Good news in a slow week for the Washington Redskins

We had a light week over at Redskins Hog Heaven with only three stories posted. February 12 marked the 75th anniversary of the day the NFL chartered the Washington Redskins, making official George Preston Marshall's move of the team from Boston. 


Marshall bought the franchise in 1932 when it operated in Boston. The story as told in Wikipedia:


"The team originated as the Boston Braves, based in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1932. At the time the team played in Braves Field, the home field of the Boston Braves baseball team. The following year the club moved to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, whereupon owners changed the team's name to the Boston Redskins. The Redskins relocated to Washington, D.C. in 1937. In their early years in Washington, the Redskins shared Griffith Stadium with the Washington Senators baseball team.^[8] The Redskins played and won their first game in Washington D.C. on September 16, 1937, a victory against the Giants, 13–3.^[9] On December 5, 1937, they earned their first division title in Washington against the Giants, 49–14, for the Eastern Championship.^[9] The team then proceeded to win their first league championship, the 1937 NFL Championship Game, on December 12, 1937, against the Chicago Bears, their first year in D.C."


The Hog Heaven story is Feb 12: The most important day in Washington DC sports history and is shows an image of the 1937 championship team and a neat photo of a 1937 traffic jam on 14th Street at The Mall.


There were automobiles back then?!?


If I learned anything about sports blogging it is that fans are not attracted to impartial assessments of their team's strengths and weaknesses. They want to now why the team is going to win its next game. If they are mad enough, they want to know why the team lost the last game and who should be benched, kicked from the team or fired for it.


Your Hog Heaven writers are not given to rants or pandering and yes, we pay a price for that in page views. So it's really good when we can write one of those "why the Redskins are going to win" stories in genuine thoughtful analysis. 


The Redskins are on the verge of great offseason success was that story this week. For once, we are not speaking of a Snyder Special when the team signs and overpays an over-glorified, sometimes over the hill, from some other team. (Personal philosophy: Stars emerge from teams, not the other way around.)


This story notes that the Redskins are close to $50 million under the salary cap and can e aggressive in signing up free agents without crippling its future. Mike Shanahan has much to prove about his coaching and use of talent, but Shanahan and GM Bruce Allen have made "smove moves" since their arrival, except for that whole quarterback thing.


Greg Trippiedi's story Revisiting the Redskins Draft Conundrum is another of his special deep dives assessing the team's moves. 


"The Redskins are between a rock and a hard place heading into a do or die year: the Shanaplan essentially dictated that a year of having no long term quarterback could necessitate a team-wide improvement at other key areas to put the team on the fringes of the playoffs.  The problem was not the design: the design was fine.


"The passing offense performed better than expected under Rex Grossman, but the rest of the team failed to live up to expectations.  That was the big problem in the 2011 season that got glossed over.  Having no long term solution at quarterback was a highly publicized issue, but not one that was unaccounted for."


Greg's story includes a list of NFL free agents aged 25-26 who should be prime targets to add to the team. 


This lengthy story is worth a read by fans who want to understand how winning teams are built.  


Did I mention that I was a contributing writer and associate editor of Bloguin's NFL site This Given Sunday? Writing stories for TGS burns cycles that I would have spent on Redskins Hog Heaven. So check that second site from time to time so see how I spend my blogging life. This week, I wrote tow stories:


Greg Schiano the the Buccaneers? Bill O'Brien to Penn State? What's wrong with this picture? and,


Burning question; How do the Cowboys fix their defense and conquer Texas?


Check these stories out. We'll be here when you get back.

Early fantasy look at the NFC East

Skin Patrol over at Hogs Haven lamented that he was reduced to looking at silly 2008 NFL Mock Drafts. We've both commiserated that we've not had much to footblog about. Luckily for us, it's not too early to look at fantasy football.

