Results more important than process

The main complaint about the Washington Redskins draft that is making the rounds is that they didn't "address" the defensive line. It's a complaint heard almost every year as the Redskins do generally ignore the D-line during the annual selection meeting.

Of course, Rob Jackson of Kansas State, the defensive end that the Redskins took in the seventh round in the last dozen picks might take umbrage to such remarks, but nobody is expecting big things out of him, probably not even Mr. and Mrs. Jackson.

Not since 1997, when they tabbed Kennard Lang in the first round, have the Skins used their initial pick for a defensive lineman. Since then the first line of defense has received very limited draft-day attention in the form of late-round draft picks like Anthony Montgomery and Kedric Golston.

A funny thing has happened during the time that the Redskins have been neglecting the defensive line on the last weekend in April. The defense has been pretty good. Not necessarily great, not dominant, but good enough to win with.

How good? Starting with the 2000 season, the Redskins defense has been ranked 7, 13, 21, 24, 5, 9, 27, and 11 in points allowed. In those eight years they've been in the top 10 three times and in the top half of the league a total of five times.

Whatever method the Redskins are using to acquire defensive players has been working. To worry about where they have acquired their personnel is to be concerned with process over results.

The Redskins have not been mediocre this decade because of their defense. They have struggled because they haven't been able to score points. In that same eight-year span, from 2000-2007 their NFL rankings in point scored have been 24, 28, 25, 22, 31, 13, 20, and 18. They haven't been in the top 10 once and they were in the bottom half of the league in seven of the eight years.

That sounds to me like a team that needs to score more points. They have a ways to go here to move from being awful to merely run of the mill.

We keep on hearing that the Redskins should go after beefing up the defensive line because that's how the Giants won the Super Bowl. It's a copycat league and trying to overwhelm the other team with a fierce pass rush is a solid strategy in any era.

But the Giants weren't the team that was on the verge of being anointed the greatest of all time. That team was the Patriots, the team that added three veteran wide receivers in the offseason and became the greatest scoring machine in league history.

Now, which team do you want to copy? The one that lost six games, had to become road warriors, and needed a miracle throw and catch to become the champs? Or the one that cruised through its schedule undefeated, stayed at home for the playoffs and was a mis-timed jump by Assante Samuel on what would have been a game-ending interception away from the best season ever?

It's funny how just a couple of plays can turn the perception of how you should build your team. If the ball bounces out of David Tyree's grasp when he hits the ground, you should build your team to score points and obliterate the opposition. He catches it and suddenly every team needs to find an Osi and a Strahan in the middle rounds.

Devin Thomas, Fred Davis, and Malcolm Kelly will not turn Jason Campbell into Tom Brady. The Redskins will not win their first 18 games in 2008 or set the all time scoring record. But in time, perhaps as early as midseason, Thomas, Davis, and Kelly will be helping the Redskins score more points. By then Campbell should find the trio providing much more appealing targets than were Keenan McCardell, Reche Caldwell, and Todd Yoder.

If that happens, the biggest problem the team has had over the past eight years will be on its way to being solved.

They do not have to become a Pats-like dynamo to win more games. If they consistently can even score as many points as the average team in the league, that will be a major improvement.

Those who would rather fret over the process rather than look at the result will continue to do so. Too bad, they could be missing out on a lot of fun.

Skins draft a numbers game

It'll take a wide-angle lens to take the class picture for the Redskins' 2008 draft.

Ten new players were selected Saturday and Sunday. That ties for the most players drafted by the Redskins since they started the seven-round draft in 1994. They also took 10 players in 2002.

As the '02 draft indicates, a lot of picks doesn't always mean that you better your team considerably. From that haul, only Ladell Betts (second round, #56 overall) and Rock Cartwright (seventh, #257) still are with the team. Tight end Robert Royal (fifth, #260) and quarterback Patrick Ramsey (first, #32) are still on NFL rosters. A few others may be bouncing around trying to catch on but the most are moving on with their post-football lives.

The hopes for the current crop are much higher. It's easy to see the top four picks—wide receivers Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, tight end Fred Davis and guard Chad Rinehart—still contributing with the Redskins or elsewhere in 2014. In addition to those four, sixth-round pick Durant Brooks could make a string of appearances in Hawaii as the Pro Bowl punter.

