Free agency is an inexact science. Perhaps no NFL franchise conveys this reality better than the Washington Redskins.
For every gem found in March, the Washington Redskins seem to find two busts via the free agency market. It’s been a staple (Is that the right word?) of Bruce Allen’s tenure in D.C.: Overpaying underwhelming players, from an insignificant reserve nose tackle like Stacy McGee, to a shiny, blockbuster signing like Albert Haynesworth.
The Redskins have had their fair share of bad luck in free agency, and every year, it seems to persist in different ways. But this recent history sheds only haze on the truth: The Redskins weren’t always so inconsistent with their signings.
In fact, there are enough Redskins free agent gems to make a list. While the lows have been very, very low, the high points of the Redskins’ endless free agent pursuit have given reason for optimism. It’s an inexact science. No one is going to get it right all the time. But when the Redskins get it right, what does it look like?
The best free agency acquisitions are the ones that glean an unexpected amount of value from their subjects. Reclamation projects fit the criteria, as teams often take low-cost risks on aging assets. The Redskins took such a risk on Vernon Davis in the offseason of 2016, and their buy-low move gave them plentiful returns.
Davis, a former first-round pick and a two-time Pro Bowler with the San Francisco 49ers, seemed to be fizzling out of the league in 2015. He failed to log a touchdown over the first third of the season. He was traded to the Denver Broncos after his 10th season in San Francisco and was underwhelming with his new club.
Davis finished 2015 with the Broncos, winning his coveted Super Bowl ring in the process. But he was never more than a depth option in Denver’s offense, and he was then released to free agency. At 32 years old, it appeared that Davis’ prosperous career was bound to end. But then the Redskins called, and Davis found new life.
Davis burst back onto the scene as an explosive complimentary option on offense in 2016, logging 44 receptions, 583 yards and two touchdowns. In 2017, he built on those numbers, accruing 43 receptions, 648 yards and three touchdowns. His athleticism proved to be ageless, and he was a valuable catalyst for an offense that occasionally needed a kickstart from the sturdy veteran.
In 2018, Davis’ play took a bit of a dive, but he still finished his age-34 season with 25 catches, 367 yards and two touchdowns. Davis could be a cap casualty this offseason, as his 2017 extension is growing less cost-effective by the day. But his uncertain future should not cast a shadow on the value he gave Washington.
Adding offensive weapons can be tough, but Davis gave the Redskins just that for a time, at a premium price.
Long snappers don’t get no respect.
Truth be told, playing long snapper has to be a very tough position to play in the NFL. The play volume is considerably lower than other positions, as is the accrued contact wear, but long snappers have to deliver a near perfect feed to the holder on every special teams down, or else the play will collapse. And then, right after the snap, they need to whip their arms up and fend off the interior rush. It’s a fast-paced, unpredictable occupation.
But Nick Sundberg has made the position about as predictable as it can be for the Redskins.
Sundberg first entered the NFL as a free agent, just not the usual kind of free agent. He was an undrafted free agent after the 2009 NFL Draft, and he signed with the Carolina Panthers.
For the 2009 offseason, he worked in Carolina, but he was ultimately cut at the end of preseason. Later that year, he’d be signed to the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad, but his contract would not be renewed.
Luckily for Sundberg, his next destination was right around the corner. The Redskins signed the 2010 free agent to a futures contract in January that year. He earned the team’s starting job by the end of the offseason, beating out Pro Bowler Ethan Allbright, and he hasn’t relinquished the job since.
For a free agent who was at first offered nothing more than a futures contract, Sundberg has given the Redskins a healthy return on their investment.
The 2000s were not kind to the Redskins from a free agency standpoint. There are multiple surnames that still stand as infamous reminders of costly free agency miscues.
But while the Redskins peaked in their failings in the 2000s, they did occasionally succeed in acquiring good value. One such example of that was the signing of defensive end Andre Carter, who came to Washington after underwhelming in his first five years with the San Francisco 49ers.
