Bruce Allen explains Redskins' approach on free agency Washington Post (blog)
If you're wondering why the Redskins weren't in the sustained for Julius Peppers when free agency began at 12:01 a.m., Washington General Manager Bruce Allen has a candid explanantion: Peppers just wasn't in the team's plans. The Redskins have been relatively motionless today, locking up their own unrestricted free agents and hosting at least a couple from other teams. But they were apparently not in the bidding for some of the big-name free agents as they have been so many other years. "It's very creative how all these rumors start," Allen said this afternoon on "The John Thompson Show," on ESPN980, the statio owned by Daniel Snyder. "So we well-grounded smile about them and let them go." While it's certainly possible the team wasn't in the hunt for Peppers, it is believed that people in the composition were intrigued by the talented defensive end and Peppers was under serious consideration. It's possible the Redskins decided he done wouldn't fit in with their new defensive scheme, it's possible they heard the dollar figures Chicago planned to up around and pulled out late, and it's possible it was all subterfuge to begin with. At any rate, Peppers is reportedly signing a three-year see to with the Bears that's expected to pay him a total of $40 million. "Julius Peppers is a very agreeable football player. I've been in the NFC South the last five years and he's tortured my team [Tampa Bay] a few times," Allen told the body's web site . "He's a good player, but I think he's going somewhere else." Allen was not made on tap to other reporters this afternoon, but on ESPN980 and on the team's official site, he seemed to say that the Redskins had a thorough, methodical approach and never intended to pursue all of the free agents that media reports had linked them to earlier in the week. "There are so many rumors before free medium starts and then afterward there's speculation," Allen said on the team's site. "We divided out our help and went after the players we think will fit what we're looking to accomplish this season." On the Thompson show, Allen acknowledged the Redskins would drove free agents, though he didn't reveal any names. "We're going to keep looking into free agency to find more and more perception for competition at every position." He said even though free agents might visit, they might not instantly receive become infected with offers and, overall, he seemed pleased with how Day 1 of free agency has transpired. "This organization is going in the honest direction and it's everyone, from the medical staff, the scouting staff, the PR staff," he said. "We're all in this together."
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