Thomas and Kelly will have the perfect opportunity to work themselves into the lineup. Moss and Randle El will start and the two rookies will get a healthy but not overwhelming workload. Davis will be able to work in situations where he can be successful as well. Rinehart will have a year to learn under Joe Bugel and then step in to the starting left guard spot when Pete Kendall is gone in 2009.

As for the rest, time will tell. Cornerback Justin Tyron is not lacking for confidence. How can you not like a fourth-round pick who says, "I bring wisdom to the game. I bring heart to the game. I was made for this. I was made to play football. I was made for this ... This is all I can do."

If his game is anything like his talk, he'll be a nice surprise. He will compete with Leigh Torrence for time as a nickel and dime back.

Colt Brennan is who he is—a developmental quarterback. All of the records he set at Hawaii combined with five bucks will get him a latte at the Ashburn Starbucks.

His sidearm delivery doesn't need tinkering, it needs an overhaul. He certainly was overmatched against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, but so was the entire Hawaii squad. One quarterback, no matter how good he is, is good enough to lift his team to the level of an SEC team that had a legitimate argument that it should be playing for the national title.

He could develop into a solid backup quarterback in a couple of years or the Redskins might have to find another Todd Collins.

The chances of Kareem Moore, Rob Jackson, and Christopher Horton making the team or sticking with the practice squad depend largely on their special teams abilities.

My favorite pick was Rinehart. The scouting reports talked about his mean streak and his aggressiveness. He was taken with the compensatory pick awarded for the loss of Derrick Dockery in 2007. Dockery had the size and athletic ability, but he played timidly, even soft at times. If Rinehart lives up to his nasty billing he'll be an excellent replacement.

I like the Brooks pick as well. This offense will struggle at times while learning a new system and working the rookies into the mix and you can't rely on a fortuitous roll to get you out of the hole. Brooks can both boom the ball and place it inside the 10.

You do have to wait three years to get a good handle on how successful a given draft was but we'll have some kind of idea in late August when the 53-man roster is finalized. If at least seven or eight of these guys are still around that will be a good start.

Skins put two to the test

After months of grading, ranking, interviews, workouts, medical examinations, and meeting, the Washington Redskins' draft board is no longer on a dry erase board. It's in permanent ink, or at least it will be after they evaluate the results of today's workouts with Clemson DE Phillip Merling and Oklahoma WR Malcolm Kelly.

The timing of the Kelly workout is of interest. Merling hasn't been able to show his stuff since the Tigers' season ended as he has been recovering from a sports hernia, so multiple teams went to the session in South Carolina.

The workout with Kelly was private, with only the Redskins' brain trust (a term I use loosely here) in attendance.

That would seem to indicate that the Skins have a very high level of interest in Kelly. To take a contingent that included quarterback Jason Campbell out to Oklahoma 72 hours before the draft starts isn't something that you do on a lark.

It is kind of odd as this is one of the most publicized "private" workouts ever. The organization wanted to make sure that everyone knew where they were going and why. I think they even took along a beat reporter. Often, the moves you talk about the most are the ones that you are the least likely to make.

It could be a smokescreen, but I don't think it is. First, that gives Snyder and Cerrato too much credit. Second, it's a lot of time in effort invested in a ruse considering that they could accomplish the same thing with a well-placed leak to any of the dozens of reporters eager to broadcast any tidbit of draft info that might be fed to them.

That said, I would be surprised if the Redskins drafted Kelly. If they were sold on him, they wouldn't have gone to see him. Perhaps what they saw blew them away, but I doubt it.

Any which way

The Redskins' trade proposal for Chad Johnson may have been dead on arrival in Cincinnati, but it did serve a purpose. It added another layer of mystery surrounding what Vinny Cerrato and Dan Snyder are going to do with the team's first-round selection on Saturday.

Cerrato has been letting everyone who will listen know for weeks that the Redskins want to hear offers to trade down. There was some word going around that they would be looking to deal to move up if someone they liked was still available around pick 15. Now the world knows that the Skins would deal their first pick and more for a veteran wide receiver.

If putting up a smokescreen and obscuring their intentions are the goals, the Redskins have succeeded. I make that statement knowing full well that this could all be random, Keystone Cops variety confusion rather than a carefully crafted strategy of obfuscation.

