Trent Williams

Why Ryan Kerrigan is the face of the franchise that the Redskins need

Posted on by Peter Hailey

When it comes to positions that are considered to be “face of the franchise” positions, linebackers are not very high on the list. Quarterbacks are obviously number one, but if a team doesn’t have a stud signal caller, then another offensive playmaker at running back or receiver is usually deemed to be an organization’s face. In Washington, however, this is not the case.

In my mind, Ryan Kerrigan is the face of the franchise, and when the Redskins announced Monday that they were signing the pass rusher to a five-year contract extension, they told the rest of league that he’s the guy who, next to Trent Williams, the team wants to build around moving forward. And they couldn’t have made a better decision.

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Building the Perfect Redskin: Taking pieces of 8 different burgundy and gold players to make the ultimate Skin

Posted on by Peter Hailey

A few days ago I finished reading Frankenstein, the classic story of a scientist who pieces together a disgusting but intelligent monster in a groundbreaking science experiment that eventually goes very wrong.

No, I didn’t read the book for fun, because nobody does that anymore; rather, I was assigned to read the novel for my English class at Maryland, and while I didn’t love the story, I was glad I finally got a chance to read it, and feel smarter because I did. (Side note: how many people think Frankenstein is the monster’s name? I’m assuming a lot of you just raised your hand. Well, I did too, which is why I felt like such an idiot when I realized that it’s really the scientist’s name, while the monster actually has no name at all. I hope me telling you this saves you from the embarrassment I felt from going my entire life and not knowing this vital piece of information.)

Now, of course the whole “I’m gonna create a new species by piecing together parts from a bunch of different humans” idea went terribly awry in the story, as Frankenstein’s creation ends up killing his brother, his best friend, his father, and his wife. On paper, however, it was a very neat idea, and it inspired me to do something similar in this post. Read More

Let the debate begin: You have $15 to spend and have to fill out a roster of the Skins best skill players in the past decade…Who do you choose?

Posted on by Peter Hailey

Earlier this year, around May or June, a very interesting sports debate raged on.

The question? If you were creating an All-Time NBA Starting Lineup, and had an imaginary 15 dollar salary cap to fill out your roster, how would you go about it? Here’s the image that spread across the web like a wildfire on steroids:

It was a very fun debate, and something I talked about with a ton of people in all sorts of places. Everyone had their own opinion and constructed their own ideal squad. So now, I wanna take this idea and relate it to DC sports.

The challenge is going to be a bit different, but just as fun: use 15 dollars to fill out what you believe is the best collection of Redskins skill players of the last 10 years, based on their best individual season. One QB, one running back, one tight end, and two wide receivers.

The rules are simple: the list of options is posted below, with who I think is the best player at their respective position (according to the best year they had) of the past 10 years being worth $5, the second best $4, all the way down to $1, where things get a little crazy; because the Redskins have been mostly bad this past decade, I figured it was important to factor that in to this challenge, because being able to construct a Redskins roster without including terrible players wouldn’t be very realistic, now would it? Therefore, the players valued at one dollar are some of the worst/most irrelevant/most useless players I could find from the past ten years at their position. Since the Redskins have had to deal with starters playing like crap or not even showing up on their rosters, you do, too.

You get $15 to fill out your roster; you can stay under, but not go over. Do you play it safe and choose the players valued at $3 at every spot, or go for it it all, putting together a roster with high end players and one dollar busts? IT’S ALL IN YOUR HANDS NOW! Read More

Top 5/Bottom 5: Redskins who I want, and really don’t want, on my side during a zombie apocalypse

Posted on by Peter Hailey

Almost everything I do in life involves sports in some ways. I play them everyday, watch them constantly, and am always thinking about them. When professors assign essays, my first thought is always, “Is there anyway I can involve sports?” I’m not a very well rounded person, I guess…pretty one dimensional. If I were a running back, I’d be like Redskins draft pick Lache Seastrunk: a speedy guy who can do literally nothing else.

Damn it! I used a sports analogy to convey just how much my life revolves around sports. I gotta branch out. Fine. If I were a cake, I’d be a chocolate cake, with gallons of chocolate syrup poured on top.

Man, that cake analogy was right on the money, like a Peyton Manning pass.

Crap. Gotta work on that.

The reason I begin with this information is because, this Sunday, one of the few things that I enjoy that DOESN’T involve sports is starting up again: The Walking Dead. Read More

Redskins-Texans: A conversation between positive (12-4 son!) me & negative (6-10 at best) me

Posted on by Peter Hailey

When the Redskins 2014-15 NFL schedule was first released, and I saw the (losers of 14 straight, Ryan Fitzpatrick led, best player in franchise history didn’t even want to play for them for a while) Houston Texans in Week 1, I was very pleased.

The Skins have a new offense, new head coach, a healthy RGIII looking to get himself back into a rhythm, and a need to get the ship sailing in the right direction. I thought to myself: opening up against Houston? Oh my god, besides Oakland and Jacksonville, they couldn’t have asked for a better opening game.

Yet with each passing week, the doubts started to creep into my once very happy mind. Read More