Even though it’s been mentioned in a half a bazillion places already, Reche Caldwell, out of the league last season until he was picked up by the Redskins, decided he’d rather be a St. Louis Ram than a Redskin. Of course, the truth is he followed the money; the Redskin’s offer was a one year contract at league minimum for his seniority, and the Rams offered more. Ultimately, a player has to “Feed his Children”, so it was really a case of him not having enough ties to the area to make the difference in the contract (at this time undisclosed, but probably on the order of about $1M/year, two years, small (~$50K) signing bonus) worthwhile. I guess I could see that coming, but he would have been a nice fourth wideout, and his defection hurts.
However, there is some “good” news as well; we Redskins faithful get to start both the Preseason (and have 5 games!) with the Hall of Fame Game, but we get to kick off the regular season, as well, playing the role of the designated visitors to the defending Superbowl Champion Giants. Wow, it’s weird to say that, but it makes this part better; a victory in that game would help give the Redskins a significant early lead in the standings. Of course, conversely, a loss would be even more damaging in that first game of the season.
Now that Caldwell has nixed a contract offer, it’s possible that Keenan McCardell might be offered the same deal that Caldwell turned down; McCardell was effective for the Redskins last season, and he would provide a nice target again for the Redskins. However, it’s believed that McCardell is going to retire this offseason. That also leaves just a handful of Redskins players that are still unsigned and interesting… Pierson Prielieu is probably the most interesting, but it’s well known he’s trying to hook on with the Jaguars.