Redskins re-signed veteran center Rabach to a three-year contract

According to the official announcements made by the Washington Redskins on Monday, they have successfully persuaded veteran center Casey Rabach to wear back the Redskins jersey after signing a $12.3 million, three-year contract.

“Casey has been a productive player in this league for many years and we expect him to be a key ingredient to our success,” Coach Mike Shanahan said in a statement released by the team. Indeed, the 32-year-old Rabach has started 79 of the club’s last 80 games and is expected to continue playing his anchor role at the position.

After signing Rabach, the Redskins’ job of adding more parts for their line is still far from end. Having signed former Minnesota Vikings tackle Artis Hicks from free agent market, the Redskins’ next target is released former Denver Broncos center Casey Wiegmann.

Redskins plan to tender QB Campbell before deadline for free agency

According to the Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, the team plans to offer a tender to their quarterback Jason Campbell before he becomes a free agent on March 5, but may not promise him the starting job.

Shanahan said he’s still evaluating Campbell. And Redskins owner Dan Snyder tried to replace him with Jay Cutler or Mark Sanchez but failed in attempts to acquire them last offseason. So it’s no surprise that the team may take a new quarterback with the fourth overall pick in April’s draft although the Redskins are actually in great needs of offensive players. The Redskins finished the 2009 season 4-12 and Snyder fired former head coach Jim Zorn after two seasons.

What is likely to happen to Campbell, then? Will he be willing to remain the Redskins jerseys as a backup to a rookie quarterback after being the starting quarterback for the past 3 and a half seasons? At age 29, the four-year veteran may consider hard about his career future.

Redskins may retain RB Portis

Although running back Clinton Portis has said that he does not expect to be retained by the Washington Redskins, he is still likely to continue wearing Redskins jersey for longer as running backs Coach Bobby Turner believes that Portis has something left.

"Oh, he definitely has something left," Turner told The Washington Post. "We were excited about Clinton when we drafted him. And I’ve looked at a bunch of (2009) games, I mean, pretty close to every one. Matter of fact, to be precise, I’ve looked at 14 games already. Not that he was in 14, but he definitely has something left."

Portis is turning 29 in 2010 and he played in only eight games last year with a concussion. And he could still earn $6.43 million of guaranteed money if he continues playing for the Redskins in 2010 season. As Turner also coached Portis when he was playing with the Denver Broncos, what he said of Portis could be right.

Falcons Coach was fined while Redskins CB not punished

The Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall must be glad to know that the Atlanta Falcons Coach Mike Smith has been fined $15,000 by the NFL for the sideline scuffle in which, the Redskins CB, who used to play four seasons in Falcons jersey, accused Smith and other Falcons staff of doing improper things to him.

The league also fined Falcons director of athletic performance Jeff Fish $2,500, Redskins safety LaRon Landry $7,500 and Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth $5,000, but did not fine Hall, who was also involved in the scuffle. Smith confirmed the report on Thursday, but he would not like to mention the amount.

The scuffle resulted from Landry’s hit on Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. While Landry and Ryan returned to game soon as if nothing serious ever happened, Hall was surrounded by opposing players, along with Smith and Fish when he went to Falcons sideline with purpose of helping teammate out. Hall said Smith cursed at him and Fish and others put their hands on him. He also said that he would file a complaint against them with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Redskins LT Samuels will miss next game with injury

Last Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers meant big loss to the Washington Redskins. The team did not only lose to the Panthers at 10-17, but also lost their left tackle Chris Samuels, who suffered a stinger during the first quarter.

After having an MRI exam Monday to determine the severity of injury, Samuels was told that he needs time to quiet down some tingling. Thus the tackle will miss next week’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, making the already fragile offensive line even weaker.

Samuels’ leaving made the Redskins only manage just 198 yards total offense against the Panthers. And with losing right guard Randy Thomas with arm injury for the season already, the Redskins win chance for next week’s game is really questionable. And they will have to rely on at least two linemen who are wearing NFL jerseys for the first year.

