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Redskins Introduce Fletcher, Land Smoot
The trash-talking cornerback, who spent his first four seasons with the Redskins, returns after a two-year hiatus with Vikings.
(Toni L. Sandys - The Post)
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The Redskins offered Dockery roughly three years for $12 million, according to a team source, far beneath what he commanded on the open market.
Gibbs said the Redskins "didn't want to lose" Dockery and that "everyone in the league" was surprised by this year's free spending nature. But Gibbs added that as Dockery moved closer to free agency, his pessimism about getting a deal done rose.
"It went far and beyond what I expected," Dockery said from his cellphone yesterday afternoon. "I'm very excited. When [agent] Todd [France] told me about what they offered, it was a no-brainer."
Dockery said there were times during the season when he thought he would be re-signing here without testing the open market, as did running back Ladell Betts. But the more time that passed the more that feeling diminished.
"I thought it was going to get done here and I had a lot of faith in Coach Gibbs and Mr. Snyder but it never happened," said Dockery, who attended last night's Capitals game with Campbell. "But this is a business, too, and I had a great time in my four years here. I loved playing with Randy [Thomas] and Chris [Samuels] and Jon [Jansen] and Casey [Rabach] and I loved playing for Coach Bugel, but in the end it was time to move on. My wife and I prayed about it and the financial part of it was great, too, and we felt like it was something we needed to do."
Dockery said that since signing he has heard from teammates Thomas, Samuels, Cornelius Griffin, Renaldo Wynn, Phillip Daniels and Demetric Evans, among others. Snyder also called him to congratulate him.
"They're really happy for me, and it shocked a lot of people," Dockery said. "But me and Todd were very confident in our ability and it worked out in the end."
The arrival of Fletcher, 31, signals the beginning of what could be a significant overhaul of defensive personnel. While the Redskins struggled during the season against the run and especially against the pass, both Gibbs and assistant head coach-defense Gregg Williams maintained they did not think the defense required massive change. Getting Fletcher, who knows the system intimately, is a strong leader and has never missed a game in his career, was imperative, they believed. He was a playmaker in this defense in Buffalo, where Williams was his head coach for three years.
Fletcher is expected to replace Lemar Marshall at middle linebacker. Marshall started 31 of 32 games in 2005 and 2006. He emerged as a surprise performer in 2005, but struggled with injury and durability issues last season so much that Williams believed middle linebacker to be the team's primary offseason need.
"Lemar is valuable for our football team," said Gibbs, who said he plans to speak to Marshall about the signing of Fletcher. "He can play outside in and in for us, and we think he's going to continue doing that."