Whether it's part of the master plan or mere happenstance, what was going to be a tough pick to predict is getting darn near impossible to forecast.

So, instead of throwing out a name like I did last year with LaRon Landry, let me throw out a few scenarios here. I'll start with the least likely but still possible first and then work up to the most probable.

• Trading up—The trade up talk centered around Virginia guard Branden Albert. The thinking was that if he slid to #15 or so the Skins might pull the trigger on a deal to move into a position to snag him. However, it now appears that Albert will be gone sometime in the first dozen picks. There may be another player that has caught their eye and by the value chart they could move up to about 16^th by adding their third-rounder to #21.
  
• Trading for a veteran—With the Johnson deal dead and the Cardinals having spiked what is thought to be a similar offer for receiver Anquan Boldin, the Skins are running out of offers to make. Miami is shopping defensive end Jason Taylor for a first-round pick but there is not word that Washington is interested in such a deal.
  
• 
  Trading down—While there don't seem to be any solid trade partners at this point, there seldom are. Certainly Cerrato has fielded a few calls about possible deals, but the best way to spike one of those trades before it ever happens is to talk about it. The best-case scenario here would be for two or three teams to covet Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm and for a bidding war to the pick to commence.
  
• Use the pick—This is what happens with most picks. Teams use all but a few seconds of their allotted time trying to swing a deal and then they end up sending a name in to the podium.
  

Just to put some numbers to it, I'd say that the chances that they'll use the pick are very strong, about 60%. There's about a one in three chance they'll deal down and the other 7% is split between the other two options.

So who might be the pick at #21? Look for that here on Friday.

And don't forget the live draft day blog right here at realredskins.com. I won't be here right when it starts but look for me at about 4:00 or so.

Stupid

Dos uno's wasn't enough to get Ocho Cinco to Washington.

I would have posted this sooner, but I was out looking for thank-you cards for Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis. However, the local Hallmark store had nothing in their "thanks for saving an organization from self-destructing" line.

Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato have been drawing praise since the departure of Joe Gibbs because, for the most part, they have done nothing.

After seeing what they offered the Cincinnati Bengals in an effort to obtain Chad Johnson there is fervent hope on the part of many that they will crawl back into their hole.

If you read this space with any regularity, you know that I tend to give the Redskins' organization the benefit of the doubt. However, none of that is forthcoming here.

Snyder and Cerrato's decision (and I have to join them at the hip in looking at this as it has the fingerprints of both of them all over it) to offer the Bengals their first-round pick this year and a conditional pick that would be at least a third and perhaps a first in exchange for disgruntled wide receiver Chad Johnson was stupid.

Incredibly stupid.

Crazy stupid.

Stupid and stupider.

I don't have a problem with Johnson, the persona. While I'm decidedly the old-school type, the celebrations, the list of cornerback "victims" and the brash talk that make up the Ocho Cinco character are no big deal. I've been a reporter in a locker room looking for a good quote and it would have been refreshing and fun to have such entertainment at hand.

And Johnson does produce on the field. He cranks out 90-catch, 1,400 yard seasons with regularity. Certainly, the Redskins' offense would have been better had the Bengals taken the bait.

It would have been better in 2008, anyway. And probably in 2009. Beyond that the returns from the deal would start to diminish. And that is the rub.

Johnson celebrated his 30^th birthday last January. The production of most football players who are not quarterbacks generally starts to drop off at that age. CJ does keep himself in excellent shape so he may be able to cheat Father Time out of a season or two. But anything beyond that would be a lot to ask for.

It would be a questionable deal if the team was one playmaking wide receiver away from a Super Bowl run. But they're not.

They are a couple of good drafts away from being a perennial contender. The odds of executing a good draft are much better when you, you know, have all of your picks.

Now, there is no guarantee that the Redskins' will be able to land a wide receiver of the quality of Johnson with the #21 pick. In fact, it's unlikely that they will. But they are likely to be able to get one who will be productive for the next half dozen years at a fraction of the salary cap cost of CJ.

Even if Snyder and Cerrato decided that they had to have Johnson, why not wait it out to see if the price drops? It certainly isn't going to get any higher. A Chad Johnson sitting out and making noise in late August might be able to be acquired for a relative song.