Redskins RB Portis had verbal confrontation with FB Sellers

The Washington Redskins had rough days for this week. Negative news always surrounded. When they hired Sherman Lewis as a consultant to help out the offense, reports said that Lewis was hired to replace current coach Sherman Lewis; defensive coordinator Greg Blache’s being uncooperative with media certainly offended some reporters and arose even more negative speculation; and on Friday, reports came out to say that there had been verbal war between starting running back Clinton Portis and fullback Mike Sellers.

Seemingly the reports were resulted from Portis’ remarks on a weekly radio appearance last week. He cited a missed assignment by Sellers as contributing to the Redskins’ failure to score on an early fourth-and-goal play in a loss to the Detroit Lions. When it came to reports, the story changed to be like this: Portis was frustrated over Sellers’ blocking and the two began to have heated verbal war.

On Friday, Coach Zorn confirmed that Portis and Sellers did have a verbal confrontation earlier this week, but it was not an issue at all as that was just how a team goes. So it is not necessary to worry about it and there will not be any distraction to the team.

Redskins hired retired coach to help Zorn on offense

The Washington Redskins now ranks 27th in the league in scoring and they feel that something needs to be done to improve the team’s offense. The action they took is to bring in longtime NFL assistant Sherman Lewis as an offensive consultant to help coach Jim Zorn.

Lewis has coached for 22 years in the NFL and once was a candidate for head coaching jobs. Such experience soon aroused speculation that Lewis could be Zorn’s replacement-in-waiting. However, the Redskins pointed out that they hired Lewis just to offer a “fresh set of eyes” to the team and had no plan to change coach staff. In the posting on the team Web site announcing the move, executive vice president for football operations Vinny Cerrato was quoted as saying, “it’s not a threat at all” to Zorn’s job security.

“Nothing changes,” Cerrato said in a conference call with reporters. “Jim’s still calling plays. Everybody’s still doing what they’re doing. It’s just another fresh set of eyes.”

The 67-year-old Lewis used to work with the Detroit Lions and announced his retirement after 2004 season. When the Redskins holds its first practice on Wednesday in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers, he will make his first Redskins Park debut.

Redskins DT Haynesworth’s wife asked for $6,000 cash per month for family expense

Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth signed a seven-year, $100 million contract with the Washington Redskins in the offseason, and he should have been rich enough to support a family. However, his wife Stephanie Haynesworth recently had to ask a Tennessee judge to force the DT to pay veterinary bills, his daughter’s tuition and other family expenses.

Stephanie filed for divorce in March 2008. She said that Haynesworth recently threatened to stop paying temporary support that began in June and his daughter’s monthly tuition and a $4,000 veterinary bill that he authorized for the family dog. The woman also asked for a restraining order to keep Haynesworth from “texting, calling or coming around her for any reason”, worrying that Haynesworth will be “enraged” by the motion.

What is more, his wife is not the only one who has been waiting for him to pay for bills. A Nashville man also can’t pay his bills because of Haynesworth, according to the plaintiff’s attorney, Jon Perry. The man needed hip replacement surgery after a car crash caused by the NFL player in last December.

Suspect in slaying former Redskins player Taylor stopped effort to withdraw plea

As the only suspect to plead guilty so far, Venjah Hunte, 21, said he would stop the effort to withdraw his plea of guilty. The case he was involved was the slaying of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor.

At the hearing, Hunte said he would not go forward when he was asked by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy whether to insist on pursuing his motion to withdraw guilty pleas to second-degree murder and burglary charges. Before the hearing, he had a private meeting with his attorney and his mother.

Hunte was among the five suspects who committed a botched burglary and shot Taylor in the upper thigh, causing the star player’s death of massive blood loss.

Redskins sign Hackett after waiving Williams

The Washington Redskins signed D.J. Hackett Wednesay to replace Roydell Williams as a contender for the No. 5 receiver spot. Williams was waived by the Redskins with a a finger injury on the same day.

Hackett used to play with the Seattle Seahawks for three years when current Redskins head coach Jim Zorn was an assistant in the Eagles. Zorn said that the Redskins chose Hackett because he knows the terminology of offense, although he was plagued by injuries and caught only 13 passes for 181 yards when he played with the Panthers as free-agent in 2008.

Williams lost the chance of contending for the fifth spot because he broke his left pinkie in practice on Sunday.