Update: On the evening news in DC, George Michael said that the
Redskins assured him that the rumor was completely bogus and that the Redskins
no longer have any interest in acquiring John Abraham.
With many other area TV reporters such a report might not
spike the rumors completely, but that’s not the case here. Michael is no lion
of journalism or anything, but he is well connected to the Redskins. He hosts
Joe Gibbs’ weekly TV show during the season and while all of the other TV types
are sweating on the track during training camp practices, Michael is over on
the other side of the field with Snyder and Jurgy.
The John Abraham to the Redskins rumor just won’t go away.
It had some legs prior to free agency mostly as speculation
by the national media. It was the old “Danny Snyder likes to make the big
splash” line of shaky reasoning. Since defensive end was an area of need for
the team, however, it wasn’t totally out from left field.
When it looked like the Redskins were headed into the teeth
of salary cap hell, the talk faded as it didn’t look like the Redskins would be
able to afford to even think about the move.
The talk started up in earnest on Sunday night when, all of
a sudden, John Abraham showed up at Redskins Park for a visit. This is the only
known fact that we’re dealing with in this whole situation.
Earlier in the day defensive end Andre Carter, said to be
the team’s top target at the position, left without signing a contract. It was
thought that perhaps Abraham was brought in to put some pressure on Carter to
sign. Whether it was because of the Abraham visit or something else, Carter
notified the Redskins that he would accept their offer. This presumably put any
deal involving Abraham to bed.
It did no such thing. There was a small buzz created last
night around the message board circuit about a report on ESPN News that the
Redskins would sign both Carter and Abraham on Tuesday. That seemed to die off
as the night wore on.
Then, this afternoon it has sprung up all over again.
Evidently there have been reports on WFAN radio, New York City’s biggest sports
talker, that a deal between the Jets and Redskins for Abraham is almost done.
The reported deal would send Patrick Ramsey and the Redskins’ second-round pick
this year and their first-round pick next year to the Jets for the right to
drop another Brinks truck full of money on Abraham.
While there is no point in evaluating a rumored deal, this
would seem to be a pretty steep price. That doesn’t mean that it won’t happen.
The Redskins’ philosophy evidently is to decide what they want and they pay
whatever it takes to get it.
Stay tuned.
