Hog Heaven

NFL Headlines

MVN - A Washington Redskins blog

Home
Friends

The Five Most Indispensable Players on the Redskins

By Greg Trippiedi | July 24th, 2008

E-mail | Print | Share

As the potentially serious camp injuries start to pile up, I’m going to take a look at five guys the Redskins simply can’t afford to lose. Maybe it’s because they don’t have a competent backup, or because the player brings certain skills that are just impossible to duplicate, but these guys are team players of whom an injury could cripple the team.

Honorable Mention: London Fletcher

Last year, Fletcher would have certainly been on this list. His signing was the biggest upgrade the team made last year, giving the team a much better option at middle linebacker than Lemar Marshall. Even though the Redskins depth at LB is weaker than it was last year, Fletcher is a year older, and the Redskins must, at least, be planning to give H.B. Blades some time at MLB on third downs, where Fletcher’s skills are likely to slip first: against the pass.

#5: Anthony Montgomery

Montgomery’s breakout year came last year, and especially now that Jason Taylor has replaced Phillip Daniels in the starting lineup, Montgomery is the center of any run-defense scheme. He has the incredibly important task of keeping offensive guards and centers off of undersized London Fletcher, but also thinks he can provide some additional pass rush up the middle this year. He’s indispensable because the Redskins don’t have another competent nose guard, Kedric Golston is more of a 3 shade.

#4: Clinton Portis

Portis is going to see fewer carries this year, but an increased role in the offense as the Redskins should look for him more on passing routes. There are simply few backs better than Portis in the passing game: he’s a great blocker, and was an excellent receiver last year. He should break his career high mark in catches out of the backfield which he set last year, and just generally be Jason Campbell’s best friend on all sorts of pass calls as Campbell perfects the footwork and reads in Jim Zorn’s west coast offense.

#3: Jason Campbell

As good of a job as Todd Collins did in limited time last year, this team needs it’s quarterback to be successful, and that means that Jason Campbell has to stay healthy. Collins threw very efficiently against poor pass defenses like the Giants and the Vikings last year in consecutive weeks, but Jason Campbell threw against tougher defenss all year, and he’s the battle tested player the team wants and needs directing this offense. As the offense focuses more on the pass gradually, it’s going to ask Campbell to become the face of the franchise, to take that mantle from Portis. Campbell has produced above average results two years straight now, and the Redskins simply have to wait for the day where Campbell figures this thing out and becomes one of the top QBs in the NFL.

#2: LaRon Landry

The position of free safety is such a critical position in the NFL these days. The Redskins didn’t draft Landry with the idea that he would have to play free safety, but it is certainly his best position on an NFL defense. Last year, Landry wouldn’t have been near this list, but when tragedy strikes, this team needs a hero to take up the mantle, and there is no question who the Redskins expect to take up Sean Taylor’s mantle. Landry isn’t quite what Taylor was athletically, but he’s certainly no slouch, an he’s already a more polished cover safety than Taylor was at the same age. Landry is the core player in the Redskins’ pass defense, he’s the one guy that the Redskins can not afford to lose if they want to be an above average defense.

#1: Chris Samuels

Last year, the Redskins offensive line suffered a collapse on it’s right side, and the production decreased, but didn’t collapse entirely. Thank Mr. Samuels for that one. With Samuels, the Redskins are a veteran-laden offensive line who can get the job done, protect the quarterback, and open up holes for Clinton Portis. Without him, they are an elderly bunch who can’t open up any holes or block elite pass rushers. If there’s one key to the season this year, it’s that Chris Samuels must stay healthy for the Redskins to be competitive.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 11:19 am and is filed under Anthony Montgomery, Indispensable Redskins, London Fletcher-Baker, Chris Samuels, LaRon Landry, Jason Campbell, Clinton Portis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “The Five Most Indispensable Players on the Redskins”

Jino says:

July 24th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

You must be on crack dude. Mointgomery??? Are you for real? The list should be…

5. Moss
4. Cooley
3. Landry
2. Portis
1. Chris Samuels

The reason Jason Campbell is not this list is because Todd Collins outplayed him last year and it showed he wasn’t absolutely indespensible.
Michael Farnham says:

July 24th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

“Landry isn’t quite what Taylor was athletically, but he’s certainly no slouch, an he’s already a more polished cover safety than Taylor was at the same age”

On what basis?

Anytime I see you mention Sean Taylor in an article, it usually is followed by some jab at his pass coverage skills, as if he were Roy Williams or Adam Archuleta. What games were you watching? 2004, and ‘05 Taylor was one of the top cover safeties in the league. I won’t even bring up college.

