As you know by now, DE Jason Taylor is now a member of the Washington Redskins.
I thought I’d chime in with my thoughts on it.
They gave up a second-round pick next year and a sixth-rounder in 2010. Well, that’s all well and good, but why did they wait until after the draft to do this?
Sure, everyone will say they made the move after Phillip Daniels went down with a torn ACL. But, here is some news: Daniels stinks. He’s had 5.5 sacks total in the last two years. He needed to be replaced before he got hurt. This position was a pressing need long before he was lost for the year.
So, I’m not entirely certain why the Redskins didn’t take advantage of the fact that they had three second-round picks this year. They could have dealt one of those picks and addressed their awful pass rush, and maybe taken one less receiver (they used those three picks on two WR’s and a TE, who overslept for his first mini camp). I would say I don’t get it, but the Redskins front office is miserable and typically screws these things up.
Now that he’s in town, a couple things would concern me if I’m a Redskins fan. First of all, he doesn’t sound like a guy that plans to play football after this year. He’s clearly got one foot in the television business and is excited about post-football life. Hopefully, the ‘Skins did their due diligence to make sure he plans to stick around.
My second issue is that they are moving him to left defensive end, despite the fact that he has played the last 11 seasons at right defensive end. That’s a pretty big deal to have to make that change and it shouldn’t just be brushed aside. Chances are, he’ll figure it out. But, there is no guarantee that he will be just as productive on the opposite side of the line. One could argue that he’ll be facing right tackles now, who generally aren’t as good as left tackles, but if it was me, I’d rather keep him where his is comfortable.
Apparently, the Redskins feel some allegiance to RDE Andre Carter, who has hit double-digit sacks twice in seven years.
