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.
Washington already lost their chance to set the market for EDGE players from the 2015 Draft.
Unfortunately, the Vikings beat the Redskins to the punch this offseason with a player with substantially similar stats to Smith from the same draft class – Danielle Hunter. A quick review of their career stats indicates just how similar they are as players:
Sacks have nearly the same drive-killing impact as interceptions, so their career stats are essentially the same.
Here’s the kicker, though: Hunter’s stats in 2017 came as part of the first-ranked defense alongside Linval Joseph and Everson Griffen. Smith’s came as part of the 21st-ranked defense alongside Ziggy Hood, Anthony Lanier and a one-handed Matt Ioannidis. Even with the disparity of talent around them, Preston out-performed Hunter in 2017 on the stat-sheet. He also out-pressured the entire NFL according to some advanced statistics.
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Smith could make the argument he deserves more than Hunter, which is why the Redskins should have set the market, not react to the market. And as NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported, Hunter received a contract that will pay him $72 million over five years with $40 million in guarantees.
Who knows what discussions have been had behind closed doors. But you’d think Preston would’ve signed that deal in a heartbeat. Now, the Redskins may have to beat it to get him extended. Even if he doesn’t improve at all this year, the price will go up next offseason.
The only way Washington benefits by waiting to sign Smith is if he tanks or is injured this year. Nobody should be planning on that. Nobody in all of Redskins Nation wants that. The cap is going up, the position is at a premium, and Smith has improved each season. The good organizations bet on their own players and coaches.
The Redskins should bet on their coaches, Smith, and the rest of the team by signing him before this season gets started.
Most sane Redskins fans expect an improved D-Line this year (between getting full years out of Jon Allen and Matt Ioannidis and adding Daron Payne and Tim Settle). If that comes to fruition, we could fully expect a significant uptick in production from Preston Smith. Good teams get deals done in anticipation of putting players in position for a career year. They don’t wait to get into the bidding war after the player “pops”.
According to OverTheCap.com, Washington still has over $13M in cap space for 2019. This means they could sign Smith and retain the flexibility they’ll need to pursue extensions for Crowder, Scherff, and others. Smith should be their priority because his value has the most likelihood to jump if things go according to plan for the Redskins this year.
Before Smith has a chance to impress in camp and the preseason, the Redskins should lock him up long-term to a deal that won’t seem expensive this time next year.
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Book it. If they don’t extend him before October, they will regret it. The reality is, they can’t afford any more of these kinds of regrets.