Evidently, Snyder took Lewis' pronouncement last February that Johnson would not be traded as the Bengals' coach saying that it would take a hell of an offer to get him out of Cincy. As it turns out, what Lewis said was not a negotiating ploy; it was a statement of fact.

It's also a statement of fact to say that the Redskins' personnel decision-making is in highly questionable hands.

Limas Sweed

I'm guilty as charged.

Guilty of talking a good game when it comes to posts on the Redskins' draft but coming up very small when it comes to actual content.

I throw myself on the mercy of the court.

I could talk about how rough things have been at work, how we've had a constant stream of contractors moving through the house, how my unkempt yard has screamed out for attention as the weather has turned warmer and so on and so forth. And all of that would be true.

However, the main reason that I don't write much about the prospects out there is that I just don't know enough about them to write about them with any authority. I love college football but I don't get to watch nearly enough of it to see enough of the players to form a firm opinion of their potential as pros.

As you know, that doesn't stop many bloggers, media types, and message board posters from spewing out millions of words about fluid hips and shuttle times. You surely recognize that about 98% of them have barely the vaguest clue as to what they're talking about and they're just parroting what they read elsewhere.

That's not my style.

That doesn't mean, however, that I haven't formed some opinions about some players and what the Redskins should do. Last week I discussed the possibility of them trading this year's first round pick for someone's first next year plus a couple of other top 100 picks. Either a deal like that or a normal trade down, sliding down into, say, early in the second round and picking up more selections that way would be fine by me. This team needs an injection of youth and adding relatively high picks would be the best way to make that happen.

However the wheeling and dealing might shake out, if any takes place, there is a player who has caught my eye. He is Texas wide receiver Limas Sweed. Here is the case for him in video format.

What I like about him—and this is about as sophisticated as I'll get in an analysis—is that he passes the eyeball test. Limas Sweed looks like an NFL receiver. He's a man among boys at times playing in the Big 12, often going up and over a pair of hapless defenders to haul in a pass. At 6-5, 220 he has excellent size and his 4.5 time in the 40 demonstrates that he has more than adequate speed.

As there is with almost any player who will be available at pick #21, there is some downside with Sweed. The primary concern is a wrist injury that cost him most of his senior season for the Longhorns.

If he had shredded his ACL or broken an ankle I would be more concerned. There is every indication that the wrist will not be an issue going forward.

There are those who will tell you that Limas Sweed would be a reach at #21, that there is no way that he will be the best player on the board when the Redskins pick. There are others who think that he would be a good fit both in terms of the draft slot and in terms of the Redskins' needs.

There is only one player ranking list that matters, of course, and that is the one compiled by Vinny Cerrato and company. We don't know how they have Sweed rated. They could have him in their top 15; he might not even be in their top 30. On draft day they could be giving each other high fives as their pick approaches and he remains available or they could be completely disinterested in his status.

I don't know where the Redskins stand on him and that puts me in the company of billions of other people on the planet, including virtually all of the draftnicks out there. I do know that he'd look pretty good in burgundy and gold and I'll be rooting for that to happen next Saturday.

I'll leave you with a couple of Sweed highlight reels. To be sure, they're not the complete picture—I have yet to see a dropped pass in any of them—but they do give you a glimpse of what his upside could be.

Road Warriors

The 2008 schedule for the Washington Redskins was announced yesterday and, as usual, there are some quirks in it that are worth discussion.

In case you don't have it handy, here it is:

9/4 @NYG ThNF
9/14 NO
9/21 AZ
9/28 @DAl 4:15
10/5 @ PHL
10/12 STL
10/19 CLE
10/26 @DET
11/2 PIT MNF
11/9 bye
11/16 DAL SNF
11/23 @ SEA
11/30 NYG
12/7 @ BLT
12/14 @ CIN
12/21 PHL
12/28 @SF

The first thing that always catches my eye when I take an initial glance at a schedule is the distribution of the @'s. Are the road games clumped together or are the home and road games alternated for the most part?

What we see here is clumps of road games. Three out of the first five and three of the last four are away from FedEx Field. Those three road games in the early going are all against the team's division rivals, the Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys. Jim Zorn is going to have to hit the ground running.

The key in that stretch of the season is the home games against the Saints and Cardinals. Both of those teams are with the Redskins in the muddled middle of the NFL. If the Skins can take those two games then getting a win in any of the three division roadies will be a bonus. If they drop one, they're staring 1-4 right in the face.