Michael Fabiano at nfl.com posted an early look at the fantasy value of NFC East players. That's early, too, but at least is more grounded in reality than a 2008 mock draft. I saw no surprises in Fabiano's comments. However, he had this to say about Clinton Portis.

"Portis should now be seen as more of a borderline No. 1 or 2 fantasy runner rather than the elite featured back he has been throughout his career."

The number of carries Portis has had, and the emergence of Ladell Betts leads to that assessment of Portis as a fantasy player.

Fabiano sees the Redskin offense schedule as the 5th easiest for passing and 4th hardest for rushing. The article didn't say how he arrived at that conclusion.

That mock draft thing? Not only do we not know 2007 NFL game results, thus the 2008 draft order, we don't know how the school boys will rank. They, too, have to play to hold or lose their draft rank. Somebody is going to get injured and lose their ranking. Some junior is going to come out early and insert themselves in the ranking. Silly.

Photo: www.msnbc.msn.com

Redskins respond to the blogosphere

The Washington Redskins, specifically Mark Steven, a guest blogger at ExtremeSkins.com, official fan board of the Washington Redskins, responded to rants and opinions of mock draftkateers and football bloggers leading up to the 2007 Draft.

You can read the article at Redskins.com.

So there.

Image: www.redskins.com

Should Landry or Dallas be here?

Did I get this right? The Washington Redskins drafted a guy named Landry, then some other guy named Dallas. How can that turn out well?

It seems you can't get a job as a pro-football player unless you have relatives in the game. The Redskins drafted two guys with brothers who are already NFL players, one guy who is the son of a NFL All-Pro, and another guy who is the son of a college All-American. Is that connections, nepotism, or genetics?

Manning, Hasselbeck, Winslow, Simms, Greise, Springs, Jones, now Landry, Carson and Blades. What chance does a guy like me have?

You're right; I'm dreaming!

Just for the record, I posted this idea before a similar lead appeared at The Times. So, there.

Photo: Found at www.webslingerz.com

Redskins pre-draft press conference recaps

Several summaries are available for today's pre-draft press conference.

Hog Heaven: Crib Notes: Washington Redskins pre-draft press conference

ExtremeSkins.com: Pre-Draft Press Conference Quotes

Ewosssports.com: Gibbs doubts any draftee could start immediately for his 5-11 team

Hogs Haven: Redskins Draft Briefing Notes

Washington Post: Snyder: Redskins are on the right track

Washington Times: Redskins seeking impact at No. 6

War Cry: Snyder speaketh . . .

More Washington Redskins draft moves

With teams hiding their intent in the run-up to the draft, there's little for bloggers to do, but write about what others are writing. In the blogosphere, that's called "conversation."

Don Pierson wrote a story for MSNBC Trading down in NFL draft not so easy. He makes the case that it's generally tough to trade down because the other team must swallow a huge a contract for an unproven rookie. It's a risk not many general managers are willing to take. As an example, Pierson quotes Bears GM Jerry Angelo on the Redskins trade offer for Lance Briggs.

"We have to digest what it is from a cap standpoint," general manager Jerry Angelo said. "The sixth pick is an inordinate amount of money and there are cap issues in terms of our plan."

Pierson points out that the difference between last year's sixth and 31st draft pick was about $15 Million in total contract, of which $10 Million was guaranteed.

That's one reason the Oakland Raiders at No. 1 and the Detroit Lions at No. 2 in this year's draft aren't overwhelmed by offers from teams willing to risk big bucks on prospects who find it difficult to live up to the increasing hype and pressure.

Pierson doesn't come out and say it, but a team would be well advised to put some of that first round contract money on an upgraded scouting department and make better picks in the middle round of the draft. (Hint, hint)

Tom Kowalski's story at www.mlive.com says that a deal for the Detroit Lions' number two pick hinges on who the Oakland Raiders take with their number one pick. The consensus is that the Raiders will select JaMarcus Russell. That could prompt up to four teams, including Washington, to offer the Lions trade up deals for a shot at Calvin Johnson. However, Kowalski points out

The Redskins are going to have trouble making a deal for the same reason they couldn't work out a trade with the Lions for cornerback Dre Bly (now with Denver): they don't have enough ammunition. The Redskins don't have a second-round pick because they dealt it away -- and that's going to cripple their chances of competing with other teams.

