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It’s time for the Redskins to sign Preston Smith before he gets too expensive

By Tim Payne

LANDOVER, MD - NOVEMBER 15: Linebacker Preston Smith #94 of the Washington Redskins waits to be introduced before playing the New Orleans Saints at FedExField on November 15, 2015 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD - NOVEMBER 15: Linebacker Preston Smith #94 of the Washington Redskins waits to be introduced before playing the New Orleans Saints at FedExField on November 15, 2015 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images) /
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LANDOVER, MD – NOVEMBER 15: Linebacker Preston Smith #94 of the Washington Redskins waits to be introduced before playing the New Orleans Saints at FedExField on November 15, 2015 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD – NOVEMBER 15: Linebacker Preston Smith #94 of the Washington Redskins waits to be introduced before playing the New Orleans Saints at FedExField on November 15, 2015 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images) /

Preston Smith is soon to be a free agent. The Redskins would do well to sign him to an extension now to retain him at a more team-friendly price.

Redskins fans should be happy with Alex Smith as our quarterback. Consider where we might have ended up this offseason in paying Sam Bradford $20M or spending 3 early-round picks to get the second-team All-Mountain West QB in Josh Allen.  The team deserves credit for making the most of a bad situation.  That situation was of their own making, though. Don’t let the smart move of getting Alex Smith to end the Cousins cha-cha-cha blind you to the reality that they botched the Cousins negotiations in the first place.

It’s okay. You can knock them for their mistakes and praise them for their successes. It’s called being a fan!

Let’s learn from those mistakes, though. If the Redskins would have accurately evaluated Kirk before he broke out to his full potential, they could have locked him up at a contract that would have seemed like a major discount today. This would have also saved them cap money the last two years.

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I would also argue Cousins would have played better under those circumstances. Even if not, they still could have moved on from him after this season. They would have done so in a much better cap and roster situation than where they now find themselves since they wouldn’t have overpaid him the last two years.

Preston Smith is the next example of an ascending homegrown player who will break the bank if they let him get to free agency. It’s time for the Redskins to trust their own draft evaluations and coaching staff and go ahead and pay a man before he plays himself out of our price range.

The smartest teams set their players up to succeed. They set them up to produce. They invest in their players’ development and show their belief by extending those players early. The Redskins did just that this last season with Chris Thompson. They need to make those preseason extensions a tradition. It’s those moments right before the season begins when most team-friendly extensions happen because players value to the injury insurance and the vote of confidence from the team.

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