Carter, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, was inconsistent in San Francisco, but the Redskins still decided to give him a six-year, $30 million contract, to see where his untapped potential could lead.
With a subtle position change, Carter grew more comfortable in D.C., and he experienced more composite success. He broke the 10-sack mark twice; once in 2007 (10.5) and once in 2009 (11.0).
He proved to be a turnover threat as a strip-sack artist, and he managed to stick around for five of the six years listed on his contract. Given that the six-year contract was signed when Carter was 27, it’s a plus that he lasted until he was 31.
Carter’s success was not completely expended after his days in Washington. He’d make his only Pro Bowl the year after leaving Washington, serving as a defensive end for the New England Patriots.
But Carter’s tenure with the Redskins proved to be the most productive of his career. His potential as a free agent was maximized. While his success pales in comparison to embarrassing signings like Albert Haynesworth and Adam Archuleta, players like Carter at least provide a bit of respite.
There’s a big jump in value from No. 13 to No. 12 on this list. That’s no slight to Andre Carter and his tenure with the Redskins. Rather, it’s a testament to the kind of value Shawn Springs provided late in his career, as the team’s premier cover man.
The main part of Springs’ career took place with the Seattle Seahawks, where the No. 3 overall pick logged his only Pro Bowl berth back in 1998.
With the Seahawks, Springs had a good thing going; he was the team’s starting cornerback for seven years. Over that time, he amassed 20 interceptions and 55 official pass deflections (pass deflections were not an official statistic until 1999).
Of course, all good things must come to an end. So Springs was allowed to enter free agency in 2004. At 29 years old, coming off a one-interception season, the suitors weren’t particularly plentiful. So the Redskins managed to scoop Springs up for an affordable price.
Springs would go on to show that he had much more left in the tank than many realized, providing stellar play for the Redskins. In his first season in Washington, Springs had five interceptions, deflected 12 passes, forced a fumble and logged six sacks, becoming the first and only player ever to lead his team in both interceptions and sacks in one season.
After turning 30 years old, Springs declined a bit, providing the play of an able starter until he once again became a free agent in 2009 at the age of 34. But at his peak with the Redskins, Springs was a game changing player. Josh Norman hasn’t made anyone forget who wore No. 24 before him.
Excellence is often too tall of a demand for a free agent acquisition. In its place, competence is a much more tempered expectation. Many competent pieces, put in the right place, can make an excellent team. Although the Redskins never quite got that far from 2005 to 2010, they had some very competent pieces to show for their progress.
Casey Rabach was the competent piece the Redskins needed to solidify their offensive line in 2005, but even he was somewhat of an unknown at the time. Released to the free agent market after just three healthy seasons with the team that drafted him, Rabach was regarded as a starting quality center, but not much else after that.
Sometimes, free agents exceed the expectations placed upon them. Rabach didn’t do that; for the Redskins, he was a competent starting center, and not much else after that.
But there is a certain value in, at the very least, fulfilling that kind of expectation. Rabach gave the Redskins little to worry about at center, week in and week out.
Over six years as the starting center for the Redskins, Rabach appeared in 95 games, starting all of them. In six years, he only missed one game, with his track record serving as a testament to his durability.
Rabach’s success would ultimately hurt the team; the Redskins signed Rabach to a three-year extension worth over $12 million in 2010, when Rabach was 33 years old. He’d be released in July of 2011, giving the Redskins more dead cap to deal with.
But that is of no fault to Rabach. He earned his keep with his extended competence, and his example is now the mold the Redskins hope to fill at center with upstart sixth-rounder Chase Roullier.
Terry Allen is the rare Redskins free agent acquisition who undoubtedly peaked in burgundy and gold. Where such a truth may have been subjective in other cases, there is no doubt here: Allen’s best play came in Washington.
Granted, Allen was already a quality starter before he came to Washington. He took over the full-time starting job at running back for the Minnesota Vikings in 1992, missed the 1993 season due to an ACL tear, then came back and ran for over 1,000 yards in the final year of his cheap, ninth-round rookie deal.