Oakland will blow up this scenario if they take Johnson instead of Russell.

Skin Patrol at Hogs Haven touched on this in his story Redskins want the Lions pick. He closes the story by cataloging how the Skins frittered away their middle round picks in the Snyder/Gibbs era.

In another sign of football news drought, Patrol beat me to Kowolski's story by an hour or so. Usually there are so many team stories published, and rumors whispered, that everyone can take a different facet of the news and create unique content around it. For the next ten days, bloggers will pounce on every news snippet to be first to comment. If you are third or fourth with a post, you start asking "is there anything I can add to this story, or will this just be another me-too entry?"

There's always the option of a hiatus. The Redskins Report was on one. They are waking up in time for the draft. (TRR was my muse and inspiration when I started this blog.) The Curly R is focusing more on W, its baseball site. Skinsaphrenia was traumatized by last season. They went into hibernation in December, only recently awakening. War Cry is still active. The Warpath and ExtremeSkins message boards are still engaged, but most posts are the hypothetical "should we take . . . " variety. Hogs Haven, if you didn't know, is one of the top five blogs listed on Fair Catch. Check out my other friends in the blogroll to your right.

Running Redskins is hanging in for the run up the draft and a few weeks thereafter, then will wind down until training camp. Summer is coming. The Bay is near, and the boat needs attention.
________________________
Michael Vick is donating $10,000 through the United Way to help the families of the Virginia Tech victims. Mike gets bashed a lot, including by me. He deserves props for this, so I want to acknowledge his concern and generosity.

Washington Redskins draft options

Washington's major dailies are weighing in on the Redskins options in the run-up to the draft on April 28.

Ryan O'Halloran at the Times compiles the number of picks that potential trade-down partners have in the first three rounds of the draft. The Atlanta Falcons, a frequently mentioned trade partner, have three of the first 44 picks. They could be enticed to exchange their #8 and #39 picks in exchange for the Redskins #6. This scenario is plausible because the Washington Redskins have a need for defensive linemen and have been impressed by Louisville's Amobi Okoye, who coincidentally was coached by Atlanta's Bobby Petrino, Louisville's coach last season. The Falcons, supposedly would use the #6 pick on Okoye or safety LaRon Landry.

The money quote in O'Halloran's story:

This draft simply isn't full of top-end talents that have teams drooling and desperate to move into the top 10.

Could it be that everyone wants to trade down because the first rounders aren't worth the money they will demand?

The gee whiz factor in O'Halloran's story is that the San Francisco 49ers have eight of the first 135 picks. With picks galore, a willingness to acquire players, and a beast for a running back, it's just a matter of time before San Francisco returns to glory, and cap hell. Saints-49ers in the 2008 conference championship game? You heard it here first.

Of course, a willingness to acquire hasn't helped the Redskins. Three years from now, lets compare San Francisco's and Washington's won-loss record and draw yet another inference on building through the draft versus building through "proven commodities."

I once worked for the world's largest technology company. There's an old joke about sales reps from that company that goes

How can you tell when the [world's largest technology company] rep is lying?

His lips are moving.

(Just for the record, I never lied. But then, my lips are moving.)

Jason LaCanfora, just back from paternity leave (thank you Hogs Haven for pointing that out), penned The Lying Game on his Redskins Insider blog at the Post. LaCanfora points out the hazards of believing everything - or anything - you hear in the run-up to the draft. Teams are posturing to gain some advantage. Call it the kick-off to the game between the seasons.

