New GM Scot McCloughan Must Make Use of Free Agency for Washington Redskins

No team in the NFL has a more contentious relationship with free agency than the Washington Redskins. The league's annual talent market seems to go hand in hand with overspending in the nation's capital.

For new general manager Scot McCloughan, making better use of free agency will be as important as what he does in the draft. That means putting an end to the bloated contracts handed to marquee names at positions that don't rate as pressing team needs.

Ever since McCloughan, a reputed scouting guru, was hired to run the football show in D.C., most of the focus has been on what he'll do in the draft. Given his successful run helping recruit All-Pro talent for the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks, what McCloughan could do for a lopsided Redskins roster is indeed a tantalizing prospect.

Writing for MMQB, Andrew Brandt, who once worked with McCloughan for the Green Bay Packers, believes his arrival represents a potential change in culture in Washington:

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By hiring Scot McCloughan to be their general manager, the Redskins, at long last, may be transforming themselves into a team that builds for sustained success rather than always searching for a quick fix.

[...]

The future of player acquisition and retention bodes well for a team that has been challenged in that area.

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Hiring McCloughan has also tapped into a core hope among many Redskins fans. Namely, it's the hope their team will finally be built the so-called "right way."

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In NFL parlance, the "right way" usually translates to constructing a roster loaded with expertly scouted young prospects plucked from the college ranks. In this context, free agency is usually viewed as the ugly counterpart to the innocent optimism often attached to the draft process.

It's a somewhat understandable view. After all, most fans have seen the players on the veteran market. They know them well; specifically, they know exactly how much help they will bring to their team.

The element of the unknown with first-time pros, based on their potential, makes it easier to believe in a brighter future. McCloughan turned those hopes into a frenzy with this declaration during his introductory press conference, per ESPN Redskins reporter John Keim: "The draft is the lifeline of your organization."

Fans in Washington have more right to favor that view than most. They know the cost of paying over the odds for players such as Albert Haynesworth, Adam Archuleta, Antwaan Randle El and many, many others.

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McCloughan appeared to address that past when he gave his own views on the pitfalls of free agency, per Keim:

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But you’ve also got to understand with free agency that’s a tool you can use and you can use it in a positive manner. [But] you start dabbling too much in free agency sometimes, you’re getting older guys, you’re getting medical history.

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We’re not going to have to go out to other organizations and bring in 32- and 33-year-olds who have different plans.” 

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But free agency doesn't have to be that way. In fact, it should never be that way, at least not for the smart and careful shopper.

McCloughan can make free agency work if he adopts a new approach.

It has to be an approach based on striking the right balance between resisting paying big money for players the team doesn't really need, along with scrimping with bargain-bucket vets past their sell-by date at key positions.

Washington has been at opposing ends of that spectrum in recent seasons. Last offseason, the team spent big on wide receiver DeSean Jackson and defensive tackle Jason Hatcher.

Both are fine players, although only Jackson produced a fine season. But despite their talents, neither was really needed.

Jackson joined a receiving corps that featured record-breaker Pierre Garcon and had already been supplemented by Andre Roberts. Meanwhile, Hatcher became part of a rotation where Barry Cofield Jr., Stephen Bowen, Chris Baker and Jarvis Jenkins already vied for snaps.

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The money used to lure Hatcher and Jackson away from respective NFC East rivals the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles would've been better spent on the offensive line and secondary.

They were the two weakest positions on the roster entering the 2014 NFL season. That's how they've stayed because of the little money dedicated to both only yielded guard Shawn Lauvao and past-his-best safety Ryan Clark.

Washington's dysfunctional free-agency policy returned with a vengeance last offseason: Spend big on talent you don't need and throw pennies at positions needing a big-bucks overhaul.

McCloughan has to find the middle ground. It's a middle ground fertile with solid players who won't make headlines or wow fans, but will also register more than a murmur and a collective shrug of the shoulders.

Consider this year's defensive line class as a decent example of what the new model should look like. The Redskins will enter the market knowing Jenkins and Chris Neild are free agents, while Cofield and Bowen carry bloated contracts and injury concerns.

The best player Washington will see available is Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Ex-Redskins Super Bowl winner and CSN Washington pundit Brian Mitchell has already endorsed pursuing the Pro Bowler.

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But this is the exact kind of free-agent deal Washington's new-look front office should avoid. Suh's cost would be phenomenal, too much certainly to justify in light of his disciplinary issues.

Suh, who's also not a fit for this team's 3-4 scheme, isn't quite Haynesworth mark II. But he soon would be if Washington gave him a nine-digit deal.

Instead, McCloughan can find plenty of solid options at this position. How about Arizona Cardinals nose tackle Dan Williams and Miami Dolphins D-tackle Jared Odrick?

Both are capable and steady performers who are scheme versatile and on the right side of 30. More important, they have room to get better, something Washington's coaches could encourage.

That makes them the kind of veteran building blocks every rebuilding team needs. McCloughan knows the value of those type of players since he signed experienced D-end Justin Smith for the 49ers, per Keim.

Rather than sign a player surrounded by question marks like Suh or a veteran who's already won it all and is thinking about retirement, how about an experienced pro who still has a chip on his shoulder?

Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin fits the bill. He's talented but has seen that ability go to waste on too many losing teams. Rubin could be the Smith-style masterstroke McCloughan engineered in the Bay Area.

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Forget the players or the positions for a moment and just focus on the approach. It's about foregoing flash buys, but also avoiding low-rent ones. Instead, it's about targeting dependable players with the room to become much more.

It's an approach that could fix the secondary in no time at all. B/R NFL Analyst Chris Simms recently lauded San Diego Chargers cover man Shareece Wright as a cornerback Washington ought to pursue.

As Simms noted, Wright won't send the pulses racing. But he is a player who has steadily developed into a consistently solid performer. The same is true of Indianapolis Colts slot specialist Darius Butler.

It's not a reckless short-term view to believe a roster that yielded only four wins in 2014 can receive plenty of help from the veteran market. Never forget, this franchise won its three Super Bowls relying on an experienced core and trusting the market.

Today's vintage just needs a smarter approach to free agency. It's up to McCloughan to provide it.