The Vikings opted to let Allen hit the market with the uncertainty surrounding his knees. The Redskins, in need of a premier back, didn’t hesitate to sign Allen. Allen, in return, didn’t hesitate to give them a return on their investment.
In his first year with the Redskins, Allen was good. He logged 1,309 yards and 10 touchdowns on 338 carries. In his second season, he was sensational, amassing 1,353 yards and 21 touchdowns on 347 carries. In that season, 1996, Allen made his only Pro Bowl, and he became one of just nine running backs ever to eclipse 20 rushing touchdowns.
After his Pro Bowl season, Allen faded. In 1999, he took up a starting role with the New England Patriots. Then, he fell into a reserve role with the New Orleans Saints. After one more season with the Baltimore Ravens at age 33, he hung up the cleats. They were plenty dirty, his quaint, yet respectable legacy in D.C. written in grass and mud.
You can’t teach speed. You can only throw money at it.
The Redskins received an opportunity to purchase raw speed when DeSean Jackson became available as a free agent on March 28, 2014. The fiery field flipper had established a reputation with the rival Philadelphia Eagles, making the Pro Bowl three times.
Shortly after becoming a free agent, his reputation worked on its own, in the form of a three-year, $24 million contract from the Redskins.
Jackson would only stay with the Redskins for three seasons. Only in two of those seasons did he started more than nine games. But looking back on his tenure with the team, it feels like Jackson was in D.C. longer, simply because he was such an electric player.
Jackson broke the 1,000-yard mark in his two busiest seasons, despite never eclipsing 60 receptions. In 2014, he averaged 20.9 yards per catch. Then in 2016, he helped Kirk Cousins nearly reach 5,000 yards, amassing 1,005 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 56 catches.
Jackson had plenty of blunders in D.C., and he wasn’t nearly the kind of returning threat that he was with the Eagles. But Jackson brought one indispensable quality to the Redskins offense that they’ve tried, and failed, to replace ever since his departure: Speed. You can’t teach speed. And Jackson gave the Redskins speed worth paying for.
Pierre Garcon came to the Redskins as a needed weapon for 2012 first-round pick Robert Griffin III, and he left as the incumbent clutch target of Kirk Cousins. Garcon bridged two short, tumultuous quarterback eras in Washington. Throughout that time span, his toughness and consistency was a hallmark that contrasted the state of the team itself.
Garcon came to the Redskins as an unheralded, up-and-coming receiving threat from the Indianapolis Colts. The Redskins had given Garcon a massive vote of confidence, in the form of a five-year, $42 million contract. Over the course of his contract, he’d pay back every penny.
Garcon started a little slow in Washington, missing six games in 2012, but in 2013, he roared back onto the national stage, amassing 1,346 yards and five touchdowns on a whopping 113 receptions. That receptions figure gave Garcon the franchise record for catches in a season. It’s a record that still stands today, and could likely stand for years to come.
Garcon would never fall below 600 yards receiving in five years with the Redskins. In 2016, he ended his tenure in burgundy and gold on a high note, catching 79 passes for 1,041 yards and three touchdowns.
Garcon would enter 2017 free agency as he entered free agency so long ago: As a steely, under-appreciated, reliable weapon, who left an undeniable mark in the nation’s capital.
The wide receiver run continues and ends with Henry Ellard, a player who gave the Redskins excellent value in the twilight of his productive career.
For the overwhelming majority of his career, Ellard was a member of the old Los Angeles Rams; from 1983 to 1993, in fact. After spending more than a decade on the West Coast, resetting the Rams receiving record board, Ellard left in 1993 at 33 years old when the two sides couldn’t agree to a new deal.
As a free agent, Ellard had to go to the other side of the North American craton to get another chance. Although most teams aged him in geologic time, he found that the Redskins gave him a chance to be young again.
Ellard doubled down on his early career success in Washington, adding three more 1,000-yard seasons to his résumé, while averaging18.2 yards per catch with the Redskins.
