Empty the Bench

By Brian Spencer

Gotta love those Redskins.

Just when it looked like it was “out with the old and in with the new” in Washington, owner Daniel Snyder does it again by signing former All-Pro running back Larry Johnson to a 3-year deal that could pay him as much as $12 million.

We’re assuming GM Bruce Allen isn’t a total dolt and has made these incentives relatively unreachable for a broken-down back of Johnson’s caliber: things like playing in more than 8 games, rushing for more than 3.5 yards per carry, totaling more than 500 yards combined, not claiming he deserves 25+ carries a game, not publicly clashing with the similarly broken-down Clinton Portis. All would be goals reasonable men know LJ will not realistically attain.

Forget that the Redskins haven’t won their division since 1999. And that they’ve won just one playoff game since 1999. And that they were lucky to scratch out a 4-12 record last season. And that they have fielded one of the most boring, inefficient offenses in the NFL for years, and that few outside of Washington find them even remotely watchable. Forget all that, Snyder is not going out like a chump. He spends money, damn it, that’s what he does, and he’s not going to change just because there’s a new GM and a new head coach on the team. He’s no fool, that Snyder: c’mon, you all know how awesome Johnson is on Madden ’05.

The Mike Shanahan and Daniel Snyder marriage is perfect in that it brings together two stubborn men who are going to prove their point, that they’re right and you’re wrong, at all costs. Snyder cares not and hears not the criticism of his careless, free-spending ways on free agents every offseason; Shanahan, for his part, will not be told he can’t just turn anybody into an effective, efficient, successful running back. His track record is remarkable, give him that, but this move is one of his most arrogant yet.

It wasn’t enough to think he could resuscitate Portis, who over eight NFL seasons has carried the ball something like 8,000 times and missed half of the 2009 season due to a lingering concussion. To be fair, he’s only one season removed from playing in all 16 games and rushing for nearly 1,500 yards and 9 TDs, but as we’ve seen with guys like Shaun Alexander, Priest Holmes, and LaDainian Tomlinson, the dropoff in production for aging running backs is often a preciptious one. It happens fast, and once it does, there’s usually little left of value in terms of on-field usefulness. Harsh, yes, but that’s just how it is.

Speaking of Holmes, Johnson recently said he envisions the ‘Skins backfield combo of him and Portis working like it once did with him and Holmes in Kansas City. Hm, no, Larry, can’t see that happening. Now 30 years old, Johnson last rushed for 1,000+ yards in 2006, when he carried the ball 416 times (!) for 1,789 yards, totaled 2,200 combined yards, and scored 19 TDs. The next year he played in just eight games, rushing for 559 yards and scoring 4 TDs. He was eventually fazed out in KC, averaging a paltry 2.9 YPC last season before being released and finishing out the season as a backup for the Cincinnati Bengals.

This is quite a reclamation project for Shanahan, the debilitated duo of Portis & Johnson; let’s not forget the ‘Skins don’t really have a quarterback, either, though I assume they’ll be drafting one. Yep, it’s going to be another thrilling year of offensive fireworks in Washington.

Can’t wait!

Larry Johnson Photo Credit: Icon SMI

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