We're Not Your Chumps Anymore

The situation in Washington, as has been noted by the pundits, is fluid. I guess to fill time the commentators are hurrying to do final assessments on the Commanders' roster.

But that can't be done yet. The final grade on NFL rosters is the day after the Super Bowl and that is a long ways off. 

The roster is more like a formation. It is set in motion during the offseason like a tailback sent wide by the QB.

It is a chessboard where moves are made to put the team in position to do something.

Like what? Like make the playoffs. Like win the division. Like win homefield advantage. Like make the Super Bowl. Like winning the Super Bowl.

There are moves yet to be made. By the Commanders and by the entire league. 

Some of them will tip the hands of the people who make them. It will be a tell to me that the Commanders aren't interested in contending if they make no move to draft offensive linemen. They have flaws elsewhere. But the offensive line was a clear weakness and was decisive in some of the losing that was done. 

And yet, had it been a tad stronger and a tad healthier the team would have been in the playoffs at a minimum. 

Preliminary steps have been taken in that regard. The job still needs to be finished. We need to see healthy guys on the roster to expect improvement in wins and losses.

Currently, the talk is about quarterback and cornerback. It should be about the O-Line and the O-Line Coach. Who will that be?

There are intimations from the Press Corps that the Commanders are somehow obligated to talk to Lamar Jackson. That's problematic. The issue with Jackson is a league issue. It's about whether roster annihilating contracts should be guaranteed. It is about Quarterbacks with a dangerous style of play they can't guarantee desiring guarantees they'll get paid for work they may not do. Is guaranteeing a quarter of a BILLION dollars for work that may not be done a fair deal? 

Football is a dangerous game and people get hurt. Few football people are psychic, however. Maybe in the future a player can use a time machine and bring back game film to the negotiating table and say hey look this proves I play the whole season next year. Guaranteed money is a form of injury insurance. The Players Association is asking for the player to be paid for the work he would have done had he not been subject to the occupational hazard of playing football.

I think we'd all like a shot at that deal. Imagine what we could get never having played a down. Wow.

But that's a labor issue. It is league wide. It is not up to the league's chumps to go fund me the players. That is for the League and the Players Association to work out.

My sense is the League feels guaranteed money is one way they get ripped off. There may be a guaranteed sum they would be morally obligated to pay. But a quarter of a billion?

That's an understandable reason NOT to pursue Lamar Jackson. If Peter King, Mike Florio, or anyone else who believes the Washington Commanders have a moral obligation to make Lamar an offer is willing to provide reinsurance regarding the matter, I'd say let's do it. But that's not going to happen. These are geniuses with our money. Theirs is not up for discussion. Even though it would expose how much faith they really have in Lamar Jackson. 

Teams have been burned by this concept too many times. Why is Washington an okay place to get burned? You say we're dumb now for not doing it. But I'd bet 250 million you'd say we were dumb for doing it later.

My feeling is the days where we are the league chumps are numbered.

Or at least, Peter, we're not YOUR CHUMPS anymore. 

That said, at the right price, I'd sign Lamar. Waiting for the new owner's input of course.

After all, it is his money.