Phillip Daniels

[PA Skins Girl]

Why does everyone think Phillip Daniels is such a stiff. I've havent read one nice thing about this guy on the board here. As I recall, he was the first name that popped up, even before free agency, that the Skins were interested in. Is there something negative about him that I'm not seeing or are we purely talking numbers here?

[CarMike]

I think its all about the numbers right now. I have a couple of Bear fans as friends and they all say that he wont be able to get pressure on the QB. He didn't do that well in Chicago. But he does play the run well.

And I think the reason he was the first name to be mentioned is because of his old DC is now the DL coach. Or something like that.

[Patrick]

He's a solid backup/role player NOT a ProBowler.

[redwolf1218]

I think its all about the numbers right now. I have a couple of Bear fans as friends and they all say that he wont be able to get pressure on the QB. He didn't do that well in Chicago. But he does play the run well.

And I think the reason he was the first name to be mentioned is because of his old DC is now the DL coach. Or something like that.
yea he was hand-picked by blache i think, from 4 years together in chicago. good work ethic.

[rskinsfan10]

Why does everyone think Phillip Daniels is such a stiff. I've havent read one nice thing about this guy on the board here. As I recall, he was the first name that popped up, even before free agency, that the Skins were interested in. Is there something negative about him that I'm not seeing or are we purely talking numbers here?

If I had to guess, I would say that he isn't a "sexy" name that most people would prefer.

[Spence]

Why does everyone think Phillip Daniels is such a stiff.It probably has something to do with the fact that Daniels has averaged 4.5 sacks per year over the course of his career and most people are not very impressed with that. It's not that Daniels is a stiff, it is that the Redskins need a top passrusher on the defensive line and there is very little in his NFL career that would lead a reasonable observer to conclude that Daniels fits that description. If the Redskins had a top passrusher on the other side of the line from Daniels I don't think many people would be so sceptical about Daniels. If you want him to play the run decently and get one sack every month or so, Daniels is just fine. If you think the Redskins need more than that from their top passrushing defensive lineman, you might reasonably conclude that Daniels is not going to fix any problems the Redskins have.

[redwolf1218]

he might be a good run stopper. that's not such a bad thing. he talked about starting early in the offseason and working hard in the weight room, wanting to push people off the line. he'll understand what blache wants and provide leadership to others.

[Spence]

If "leadership" is a synonym for "sacks" then I'm all for it. Otherwise...

[skins111111]

6'5" and a good run stopper.........ya gotta stop the run........we have a great secondary........looks like Lavar and Taylor will be putting the pressure on the QB....... they will do a fine job

[VTSkins897]

what'd you expect? julius peppers?

[LATrueRedskin]

what'd you expect? julius peppers?

Yeah, i think we got a pretty good "bang for the buck" player in Daniels. He's not a superstar, and not everybody we get can be. I think Daniels will help plug the run and take up a few blockers while we use our strength, the linebackers. I hope next year we get a pure blooded pass rusher though to complete our defense.

[dj_stouty]

If Blache hand picked him, then I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Our rush D was WORSE (26th ranked) than our Pass D (14th Ranked) was last year.

We ranked 26th against the run, 28th in allowing first downs by the rush and 29th in allowing rush TDs. If Daniels can even remotely help in that department, then I'm happy. Wynn doesn't seem to rush the pass or OR stop the run, so I believe we have upgraded our talent at that position.

Not too many teams rely on a strong pass rush from the strong side. I think Williams will figure something out...

[RedskinsVision]

i think Daniels will be a nice surprise for us.. i remember channel 9 news mentioning him specifically during the 2nd mini-camp on how huge and explosive he looked.. he'll definitely be an improvement at the LE spot. Wynn will be his backup or be cut imo.

[RedskinRyan]

if wynn is at TC, then i dont think he will be cut. people just see that he doesnt have too many sacks, so they automatically label him as somebody who wont be an upgrade for us. stats dont measure run stuffing ability. also, i think we signed daniels before we got blache, but im not positive about that.

[redwolf1218]

if wynn is at TC, then i dont think he will be cut. people just see that he doesnt have too many sacks, so they automatically label him as somebody who wont be an upgrade for us. stats dont measure run stuffing ability. also, i think we signed daniels before we got blache, but im not positive about that.
from march 3 washington post:
The 6-foot-5, 280-pound Daniels played the previous four seasons in Chicago under defensive coordinator Greg Blache, who was hired in February to hold the same position with the Redskins. Blache was a factor in Washington's landing Daniels, who signed a five-year deal with Washington. "Plus the chance to get to the Super Bowl," Daniels added. "Coach Joe Gibbs -- he's got three Super Bowls."
i think i read somewhere some more details about blache liking daniels work ethic and attitude.

