Redskins GM Bruce Allen mentioned earlier in the week that they have already begun contract talks with free agent OLB Brian Orakpo as well as ILB Perry Riley and CB DeAngelo Hall.
“I think it’s a little early, because they are just starting to evaluate,” Allen said, via the Washington Times. “We’ll have some fresh ideas and some fresh eyeballs looking at players. We, obviously, can fill them in on the character of various guys, but I’d be interested to hear their opinions on who they think really fits in here and who might not.”
Orakpo, 27, is in the final year of his rookie contract and stands to make a lot of money on the open market next year, despite the fact that he’s dealt with a few serious injuries in the last two seasons. In fact, the reason why the Redskins allowed Orakpo to enter the season without an extension was because they wanted to see how he recovered from a season-ending torn pectoral muscle.
Orakpo finished the 2013 season with 10 sacks and has 39.5 career sacks in just 64 games for the Redskins defense. Washington will have the cap space to lock him up long-term and could always use their franchise tag on him if needed.
Orakpo figures to be looking for a similar deal to that of Paul Kruger who received a five-year, $40.5 million contract that included $20 million guaranteed from the Browns a year ago. There’s even a chance he could best some of these figures given how productive he’s been over the course of his career.
We have Orakpo listed as the No. 5 player in our Top 50 – 2014 Free Agents list.
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