Despite joining the Redskins just after their Super Bowl era, Ellard made an impression. In 1994, he was second in the NFL to Jerry Rice alone in receiving. He didn’t win the Redskins championships, but Ellard fulfilled their goal in free agency. He gave them incredible value.
Doug Williams was $200,000 away from being the franchise quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the entirety of the 1980s.
$200,000 would be nothing more than the reward for a workout clause in today’s NFL, but back in the 1980s, it was a hefty haul of cash. That was the difference between what Williams wanted from the Buccaneers and what Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse wanted to offer.
Williams wanted $600,000 a year. But Culverhouse would not pay, and so Williams would go to the USFL, where he would play for the Oklahoma/Arizona Outlaws. After two seasons as a starter in that league, the USFL ceased operations, and Williams was a free agent again, far too soon.
Williams fielded offers to return to the NFL. When the Redskins called him, with Joe Gibbs at the helm, he didn’t hesitate to join up. He became the Redskins’ backup quarterback.
Then in 1987, when Jay Schroeder fell to inconsistency and injury, Williams took up the mantle of starting quarterback and led the Redskins on a miraculous postseason run, out-dueling Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway in the Super Bowl.
Williams capitalized on opportunity with the Redskins, and he showed the Buccaneers how that $200,000 difference could have become $200,000 well spent for a new contract. But Williams would instead have his transcendent success in Washington. Although his prime was cut somewhat short, he changed the game of football.
The career of DeAngelo Hall is a peculiar one. He was the No. 8 overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. There were times over the course of his career where he looked like one of the best defensive backs in football. There were times when his talent separated him from all others. But at the same time, did Hall underachieve?
With the Atlanta Falcons, it’s an easy question. No. With the Oakland Raiders? Easy question, although, he only played in eight games before he was released. With the Redskins? It’s a little bit tougher to answer.
When assessing a free agent acquisition, value plays a key role. While Hall was a very talented player who flashed his athletic ability and coverage I.Q. often, the first long-term deal he signed with the Redskins in the offseason of 2009 contained $23 million in guaranteed money over six years, and $55 million in total allowances.
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So, taking the contract value into account, was Hall worth it? One can make a case that he lacked something in the way of consistency later in his career. But at his best, and at his youngest, Hall was simply electric. There’s no other way to put it.
In his first five years with the Redskins, he totaled 21 interceptions and 67 pass deflections, showing off his penchant for disruption in incredible fashion.
In 2010, Hall’s only Pro Bowl season with the Redskins, Hall tied an NFL record for an individual defensive player, logging four interceptions against the Chicago Bears and quarterback Jay Cutler. In 2013, he added to his turnover totals with three forced fumbles.
Over his tenure in Washington, Hall underwent a degree of development. When he first arrived, he was the bashful, bold defensive back who thrived off of his own natural talent and quickness.
As he grew older, he relied more on his experience and savvy to maintain an edge over his opponents. Whatever his methods, however, Hall forged a notable career for himself in D.C., and he most certainly lived up to the contract tied to his name.
Excellence and longevity. These are the hallmarks of a Pro Football Hall of Famer. To set the standard for the rest of the league, for a length of time that is anything but standard.
Dave Butz is not a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He will never be. But if the criteria for entering the Hall of Fame stops at the combination of excellence and longevity, then Butz is the next best thing.
The Redskins signed Butz through free agency, but his free agent dilemma was a peculiar one. Butz was selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft by the then-St. Louis Cardinals. He was supposed to play out his rookie contract with the Cardinals, at the very least.
But an unforeseen error in Butz’s contract language caused him to become available as a free agent after just two years on the Mississippi River. The Redskins scooped him up, for a price of two first-round picks and an additional second-rounder.
They would later learn that such a price, to pay for Dave Butz, was far too cheap.
Butz played in over 200 games over the course of his career with the Redskins, starting 180 of them as the team’s premier defensive tackle. He played in three Super Bowls and won two.