[redwolf1218]

here's some good info from an old redskins.com article about how daniels was used in chicago. apparently he moved inside to tackle on passing downs, so that may have brought his sack totals down. he had a lot of tackles though, so he's a good run stopper.

The 6-5, 285-pounder comes to Washington after spending the previous four seasons with the Bears. He played under current Redskins’ defensive coordinator Greg Blache each of those seasons.
Daniels said Tuesday that he feels comfortable playing either right or left defensive end and is willing to move inside to play some at tackle should the need arise.
“I played right end my first few years and played well, and then Greg asked me to move to left end so that Alex Brown could play right,” Daniels said. “I had no problem with that. Then he asked me to move inside on pass rush downs. So I feel comfortable wherever I play. I’m a team guy. I don’t care where I am, just as long as I win.”
Said head coach Joe Gibbs: “Phillip is someone who is very versatile—he can play all the way across the board. He’s the right kind of person, which is very important. As soon as it came across that we could talk to him, he was the first guy we wanted to get on the plane and get him here.”
Daniels was released in part because the Bears expect to start 2003 first-round draft pick Michael Haynes at left defensive end next season. Because Daniels was released, he was eligible to sign with another team prior to the March 3 start of free agency.
Last season, Daniels started all 16 games at left defensive end, recording 64 tackles, 2.5 sacks and one forced fumble. He also added his first career blocked field goal in the Bears’ victory over the Oakland Raiders.
Upon his release from the Bears, several teams were interested in acquiring Daniels—including those NFL teams that had hired former Bears’ defensive assistant coaches from last year’s coaching staff, Daniels said.
The deciding factors in his coming to Washington were his relationship with Blache and his desire to play on the east coast so that his family in Georgia could see him play more often.

[PA Skins Girl]

Thanks for finding that Redwolf. I remembered the coaches had very good things to say about him. Sounds like his numbers reflect the role he has been asked to play. He's got great size and a good attitude.

[redwolf1218]

64 tackles...playing all across the line...i think some of us may have all underestimated the type of guy we have here. i doubt we had anyone who got 64 tackles on our line last year.

[tommahawk]

I think Daniels and Griffin are the two best d/linemen we have. The line has been upgraded with 2 new starters. Next year get 2 more or see if any of the young guns work out, and we have our upgraded d/line. As bad as it was we couldn't replace all of them. I think Upshaw will be better this year as well. At least I hope.

[Spence]

Daniels has lived off one or two pretty good seasons. It's possible he will become a serious pass rusher for us, but there is no reason to expect it.

[PennSkinsFan]

Ageed Tom. I liek the signing. Phillip woudl be excellent depth, but we are talking about starters here and Danile sis pushing that definition.

[JoeDaSchmoe]

He's still an improvement. That's better than two of our DL spots.

[split3clemente]

I seriously dont understand some of you guys. Why dont we just roll out the NFC pro bowl team and everyone will be happy. I mean look at our team, our linebackers are stacked, our secondarys stacked, our O line looks like its gonna be very good, we have an amazing RB, we have 2 good QBs, we have one of the best WR corps. You guys wont be satisfied until we get reggie white on the line or bruce smith back when he was in his prime. Daniels will be servicable, our D Line just isnt gonna be the strength of our team and its up to coaching to cover that up.

[JoeDaSchmoe]

I think it's because we've seen teams with a dominant front four and decent back seven dominate. We've had the reverse for years and it doesn't work nearly as well.

[sdredskinsfan]

As I recall, he was the first name that popped up, even before free agency, that the Skins were interested in.

That's because he was available before the free agency period began.

[PyroGenic]

64 tackles...playing all across the line...i think some of us may have all underestimated the type of guy we have here. i doubt we had anyone who got 64 tackles on our line last year.

that's even better than dan wilkinson and people were pissed when we released him... he's definitely an upgrade from what we've previously had. Let's see how he plays first and then judge him from there. I still think that we should definitely draft a DE next draft though.

