With the news of his release from Chicago, you knew that the Washington Redskins would end up being a rumored destination for Tank Johnson. On the football side alone, Johnson would be an upgrade on the Golsten/Salave’a tackle spot, but obviously there are other issues when it comes to Johnson.
The biggest issue is the 8 game suspension he will be serving to start the year. If I was Johnson’s agent, I’d advocate signing a one year deal in hopes that he can stay out of trouble and get a bigger deal in the off-season. So under that assumption, you’d be getting the guy for 8 games at most and it would take half of those to get into game shape and get in tune with the rest of the defense. Is it really worth signing a guy who’d only be ready to play in December?
The other option of course, is to sign him to a long term deal. Obviously the guy could end up spending the entire contract in jail or suspended, which is a bit of a risk. In terms of the NFL, his rap sheet isn’t that long (only two convictions) but he has been hit with serious weapon charges and has been charged with other crimes which have later been dropped. I can’t possibly imagine Joe Gibbs signing him to a multi year deal without 1st giving him a trial run to see what kind of person he is.
Johnson is an intriguing option, but my vote would be to let someone else take the risk of him imploding. Do we really need a guy with problems with guns hanging out with our young defensive core (Taylor, McIntosh and Landry)? I’m not against signing guys who’ve had checkered pasts, but the Redskins need to find long-term answers to their problems. The short-term fix route was proven to be a failure earlier in Snyder’s reign.
Just say no to Tank.
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