DC Pro Sports Report: LaCanfora: Redskins a free agency winner

[Buford]

http://dcprosportsreport.com/

LaCanfora: Redskins a free agency winner Washington Redskins Written by Mark Buterbaugh Friday, 19 March 2010 07:44

Tags:

• free agency
• washington redskins

Many Washington Redskins fans seem to dislike former Washington Post, Redskins beat reporter Jason LaCanfora. LaCanfora covered the Redskins For a few years after the departure of his predecessor Nunyo DeMaisio, who departed for a gig with CNNSi.com. LaCanfora left last year when offered a position with the NFL Network.


We here at DCPSR were never really hard on LaCanfora because we felt he did a pretty good job covering the Redskins. Some fans disliked LaCanfora because of what was 'perceived' to be his negativity toward the franchise and Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. LaCanfora's negativity was brought about by Snyder's horrific handling of and managing of media relations and the complete incompetence and ineptitude of the former Redskins front office, led by Snyder and former side kick Vinny Cerrato. What is weird is how many Redskins fans agreed with how awful the Redskins front office was over the past decade, yet have venom toward LaCanfora, who simply reported much of what we felt, and most of what he heard. Mind boggling to say the least.

That being said, as an NFL Newtwork analyst, LaCanfora has praise for the new Redskins free agency approach and declares the Redskins one of the free agency winners. Here is what LaCanfora had to say . . .
This team refused to over-spend and let players leave Redskins Park without a contract, added a few pieces to both sides of the line that could contribute and found a running back (Larry Johnson) who should be plenty motivated with Clinton Portis' future production in question. You have to applaud the change in approach by the Redskins.

I agree with LaCanfora. The approach the Redskins have undertaken with new GM Bruce Allen and VP and Head Coach Mike Shanahan is quite refreshing and will build a consistent winner over the next few seasons. Buying superstars, buying older veterans with big price tags, buying older veterans past their prime, buying prima donna veterans, and spending on 'the' marquee free agent of the season, well, it has gotten Washington absolutely zilch in ten years. The Redskins have done nothing except consistently lose and push upward the free agent market, in terms of dollars.

Under Allen and Shanny, the Redskins have taken the cautious approach and instead have chosen to focus in on character, and players that fit into the system that Shanny is putting in place. They passed up bidding on a guy like Julius Peppers. They refused to pay top dollar to OT Chad Clifton, a 34 year old, oft injured offensive tackle who anchored a Green Bay offensive line that got QB Aaron Rodgers sacked more times than any other NFL quarterback, just so they could say they signed a tackle. They have refused to get into any bidding with Terrell Owens. Players have come and gone, without contracts, without strings attached. Yet, the Redskins have inked their own players they believed fit what Allen and Shanny have planned. A remarkable change.

They have inked free agents they feel will further the goals of the plan put in place. As you could tell yesterday, Tom dislikes the Larry Johnsons signing. I don't. I think Johnson has enough fuel left in his tank, will push Portis to not only work harder, and finally give Portis a threat to think about. Yes, the Redskins need to get a younger, faster back. I believe they will via the draft in later rounds. But the Johnson signing is exciting for me because I think it will have positive ramifications on Clinton Portis. The signing of OL Artis Hicks was outstanding. He came cheap, has starting experience, and great versatility, able to play multiple positions on the offensive line. This is precisely the type of guy that the Redskins have missed. He is not your superstar, your big name, he is just a hard working role player. NT Maake Kemoeatu would fill the nose tackle spot in a new 3-4 defense perfectly, if he returns from injury in which he missed all of last year, to his former level of play. If so, this may be one of the biggest steals of free agency. As for QB Rex Grossman, I have little to say because it is one the one moves I do indeed dislike.

The Redskins have not adequately addressed the needs on the offensive line. However, caution Redskins fans, the off-season is far from over, and the free agency class was sub-standard. Over[paying free agents not worth their price are days int he past in Washington. Before completely critiquing the Line, wait for the final product.

I couldn't agree more with everything here.

[jwpanic]

i don't think most skins fans sided with vinny over jlc. there was equal disdain for both.

