With the “legal tampering” part of free agency underway across the league it’s starting to become clear that the Washington Redskins will be parting ways with a few key players in just a few days. Among those players are wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, who appear to be heading elsewhere when free agency officially begins Thursday at noon.

Garcon is being recruited heavily by the San Francisco 49ers and while Jackson has multiple teams including the Patriots, Eagles, Buccaneers and Cowboys interested in him. For Garcon, new 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is looking for capable targets and Pierre had his best season as a pro with Kyle in 2013.

Among the other Redskins players with expiring contracts the team signed Vernon Davis today, and is trying to keep defensive lineman Chris Baker without overpaying in the process.

Redskins already preparing to possibly lose players

Washington has likely known they could lose Garcon, Jackson and Baker for a long time now and has already formed a contingency plan. In terms of receiver, the team has been linked to 6-4 Raiders receiver Andre Holmes and 26 year-old Bills wide-out Marquise Goodwin. Goodwin was a 2012 Olympian and has spent the last four years in Buffalo with several different quarterbacks, he could be viewed as a lower-end deep threat replacement for Jackson. In ten career starts Goodwin has 49 catches for 780 yards and 6 touchdowns.

In 20 career starts Holmes has 102 catches for 1462 yards and 12 touchdowns.

The Redskins number one need coming into this offseason was to build their defensive line after finishing near the bottom of the league against the rush the last few seasons. They may find that their plan could move forward without Chris Baker as the 29 year-old is receiving a lot of attention from other teams.

The Redskins have reached out to a few defensive lineman including the Ravens Lawrence Guy, and the Chiefs Dontari Poe. Poe is currently in high demand, and could come at a high cost while Guy would be a cheaper player that the Redskins would bring in based on what he could possibly do. In fact, Poe is widely considered the top defensive tackle in free agency, so he would come as an upgrade to Baker, but also a much higher priced option as well.

The 'Skins have also reportedly been connected with Cowboys defensive lineman Terrell McClain and safety Barry Church.

Deals don’t count until Thursday at noon

It should said that just because you hear about a player and team coming to terms that it’s not official until it’s announced Thursday at 12:00 EST pm. Many times in the past deals have been announced during the “legal tampering” period, and then never panned out in the end.
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