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Rebuilding, Redskin style


finknottle

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In Redskin-land there is an emerging consensus about what Shanahan is doing to rebuild the culture of the Redskins, which is worth thinking about in Buffalo.

 

What he seems to be doing is side-lining capable, established vets and former high-draft picks. But rather than relying on the free-agent route, he's promoting from untested backups and the practice roster and playing young guys for whom this is their one shot. Why? Hunger. See who emerges. Call it the George Wilson factor.

 

Should we start mixing things up more? Or are we already doing it, and failing miserably?

 

(I'm not talking QB here, which is a special situation and has been discussed ad nauseum.)

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The Washington Redskins - What happens when your franchise tries to fill the two most critical factors for NFL success:

 

A respected NFL-caliber head coach.

A franchise-level quarterback.

 

Instantly transform your team from one that drafts before the Buffalo Bills to one that will draft much, much later.

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What "capable, established vets" should we be side-lining?

 

Not sure we even have any of those to allow us to go this route.

 

Not neccessarily benching, just getting some others playing time. For purposes of argument, maybe Evans and Whitner? It's less about how good they actually are, and all about the message that nobody's job is safe.

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Not neccessarily benching, just getting some others playing time. For purposes of argument, maybe Evans and Whitner? It's less about how good they actually are, and all about the message that nobody's job is safe.

Isn't that kinda what they did by cutting Trent and Mitchell, and then trading Lynch? IMO, benching Evans would be akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face.

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Other than Haynesworth, I don't really see Shanny side-lining too many of his vets. I'm not sure this is really any kind of deliberate approach at rebuilding.

 

What people are offering as evidence is: getting rid of Jason Campbell and a bunch of other vets like Antwaan Randle El; the whole Haynesworth sitting saga (which still continues); their handling of the running backs - bringing in Willie parker and Larry Johnson to challenge Clinton Portis, cutting Parker at the end of camp, cutting Johnson a few weeks in, reducing Portis' carries in favor of Ryan Torain off the pratice squad, despite Portis playing decently; releasing 2008 2nd round WR Devin Thomas last week; and some more actions that I didn't care enough about to pay attention.

 

Not saying I agree with this take on Shanahan's plan, nor that the Bill's are not in fact doing it already (I think they are). I just want to visit the idea of getting more sink-or-swim time for our backup-backups.

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What people are offering as evidence is: getting rid of Jason Campbell and a bunch of other vets like Antwaan Randle El; the whole Haynesworth sitting saga (which still continues); their handling of the running backs - bringing in Willie parker and Larry Johnson to challenge Clinton Portis, cutting Parker at the end of camp, cutting Johnson a few weeks in, reducing Portis' carries in favor of Ryan Torain off the pratice squad, despite Portis playing decently; releasing 2008 2nd round WR Devin Thomas last week; and some more actions that I didn't care enough about to pay attention.

 

Not saying I agree with this take on Shanahan's plan, nor that the Bill's are not in fact doing it already (I think they are). I just want to visit the idea of getting more sink-or-swim time for our backup-backups.

Campbell was inevitably replaced by the older McNabb...Randle El and Devin Thomas (not old) are out while the truly ancient Joey Galloway is retained...Johnson was 30 while both Parker and Portis are 29.

 

The Torain thing does fit the theory however.

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The Washington Redskins - What happens when your franchise tries to fill the two most critical factors for NFL success:

 

A respected NFL-caliber head coach.

A franchise-level quarterback.

 

Instantly transform your team from one that drafts before the Buffalo Bills to one that will draft much, much later.

Drafting a stud LB/DE in Orakpo one year and a francise LT the next year helps.

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Other than Haynesworth, I don't really see Shanny side-lining too many of his vets. I'm not sure this is really any kind of deliberate approach at rebuilding.

 

Torrain the back is going to be getting more playing time, even when Portis gets back. Joey Galloway was recently replaced by another younger receiver who just moved ahead of him. Dockery has been replaced at guard by a younger and slimmer player. Steadily the roster is being reworked.

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Devin Thomas and James Hardy have been two monster WR busts. I think Thomas caught on with Carolina though.

 

Redskins have created a culture of winning with Shanny. Plus of course, McNabb was a gigantic upgrade. They still get gashed by the run and their D is not living up to expectations. They are bending and not breaking in some cases which is part luck. Still, they have a much better team than the Bills.

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The Washington Redskins - What happens when your franchise tries to fill the two most critical factors for NFL success:

 

A respected NFL-caliber head coach.

A franchise-level quarterback.

 

Instantly transform your team from one that drafts before the Buffalo Bills to one that will draft much, much later.

 

They are (at least)one step ahead of us with the QB. They chose to bring in a vet All-Pro QB, we are "choosing" to draft one.

 

The difference there is that they signed a proven commodity but he will only be around a couple more years. We have to develop ours, but he could be here for more than a decade if everything goes well. The Redskins will be back in the QB market within 3 years. Hopefully, we'll be all set for the future.

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In Redskin-land there is an emerging consensus about what Shanahan is doing to rebuild the culture of the Redskins, which is worth thinking about in Buffalo.

 

What he seems to be doing is side-lining capable, established vets and former high-draft picks. But rather than relying on the free-agent route, he's promoting from untested backups and the practice roster and playing young guys for whom this is their one shot. Why? Hunger. See who emerges. Call it the George Wilson factor.

 

Should we start mixing things up more? Or are we already doing it, and failing miserably?

 

(I'm not talking QB here, which is a special situation and has been discussed ad nauseum.)

...To start to do this "Redskins Style" all we have to do is find a billionaire owner with a open check book and a stadium that sells out with the highest tickets in the league that doesn't care about the bottom line. So unless we get Dan Snyder to buy the team and all the advantages he has in that market not going to work.

...I really don't mean to demean your thought, just commenting on how it starts at the top (as we all know).

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...To start to do this "Redskins Style" all we have to do is find a billionaire owner with a open check book and a stadium that sells out with the highest tickets in the league that doesn't care about the bottom line. So unless we get Dan Snyder to buy the team and all the advantages he has in that market not going to work.

...I really don't mean to demean your thought, just commenting on how it starts at the top (as we all know).

 

Just to blow your theory completely out of the water, here is a list of the NFL team payrolls from last year...

 

http://content.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/salaries/totalpayroll.aspx?year=2009

 

Note where the Bills are, and where the Skins are.

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