[Annonymous Source]

This article is saying that the Skins are not trying to rebuild the franchise in one offseason. Great article, and agree with most of it.

BTW I never had a problem with JLC. He was just being negative around this time of year when everyone wanted to be positive.

[blusun]

It was "Shoot the messenger" scenario with JLC.

[SKOALSKIN]

The best thing we did was offload the dead weight. We got rid of the 30yr old check collectors. Now we can bring in hungry youth.

[pez]

What I disliked about JLC was too much of his opinion and not enough facts in his articles... the writer is correct that we both had issues with the way things were going on in the front office (vinny), but the difference is I want un-opinionated articles, not something that throws in a low blow every chance it gets...

These "jabs" got irritating and were pretty childish in my opinion, to the point where we were laughing every time the the redskins would throw a "Fake bone" to JLC.

Just the facts ma'am... we will form our own opinions, thank you, not have them forced on us.

[Buford]

The fact was that the franchise had been run by idiots, and people didn't want to accept it. When the nonsense was mentioned, they team when into defense mode instead of fixing the problems. Looking at the Sports page of any major city. Its filled with opinion of what has or is happening.

Good luck finding anything sports related that doesn't have opinion attached. That's what the box score is for.

[KingGibbs]

I never had a problem with Jason. Quite a few people on here couldn't stand him because they couldn't handle the truth when he spoke with negativity.

If he was such a bad journalist as some of you claimed he is/was he certainly wouldn't have been hired by the NFL Network.

[boobiemiles]

If we got Daunta Robinson, we would really be winners this off season. But that is my opinion. I like the fact we cut some of the vets on our team. But I felt we should have kept Betts, and maybe Smoot. Both were drafted by our team, and for the most part they could be productive players. But that is no big deal when you take a look at the bigger picture. As for a writer having a negative opinion about the skins, which writer had a positive spin on the Redskins?

[Taylor 36]

What I disliked about JLC was too much of his opinion and not enough facts in his articles... the writer is correct that we both had issues with the way things were going on in the front office (vinny), but the difference is I want un-opinionated articles, not something that throws in a low blow every chance it gets...

These "jabs" got irritating and were pretty childish in my opinion, to the point where we were laughing every time the the redskins would throw a "Fake bone" to JLC.

Just the facts ma'am... we will form our own opinions, thank you, not have them forced on us.

Thank you!!!

All people have to do is go and look up threads about JLC columns to see how AWFUL he was. It had nothing to do with not liking the FO structure, as this article is trying to say. It had to do with the fact that JLC never reported facts, was hardly ever right on his breaking news and assertions, and the few times he was right was based on news that posters at ES had broken days before.

In short, he was a hack.

[daveakl]

Same argument with wanting a QB at #4 AND rebuilding the O-Line.

I disliked both the FO AND JLC.

[TheismannQuote]

Thank you!!!

All people have to do is go and look up threads about JLC columns to see how AWFUL he was. It had nothing to do with not liking the FO structure, as this article is trying to say. It had to do with the fact that JLC never reported facts, was hardly ever right on his breaking news and assertions, and the few times he was right was based on news that posters at ES had broken days before.

In short, he was a hack.

Yea. I have to agree. 2nd-rate journalist with an easy pinata to hit.

[DexterSackMachine]

Let's not re-write history now that everyone is feeling good about the team's direction.

LaCanfora covered the team like he was trying to unearth Watergate! He was always negative, even when the situation didn't warrant it, and often went into unwarranted conspiracy theories. Jason had an obvious grudge against Cerrato (and to a lesser extent Snyder) that went beyond Vinny's incompetence, and JLC let that permeate his work.

Reid is doing a much better job, he's negative when it's called for, and positive when that's called for. What I want is an honest, informed opinion, not hatred.

[zoony]

you know, it's possible that both sides were *******s.

Amusing that so many think it can only be one or the other.

....

[thesubmittedone]

lol, whatever, he forgot to mention how we disliked LaCanfora for his unprofessional style of negativity, his excessive use of "anonymous sources" that everyone knew just weren't there, and his inability to get any actual inside info consistently despite being a supposed "insider".

Right, we just disliked him for his criticism of the FO, poor him.