The ending stretch does not look as daunting. None of their December opponents made the playoffs in 2007. The Ravens have a new coach, the Niners and Bengals' coaches are strapped to the hot seat for the year, and there are rumblings that Andy Reid has outstayed his effectiveness in Philly.

Not that December will be a cakewalk by any stretch, but if they have a shot at a decent season going into the last four games, at this point you'd have to feel pretty good about their chances of finishing it off.

The key words there are "at this point". Games that look like sure losses now could turn into ones that the Redskins should win by the time that they are played. Penciling in a "W" at any point is just as risky.

That's why any extended analysis of the schedule at this point is little more than offseason filler material.

Since the road games are clumped at the beginning and end of the year, there will be plenty of home cooking in October and November. The Redskins go on the road just once in a six-week stretch that includes their bye week. The off week is sandwiched between prime time home games against the Steelers (Monday night) and Cowboys (Sunday night).

Move up, move down. . .or move out?

There has been a lot of talk of the Washington Redskins trading down from their #21 slot in the upcoming NFL draft. In fact, Vinny Cerrato has publicly placed a "For Sale" sign on that pick.

Such a move could garner the team picks high in the second and third rounds. That would give the Skins five of the top 100 picks, a great setup for a team not necessarily looking for any immediate starters to come out of the draft but one that needs replacements to groom for aging and/or expensive starters.

According to Jason LaCanfora in the Post, there are some at Redskins Park who could see the Redskins trading up if offensive lineman Branden Albert of Virginia was available at around pick #15. Such a move would cost the Redskins their third-rounder this year (the original; they can't trade the compensatory pick they were awarded) and next. It's probably a moot point as it's likely that Albert will be gone by then, but it's still something to keep an eye on.

How about a third option? Suppose a team calls while the Redskins are on the clock and offers next year's first and some other, lower picks for Washington's pick at #21. Should the Redskins consider such an offer?

We have an example of what such a deal might look like in the Redskins' recent past. A few days before the 2005 draft they traded away their 2005 third-round pick and their 2006 first and fourth rounders for Denver's first '05 pick, #25 overall.

Suppose the Carolina Panthers take defensive Derrick Harvey with their pick and #13 and then decide to make a move for their quarterback of the future. They will need someone to take over when Jake Delhomme is done, something that is likely to be the case sooner rather than later. Brian Brohm of Louisville is there when the Redskins are on the clock at #21. Marty Hurney decides to make his move.

He offers next year's first and third and this year's third for Washington's first. Should Cerrato take it?

If this or something like it is offered, Vinny should take it and run.

The main reason it makes sense for the Redskins to delay gratification is that Jim Zorn is going into his first year as head coach. He doesn't really know who on the team can perform in his version of the West Coast offense and who is going to struggle to adapt.

And while Greg Blache will be running a defense similar to that of Gregg Williams, he will have his own wrinkles and it will take live game action for him to see how his personnel adjust.

Instead of expending a first-round pick when you really don't know what you're looking for, it would be wise to wait a year, make a thorough assessment of what you have and what you need, and then make this year's first-round pick in 2009. Along with that first, the Redskins would have Carolina's third, giving them five of the top 100 picks in the '09 draft.

In the meantime, the Skins would get a third this year (if the deal is with the Panthers it would be the 74^th overall) and they would still have four of the top 100 picks.

For a team that needs to get younger in a hurry that's an offer they can't refuse.

We don't know if such a deal will present itself. If it does, Cerrato and company would be very wise to consider it.

Jerome Mathis

The Washington Redskins' signing of kick returner and wide receiver Jerome Mathis made a bit of a ripple over the weekend. The former Houston Texan has a Pro Bowl, multiple appearances on injured reserve and a rap sheet on his resume.

The invitation to Hawaii came after the 2005 season when he averaged 28.6 yards per kickoff return and scored two touchdowns. He spent most of the 2006 and 2007 seasons on injured reserve with various foot and leg injuries.

The Texans had the right to retain Mathis but they chose not to offer him a restricted free agent tender. This was due to a pair of arrests in addition to the IR stints. Last December he was charged with neglect when he allowed some pit bulls to escape his property in Houston. That may have been overlooked but in February he was jailed for assault after being accused of attacking his pregnant girlfriend.