Detroit "loves Gaines Adams," according to rumblings picked up by LaCanfora. That confounds mock drafkateers who penciled in JaMarcus Russell or Calvin Johnson, who ever of the two Oakland doesn't take, as the Lions first pick. If that happens, Russell or Johnson could be available by the sixth pick. If it's Russell, the Skins chances to trade down go way up. If it's Johnson, the Redskins should keep him and go to sleep until the second day of the draft. Yes, I recall that the Redskins selected Taylor Jacobs under similar circumstances. Johnson didn't go to Florida and Steve Spurrier didn't hang around. So, there.

This scenario only plays out if Detroit truly prefers Gaines Adams. But then, Detroit's lips are moving.


Photo: Coach Mike Nolan, Chronicle/Mike Maloney http://www.sfgate.com/
Photo: LSU's Calvin Johnson, http://www.nationalchamps.net/

So, what's your blog worth?

It's the slow period before the draft when teams go quiet to hide their intent. I don't expect to see big NFL news until draft day, or just before the draft. Time to muse.

For serious football bloggers, this is a difficult time. You work to build a following. You blog frequently because readers demand new content. My Running Redskins readers spend two minutes or less per visit. Story frequency keeps them coming back. So it hurts when teams aren't generating news for bloggers to over-analyze. Curse you, off-season.

So, what's the value of a blog anyway, especially when it's non-commercial? It turns out that people who think about those things value web logs on the basis of links. The more others link to you, the more valuable your blog. Technorati calls it "authority," and they use it to rank search results. Call it the "50 million monkeys can't be wrong" theory. If a lot of people link to a post, then that post must be relevant to the topic. Relevance gets you promoted to the top of the search list.

Other thinkers put a theoretical value on a blog based on the number and value of incoming links, whose value is similarly assigned by the value their incoming links. That adds a financial element to the evaluation. Your blog is more valuable when high value blogs link to you. (That's a lot of computing power by somebody to track all that.)

There are a couple of sites that figure this out for you. At Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog, you put in the URL for a blog and it will calculate its theoretical worth based on the link-to-value ratio underlying the 2005 AOL-WeblogsInc deal. According to them, Running Redskins is worth $7339.02. I think of myself as small, but influential.

The more engaging way is to go to Blogshares and search your blog. Better yet, join the Blogshares marketplace and play the game. With a little time and practice, you can become a high stakes market manipulator of the blogosphere.

Blogshares is a hypothetical stock market that treats blogs as businesses, post as products, and use incoming and outgoing links to calculate intrinsic value. But, in the game, you (anyone) buy and sell shares in the blogs. The frequency of buy-sell activity affect market price, and your portfolio value. The supply-demand feature is where the fun happens. On Blogshares, Running Redskins is valued at $4462.78, with a share price of $122.15. (Blogshares says I'm over valued. Hurmph!). Blogshares always under counts the number of links on Running Redskins. I suppose that affects value.

Fortunately, I get to buy and sell other blogs and invest in commodities. My Blogshares net worth is B$60,683,388.65. That's all funny money, I hasten to add. Serious players get into tools that allow market manipulation and hostile takeovers. I'm not a serious player, but have been hostilely bought out of blogs at outrageous profit. That's all funny money, too.

Fellow bloggers should know this is all a game. Nothing about Blogshares affects real ownership of blogs. Owners can claim their blog in Blogshares by registering and placing some HTML code on their site. That adds the Blogshares badge to their site so Blogshares' spider will recognize the claim.

No more time for this. I'm going over to Blogshares and buy controlling interests in Hogs Haven and DC Sports Kid, while waiting for football news.

The draft is money

If George Preston Marshall kept the Boston Braves in Boston rather than moving them to Old D.C., perhaps Robert Kraft would own the Washington Patriots. I admire Kraft's approach to building a championship roster. It couldn't be more different than Daniel Snyder's. Where Snyder uses draft picks as currency to make trades happen, Kraft hoards them like gold. Snyder's cheap currency approach has never worked. It's the gold bug that's getting results.

