J. Taylor - The Latest Load of Garbage

As we all know, the Redskins released Jason Taylor yesterday when he refused to agree to a stipulation in his contract that he would attend 75% of the offseason workout sessions. This move brings some good and some bad reaction from me, but ultimately it is another indication of an inept Front Office.

First the good. Jason Taylor was a poor fit for the Redskins. Jason Taylor is a pass rushing right end/OLB, who was not ever going to be effective as a LDE. That didn't stop Vinny from convincing everyone last year that he got a guarantee that Taylor would play two seasons for the Skins though, as Dan Steinberg pointed out. Its not like Vinny should have been able to see what a poor fit he was then, right? So, in that way, it was good to see Vinny and Dan cut the cord with Jason now, as opposed to seeing him get mashed and injured during the 2009 season at left end.

However, there is also bad. Lots of bad. For one, there is not a starting LE on this roster now. Secondly, we did trade two valuable draft picks for one year of a miscast Jason Taylor. Perhaps that is the worst thing we did... one could only hope.

Unfortunately, that is just the tip of the iceberg though because this cut once again displays the nonsense us Skins fans have to put up with every year.

Let's think about what's happened since free agency opened. We got a good piece from Peter King on the Skins real interest in Chris Canty (who just happens to be a LDE). So, we know at the outset Vinny and Dan were pursuing Canty. That all changed when they signed Haynesworth though, as the Skins were stuck up against the cap with the new signings of Haynesworth and Hall - neither of which I'm criticizing. However, that meant that we had to stop pursuing Chris Canty. It also meant we had to cut Shawn Springs.

Looking back even further, its fair to say that we let Demetric Evans and even Marcus Washington go (or get cut in the case of Marcus) because we were intending on signing Canty and/or Haynesworth. We had to make all this cap room because Vinny and the Danny were set on pursuing another expensive free agent.

And they successfully made room. We were told, repeatedly, how this deal was different and how it would benefit one Jason Taylor. Let's be honest, Cerrato had to tout this as a boom to Taylor just to save his own face in that disastrous deal he made for him last year. So, it seemed that Cerrato had worked it all out: he got Haynesworth, and he got Hall and Taylor back.

Uh oh... turns out Vinny was just blowing smoke again because by Monday Taylor was gone from that dream Vinny had. And it wasn't over money or performance, but over a stipulation of workout sessions.

But it begs the question... "what exactly were Vinny and Danny planning when they signed Haynesworth?" Did they plan on cutting Taylor? If so, why did they spend all weekend telling us how great Taylor would be with Haynesworth next to him now? More likely is that they just didn't have any idea what they were going to do the following day. Which is also a lot more frightening.

Let's think about the players that we lost out on or cut to sign Haynesworth now though:

1. Marcus Washington
2. Shawn Springs
3. Chris Canty
4. Jason Taylor

I don't doubt that Haynesworth can be a great player for the Skins, but he better be 4 times as good as anyone else. This type of "strategy" whereby you cut or miss on 4 players to sign one is the reason the Skins cannot contend. Haynesworth might be great, but if he doesn't deliver a Superbowl on his own - and he's going to have to because there's no one else left to play with him - then he wasn't worth it. Albert probably agrees with me.

So, what's my beef with this Taylor cutting? Why didn't this happen two weeks ago???? That's my biggest beef. The Redskins could have signed Canty and Haynesworth easily, instead of rummaging around the scrap heap left behind now. Secondly, if you are gonna trade a second and sixth for a guy on the guarantee that he plays two years, you better offer him that shot. You can't trade that kind of compensation for one year of a player, or even the potential that you'll only use him for one year.

Those are my biggest problems. It really puts a damper on the Haynesworth deal because it destroys what we were told was the whole point of the Haynesworth deal. Plus, it highlights Vinny's inability to win a trade... or just to understand the value of draft picks.

Unfortunately though, the draft is coming up... and Vinny's record isn't sparkling there either.