In 1983, he was recognized as an NFL All-Pro with 11.5 sacks on the season. Butz made it onto our Top 30 Greatest Redskins list, coming in at No. 28. He’s a reminder that once upon a time, the Redskins were the league’s team to beat in March.
He only played for the Redskins for five seasons, but over that short span, Redskins free agent acquisition Ken Harvey provided an impact that few players at his position could match.
Harvey originally entered the NFL as the No. 12 overall pick of the then-Phoenix Cardinals in the 1988 NFL Draft. After six seasons of inconsistency and underwhelming play, Harvey went to Washington, where his play immediately took to new heights.
Harvey hit the ground running in the nation’s capital, accumulating 98 total tackles, 13.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in his first season in burgundy and gold. He’d make the Pro Bowl that season, and in the three subsequent seasons as well.
Overall, Harvey’s numbers with the Redskins total as follows: 391 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 13 forced fumbles and an interception. Recognized as a Pro Bowler four times in five years with the Redskins, Harvey was a consistent force that the Redskins didn’t have the luxury of enjoying often in the late 1990s.
London Fletcher‘s career serves a dual purpose in retrospect; One as a standard for the excellence that Washington once found via free agency, and one as a cautionary tale for all NFL teams, that size must not be overvalued in the evaluation of an NFL Draft prospect.
Fletcher had a lot of ammunition in the lead-up to the 1998 NFL Draft. He ran a 4.40 40-yard dash at Kent State’s pro day. He logged a school record 202 tackles in his senior year at John Carroll University. He had a basketball background, speaking to his athleticism.
But because Fletcher was just a hair below 5-foot-10, and not 5-foot-11 or 6-foot-2, he went undrafted. In a story by Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated, it’s documented that the then-St. Louis Rams offered Fletcher a contract as an undrafted free agent, but Fletcher demanded a signing bonus. When the Rams refused, Fletcher pledged to come back the next offseason, asking for more money.
After his rookie season, Fletcher earned himself a starting role, but after being spurned by every team in the NFL Draft, he felt the need to keep demanding more. After four productive years in St. Louis, Fletcher signed a contract with the Buffalo Bills.
With Buffalo, he played five seasons, earning Pro Bowl alternate honors on multiple occasions. Then in 2007, at the age of 31, Fletcher signed a five-year, $25 million contract with the Redskins.
Fletcher would spend the next seven years wreaking havoc on opposing NFC East teams, finally represented by a contract that accurately reflected his value.
Over those seven years, Fletcher would accrue 955 total tackles, 11.5 sacks, 12 interceptions, 53 pass deflections, nine forced fumbles and four Pro Bowl bids. He’d be the most productive Redskins free agent in history, if not for one last legend, adorned in a gold jacket.
John Riggins‘ success with the Redskins was prolonged, to the point where many forget that he didn’t start his career in Washington. He didn’t start being recognized as a star in Washington, either.
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Rather, Riggins made his start with the New York Jets. After being drafted No. 6 overall in the 1971 NFL Draft, Riggins became the focal point of the Jets’ offensive attack.
Over five seasons with Gang Green, Riggins logged 3,880 yards and 25 touchdowns on 938 carries, including an 1,000-yard season in 1975.
Riggins’ Jets tenure was enough proof to earn him a contract from George Allen’s Redskins worth a whopping $300,000 annual value.
Riggins would live up to that value, eclipsing 1,000 yards in 1978 and 1979. After a holdout in 1980, he was back with a new contract, a new coach and a new fire for contact.
It was in his 30s, at the tail end of his career, that John Riggins was most effective. Somehow, the wear on his tires made him hungrier, more physical.
“The Diesel” churned out yards, full steam ahead. His running style led him to his only All-Pro bid in 1983, and two more 1,000-yard seasons after 1980.
Riggins’ claim to fame, of course, is his playoff performance, particularly in 1982. He ran for 610 yards and four touchdowns in four games, including the Redskins’ Super Bowl victory against the Miami Dolphins. Riggins is in the Pr Football Hall of Fame now, and it was a contract offer in free agency that started it all.