There are rumors that Snyder is nosing around Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel to boost the Redskins' secondary. Thanks to promiscuously trading away draft picks, the Redskins are thin at currency to grease the deal. You might call them (wait for it . . . wait for it) thin Skinned.

It would make no any difference, anyway. The Patriots have a treasure chest of picks in their draft vault. One more pick, even the Skins high draft pick, isn't needed, not when you already have ten in the 2007 draft. To wit:

Round 1 24th pick (from Seattle)

Round 1 28th pick

Round 3 91st pick (Round 2 pick traded to Miami)

Round 4 127th pick

Round 5 171st compensatory pick (Round 5 165th pick traded to Oakland)

Round 6 180th pick (from Arizona)

Round 6 202nd pick

Round 6 208th compensatory pick

Round 6 209th compensatory pick

Round 7 247th compensatory pick (Round 7 238th pick traded to Miami)

Source: about.com found here.

The Patriots are notorious for managing their salary structure. Are they really going to sign two first round draft choices? And the biggie, do they even want to grapple with the salary demands of a number six first rounder? The Patriots, with draft bullion galore, are far more interested in re-signing Mr. Samuel. Unless the Redskins throw in players of value and 2008 picks.

Be afraid, Redskins fans. Be very afraid.

Draft Trivia #1: If the Bears accepted the Redskins trade offer for Lance Briggs, they not only would have the Redskins' first round #6 pick, but would also have the Skins' second round 37th pick, acquired through the New York Jets. I think the Bears made a mistake (for themselves) by not taking Snyder's offer and running out the door. I'm grateful to them, though.

Draft Trivia #2: If the Redskins hadn't frivolously traded away their third round pick for TJ Duckett, they would be better positioned to counter Chicago's counter-offer for Lance Briggs. Not that I think it's a good idea, but trading a first and third round pick for a sure starter makes more sense than a third round pick for an "insurance policy."

Photo: Robert Kraft, www.columbia.edu

Okoye

Stay with me on this story.

When I lived in the upper Midwest, I met an African college student at a professional association meeting. As I got to know him I asked about his experience in the United States and the conversation turned to his view of schooling here versus in his country. He felt that U.S. colleges were far superior to those in Africa, but that elementary and high schools in Africa were far better than here.

Sure, his school house was the equivilent of a picnic hut. His African teachers were more rigorous, as was the curriculum, he said. He felt the students were more disciplined, in more ways than one. It was unheard of for a pupil to cut class. There would be no one for them to play with. All their friends would be in school. Cable is not as widely available, you know.

Misbehavior was not tolerated. His school friends laughed at anyone who did drugs for doing such a dopey, foolish thing. Bad acts at school would earn whippings, to be followed by another at home for embarrassing the family. My father told me of stories this mentality in 1930s Washington. How times have changed.

My African acquaintance felt he was better prepared for University than were his American classmates.

I told that story to tell this one.

The Redskins are said to have their eye on rookie prospect Amobi Okoye, age nineteen. Despite his tender age, he played four years as a defensive lineman for the University of Louisville. How can that be at age nineteen? Okoye is native to Anambra, Nigeria. He immigrated here with his family as a schoolboy. At age twelve, he tested into the ninth grade and would graduate high school at age sixteen.

Okoye never heard of American football until his arrival here. Yet, at age thirteen, he was a DL starter at Robert E. Lee High (Robert E. Lee, how ironic). As a sixteen year old true freshman (no redshirt) at Louisville, he appeared in thirteen games playing on the defensive line. He earned a starting role during his sophomore year, and kept it until his senior year. Now he's done with college when most players his age are coming off their redshirt year, all because of how(ever) he was academically prepped by those schools in Africa.

Okoye may be an NFL starter before he's old enough to drink. Shades of Freddie Adu.

Photo: graphics.fansonly.com/