Rick Snider 's points on why it may be a quiet off season

[Mike Bass]

http://www.dcexaminer.com/sports/37236179.html

Rick Snider » All signs point to a wild 2010
By Rick Snider
Examiner Sports Columnist 1/8/09

No salary cap and three available Super Bowl winning coaches in 2010 may shape the Redskins coming offseason. Indeed, the pending NFL labor discord is already impacting free agency.
First, I truly expect an NFL owners lockout in 2011 when the labor agreement ends. The NFL Players Association was weakened by Gene Upshaw’s sudden death. While the NFLPA is quickly seeking a successor, replacing Upshaw is impossible. The new leader will overcompensate to avoid seeming weak, which will further polarize talks.

Across the negotiations table will be NFL owners seeing a chance to reduce expenses for the next 7 to 10 years. Sacrificing one season would be worth it. League insiders believe owners probably won’t even bother with strike players. Meanwhile, it wouldn’t take ESPN long to move college games to Sundays and Mondays during the lockout.

Second, 2010 becomes an uncapped year, meaning Redskins owner Dan Snyder can once more try to buy a title. Does he save money short-term to make bold free agent moves next year like his failed 2000 attempt? However, the labor agreement gives teams a transitional label plus the franchise tag in 2010, meaning the best two free agents per team can be restricted. That greatly limits Snyder from grabbing marquee players.

Already, the labor agreement now prevents spreading salary cap “dead money” over two years with a post-June 1 release. This means fewer free agents this spring because teams will keep more veterans given they cost less to keep than cut. Jon Jansen now appears to return this fall when earning $1.3 million in salary versus a $6 million salary cap hit should they cut him. Teams must rely more on the draft. Unfortunately, the Redskins have only four picks this spring.

Third, Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan may be available and the lure might be too much for Snyder to resist. After all, vice president Vinny Cerrato and coach Jim Zorn both may have been saved by beating Philadelphia last month.

With these scenarios, the Redskins could delay re-signing quarterback Jason Campbell, who’s entering the final year of his deal. Do the Redskins really want to commit long-term to Campbell given a possible new coach in 2010? If Campbell excels this fall, the Redskins can always franchise or re-sign him in an uncapped year.

Looks like a quiet offseason before two rocky ones.

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MB:Snider makes a lot of sense in this article.

Dan HAS to be chomping at the bits at the prospect of having a uncapped season and that just may affect how he approach this off season. If so the FO are going to have to be on point with those 4 picks or we are going to see a lot of what we saw this season, next season unless Zorn and co. does some hellacious coaching.

I really  hope that we do not sacrfice a season with thoughts of what may happen in the future.

[stwasm]

I, too, think there will be some type of lockout/work stoppage.  What's frightening here is that Snyder still thinks he can "buy" a championship and football is too much of a team sport for that to be possible.  I also think about the layoffs that took place with the Redskins yesterday and wonder whether he's cutting salaries now to go buck wild in 2010. 

[Mike Bass]

football is too much of a team sport for that to be possible.  

You ain't never lied here ^ Stwasm!!

There's no way you can win in football without team chemistry even if you go out and acquire a bunch of "superstars". Every part has to work in unison in football.

IMO, Steinbrenner is able to get away with it in baseball because there's no blocking, passes, handoffs etc., etc.All these things has to work together in order for a football team to become a winning unit.

While I do hope that the team get into the mix and pick up a player or two if they are available, I too hope that they use common sense and do not pick up a bunch of "individuals" who may hurt the team for years .