2006 seems to have clouded your judgement in regards to Taylor’s ability. He was playing out of position, trying to cover for others, and that’s what caused him problems. It wasn’t because he didn’t have the ability.

Landry is a great talent, and has a bright future, but he’s not Sean Taylor, please stop trying to make him so.
Greg Trippiedi says:

July 24th, 2008 at 10:10 pm

Mike, I’m going to continue to call it like I see it.

You are taking my Landry-Taylor comparisons to be me taking a “jab” at Sean. I can understand that maybe you might think it’s a bit to soon to compare anyone to Sean in light of what happened to the guy, and certainly I’m not trying to be insensitive on this one.

But where you see a jab, I see a important distinction between two athletically gifted players who happen to have played the same position on the same team.

No one is asking Landry to be the next ST, but if that means we can’t compare them when the situation is right, then I’m afraid you are going to have to leave that one up to my judgment.
saratogan says:

July 26th, 2008 at 9:41 am

Interesting list. Good supporting arguments.

I would argue that Shawn Springs needs to replace Montgomery on this list. Shwawn is one of the best one on one cover guys in the league. When you look at the Redskins W_L record when he is playing and when he is not, the dicotomy is striking, as if the team is Heckle (actually Jeckle but the analogy can apply either way) vs Hyde. When Shawn is not in, it seems the defense had to drastically change its scheme.

I would also put Campbell as #1; if we have a healthy line that protects him, he must be able to operate intuitively and effeciently in the west coast or we may be toast.
Greg Trippiedi says:

July 26th, 2008 at 10:54 am

I think in our current state, Springs certainly has to be considered indispensable. I left him off for two reasons: I was working to get our young players on the list, and when Carlos Rogers comes back healthy, we won’t need Springs quite as bad as we need him now.

There’s no doubt though that during that first six week stretch, our success on defense relies as much on Springs as it does on Landry, Fletcher, or Montgomery.

Good points.
Yair says:

July 29th, 2008 at 11:39 am

Hi Greg,

Nice write-up. I think comparing Landry to Taylor is fine as well. I loved ST just as much as everyone else, but I agree Landry has done a fine job filling in. Taylor was coming into his own last year and likely would have received many votes for Defensive MVP. Taylor was the heart and soul of the defense and even with Landry there we can never really replace ST. But, with that said, Landry was near perfect in his absence most notably in the games vs. the Giants & Seahawks (playoff) last season and he was a rookie. Landry definitely showed his true position in this league to be FS.

My top 5 are the following:
5) Santana Moss - (He’s the #1 receiver and he’s the go-to guy. We need him to win). Randle-El is solid but not a #1. Thrash is a good #3. Thomas and Kelly are rookies and they shouldnt be relied on. Moss is the guy that teams will gameplan for. He is a killer in single coverage with no safety help. At the very least we need his presence on the field.

4) Jason Taylor - I know it’s crazy considering he wasnt on the team last year, but take him away and there is really no depth behind him with Daniels/Buzbee down for the year. If Taylor can play 80% of the downs and play at the level he played at the last 10+ seasons in Miami then he will end up anchoring the defense and making this defense a legitimate Top 5 in the NFL. He can stop the run with his strength and pursuit and he can create havoc on his side of the line with his incredible pass-rushing ability to the point where teams will have no choice but to double-team him leaving single coverage for Gholston, Montgomery, and Carter. As the Giants last year, and other teams in the past have shown, if youre front 4 can get to the QB, you can mask weaknesses in your secondary.

3) Laron Landry - See above. His maturation will weigh heavily on the success of our pass D. He has all the talent in the world lets hope he continues to get better. I really dont see any real flaws in his game.

2) Shawn Springs - Say what you want about Rogers coming back, we still dont know if he will be that effective (first his injury was awful and who knows if he’ll be 100% and also Rogers at 100% wasnt exactly a shutdown corner). Springs is super important.

1) The entire offensive line. Take your pick. Every starter on this line is nearing the end of their career and none of them have a proven backup. Each of them is just as vital as the next to the Skins success. Samuels needs to block Campbell’s blind spot (if not, who will? Todd Wade? yikes). Without Thomas we couldnt run right (Fabini is depth but not quality depth). Rabach has no proven capable backup. Pete Kendell has Chad Rinehart but Rinehart is a rookie so who knows. Jansen is probably the least important here but his backup Heyer proved to be vulnerable in important games last season.

Anyway - my two cents here. Keep the good write-ups coming Greg.

-Yair