She later dropped the charges but, as we know, that doesn't mean that nothing happened.

One area reporter told ProFootballTalk.com that someone like Mathis never would have been allowed in the building, much less signed, if Joe Gibbs was still around.

That's all well and good, but taking the occasional chance on a guy who had a rocky couple of months in his 25-year life isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm all for high character guys, but Gibbs was 30-34 in his second stint back so maybe a hard and fast policy against giving guys a second chance—like he did occasionally in his first, more successful run—isn't such a good idea.

Mathis got a minimum contract with no guaranteed money, so there is little risk involved. Rock Cartwright is a good kickoff returner, but he's not exactly a threat to go all the way every time he touches the ball. Mathis is, or at least he is when he can stay on the field.

At 5-11, he certainly isn't the big wide receiver that the team is looking for. In fact, he hasn't played much receiver at all, with only six career catches.

At this point, Mathis appears to be a moderately long shot to make the roster. His best shot will come if Jim Zorn decides to designate a roster spot for a kick returner. That could cost someone who plays a lot of special teams but not much at a regular position a job, someone like Khary Campbell.

News & Notes: Skins get three extra picks

Some smaller items have filled up the inbox and it's time to empty it out with this version of News & Notes.

News:
The Redskins were awarded three compensatory picks in this month's draft; a third round selection and two seventh-rounders.

Notes: This is not news here. Our source Adam had this one pegged as was reported here one month ago today. The third is really a fourth since it comes after the end of the third round, but it's the 96^th overall pick and they should be able to score a pretty good player with it. The Skins now have four of the top 100 selections (21, 51, 84, and 96) plus five more (154, 186, 228, 242, 249) later during the selection meeting.

News: Quarterback Chad Henne of Michigan came in for a pre-draft visit.

Notes: It's hard to read why teams bring in particular players for these visits. You have a limited number of them—32—and you don't want to waste them. Henne is pegged as about a third-round selection and that seems kind of high to take a project quarterback and make him your third-string guy. But maybe the Skins don't want to wait until the sixth or seventh round to take a QB. Whoever it is will have to be ready for the possibility of having to play on any given (disastrous) Sunday and, in any case, will have to be ready to be the backup in a year or two as Todd Collins isn't going to spend much longer than that as a backup. Maybe they're thinking of using that comp third on their backup quarterback of the future.

News: Vinny Cerrato wants to trade down from the 21^st overall pick.

Notes: I just found out that he said this on Riggins' show this afternoon. I don't quite see how it benefits the Redskins for him to announce this to the world, but it's not a big deal either. If he starts working the phones trying to set up possible on-the-clock deals, the whole world will know soon enough anyway. As most of you know, I'm not a draftnick by any stretch of the imagination, but from what I've read it looks like there will be a lot of good, roughly equal players available in the second and third rounds. According to the draft value chart, the #21 overall is worth early selections in the second and third. (I'll try to get the audio link for Cerrato's visit with Riggo and company and post it later).

News: The Redskins re-sign fullback Nehemiah Broughton.

Notes: This move is peculiar only in that the team had exclusive rights to him in February and chose to cut him loose. "Nemo" was selected by the Redskins in the seventh round of the 2005 draft. He bounced on and off the practice squad and the roster for the next two years and landed on IR last year after a preseason knee injury. He and incumbent starter Mike Sellers are the only two fullbacks on the roster, so there would appear to be some opportunity for Broughton to land a spot.

Outline of preseason schedule released

The opponents for and weekends of the Redskins' preseason schedule have been released.

Aug. 3 -- Hall of Fame game against Indianapolis in Canton, Ohio
Aug. 7-10 -- vs. Buffalo
Aug. 14-17 -- at New York Jets
Aug. 21-24 -- at Carolina
Aug. 28 -- vs. Jacksonville

The HOF game will be on NBC at 8:00 PM and the Jacksonville game also will be on NBC at 7:00 PM. The other exact dates and times will be announced in the next few weeks.

Absent from the schedule are the Baltimore Ravens. They have been playing the Redskins during the preseason for the past several years. The teams are playing during the regular season and perhaps that is why they skipped their meeting this year.

Five preseason games is about three too many.