An era ends in Ashburn as the Redskins release tackle Jon Jansen. The 1999 second round pick spent ten seasons with the Skins and was the longest tenured player with the team. Due to Salary Cap math the team will take a 6 million dollar hit--even though the veteran was costing just 1.35 million dollars this year. Age and injuries have caught up with the 33-year old; over his first five seasons Jansen started all 80 regular season games--while he's missed 34 games in the last five campaigns...and came off the bench for the first time in his career for three games in 2008. While he was named to just one all-pro squad (2nd team in 2005) during his Redskins career-- Jansen gave the team a sense of security over his tenure--with Chris Samuels (drafted a year later) the line had their bookends in place for most of this decade.
The Skins options for succession include Stephon Heyer (started three games at left tackle and four more at right tackle in 2008), 370 pound behemoth Mike Williams (last NFL appearance with Jacksonville in 2006) and seven year veteran Jeremy Bridges (has played three positions with three teams over his career).
Jansen wasted little time moving on; pending Monday's physical with Detroit the Michigan grad will sign a one year deal with the Lions worth reportedly ...he'll compete with 2009 first round pick Gosder Cherilus for playing time this fall.
Another longtime DC fixture has a change of address: former Wizards coach Eddie Jordan's slated to take the top job with the Philadelphia 76ers... a playoff team this past season that actually took a two games to one lead against Orlando in the first round. His new team boasts a pair of Andres in the backcourt (Miller and Iguodala combined to average 34 points a game) and an injured Elton in the post (Brand was limited to 29 regular season games this past winter due to a dislocated shoulder).
Jordan turned around a culture of losing in Washington earlier this decade--leading the Wizards to four straight playoff berths (they had made the postseason just once between 1988 and 2004). What wonders will he work up I-95? It's times like these that make me wish the Wizards were still in the Atlantic Division.
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