NFL Free Agency Rumors: Washington Redskins Expected to Re-Sign Fred Davis
By Josh Hill
Fred Davis is set to become a free agent this Tuesday but a report out of Washington suggests otherwise as John Keim of the Washington Examiner is reporting the Redskins are expected to re-sign the tight end at some point over the course of the next few days. Davis tore his achilles last season and saw his numbers take a significant hit. This led many to believe that Washington had moved on from him, but as Keim points out, the Redskins have all the leverage in negotiations.
“The Redskins have told others they expect to re-sign Davis,” Keim said in his Thursday column. “The Redskins could sign him to a one-year deal with incentives; one league source guessed it could start around $4 million. Because he only played in seven full games this past season those incentives wouldn’t be hard to reach. Davis could re-prove himself then cash in next offseason.”
Washington’s motivation behind re-signing Davis stems from how cheap he’s going to be given he did only play in seven games last year before tearing his ACL. Other teams might want to give Davis a chance but he’s better off signing in a place where he knows the system and can flourish under a one-year contract.
Davis wasn’t setting the world on fire before he tore his achilles, but having Robert Griffin III as your quarterback can never hurt, even if Davis’ 2012 season never took off.
Washington currently has tight end Logan Paulsen under contract, but Davis’ ceiling remains much higher and he’s cost effective as well, especially when compared to Dustin Keller or Jared Cook. It’s low-risk, high-reward for the Redskins and they have very little to lose by bringing Davis back for another year, which is what they will more than likely do.