[PA Skins Girl]

I seriously dont understand some of you guys. Why dont we just roll out the NFC pro bowl team and everyone will be happy. I mean look at our team, our linebackers are stacked, our secondarys stacked, our O line looks like its gonna be very good, we have an amazing RB, we have 2 good QBs, we have one of the best WR corps. You guys wont be satisfied until we get reggie white on the line or bruce smith back when he was in his prime. Daniels will be servicable, our D Line just isnt gonna be the strength of our team and its up to coaching to cover that up.Yeah, what he said!

[PA Skins Girl]

that's even better than dan wilkinson and people were pissed when we released him... he's definitely an upgrade from what we've previously had. Let's see how he plays first and then judge him from there. I still think that we should definitely draft a DE next draft though.I'll say it's better than Wilkinson. He had just 16 total tackles for us in 2002! Granted, he only played 12 games, but 16 tackles? Come on.

[PA Skins Girl]

That's because he was available before the free agency period began.True. But his name surfaced in the Washington Post as free agency approached, but before he was released, as someone they would pursue in free agency.

[Brokenstriker]

funny but this description reminds me of someone else ... hardworking, huge run stopper but no pass rush, previous team not overwhelmed with him, not as "good" as people hoped he would be ... etc. etc. etc.

seems I read this same stuff about some lame NFL underachiever by the name of Dave Butz. We could do a hell of a lot worse than picking up someone who even came close to contributing like Butz did ...

[GoDannyBoy]

Sounds like the guy can play anywhere on the line! Has a great attitude, 65 tackles, and get a few sacks? I think we need to find some who holds out of camp until he gets a $3 million bonus and huge contract. Then get mad because the press don't cover him well and sulks though the second half of the season.

It seems there is a plan and this guy is a part of it!

[Axegrinder]

If I had to guess, I would say that he isn't a "sexy" name that most people would prefer.
Yes sir,but that could be a good thing.What did that sexy Stubblefield do while he was here?

[RoanokeSkin]

Im not going to go out and say the guy is a stiff, but he is a mediocre defensive lineman at best. If you put that together with the rest of the crap we have on the dline, it isnt an impressive sight. We need a dominant pass rusher to elevate the overall line play, and I dont believe he is it.

I hope I'm wrong.

[flave1969]

Between 1998 and 2002 Daniels had 36 Sacks, that is 7 a year. Now I would take that. He had 53 Tackles(41 solo) last year not 63 or 65 as some mentioned, however that is a good tackle count for a lineman. Daniels is an upgrade on what we had but is he the starter we need at end?

We have zero depth on this line, zero. If we lose one of our starters we have nothing that will stop us leaking yards. This is the real problem with our line. People mentioned Wilkinson, yes his 16 tackle season will go down in infamy, but he was still the best lineman we had, and we cut him six weeks out from the season opener. We were left with the Keystone Kops on the line and it screwed us. We had a decent back seven last season and they were all at sea.

We have the same this year, and we are in the same position this year on the line. If one of them goes down we are screwed. Philip Daniels should have been joining the team as a backup/starter, not simply a starter. We dont need a Pro-Bowl defence as someone stated. We need a Championship D, our line stops us being that team.

If Daniels, Noble and Griffin play sixteen games this year, we all know our Rush D will improve to at least the middle of the pack. These guys however will not take a middle of the pack pass D to the top ten. For those with playoff aspirations that is what we need because only 12 teams are heading to the playoffs.

Our biggest help on D this year will be the fact that we will have a good offense this year, keeping them of the field. We cannot have everything I agree, but we should have got the things we needed most. We got a running game for the O, but we did not get a line for the D.

We will see. One thing is for sure we will all be happy if it works, and sad if it fails.

[chrisbcbu]

I guess im one of the few that thinks our D-Line will do a decent job this season. I do feel we upgraded it from last year by adding Griffin/Daniels. I think out D-Line will go out and play as they have something to prove, which they do. And i think they will do a standup job. I do feel that if one of them gets hurt we have someone to step, but if 2 get hurt then we have a problem.

Our starters will do a good job but we dont have that much depth at D-Line, unless the rookies play extremely well. All will be proven/unproven in a couple of months!

[ConradCountry]

The d-line needs to be over hualled in a big way we need two things.

1. Talent, no one except Griffen should be starting on an NFL d-line.

2. Youth, I posted this earlier that no one on the d-line is under 28 years old and that leaves us with no chance for development.

We need to grab a young pass rusher and a big DT in FA and the 1st rd next year.