend, saying they were taken out of context. (Allen said last week they would be “as aggressive as any team” in free agency.)
“The question was, were we capable of it,” Allen told CSNWashington. “And, yes, we are capable of it. We’ve identified what we want to do in free agency, and as soon as they get a collective bargaining agreement, we’ll proceed with our plan. . . . I think the draft is our statement of our game plan. We added 12 players who are going to infuse youth into every position on our team.”
Fair enough. The Redskins of old would not stockpiled 12 draft picks, so we applaud that effort. (Trading two future picks for an aging Donovan McNabb is exactly the move the old Redskins would make, on the other hand.)
Our post last week was partly based on Mike Jones of the Washington Post repeatedly mentioning via league sources that Washington was “champing at the bit” to spend in free agency.
The rookies help, but the Redskins still have big holes on the roster, including some starting jobs. (Wide receiver is one.) This rebuilding job will take patience, something Dan Snyder, Mike Shanahan, and Allen haven’t shown a lot of over the last decade. We still expect them to make noise.
Still, Allen promises that overpaying expensive old free agents in Washington is a thing of the past.
“No, we’ve dealt with that,” he said.