Link.
Some of the relevant portions:
With it, Cerrato ascends to a position where he can shape and determine the Redskins' immediate future, and if you don't believe me you weren't paying attention to the team's last coaching hire.
It was Cerrato who swung the votes in favor of Jim Zorn.
It was Cerrato who headed the search for the team's new public relations director, too. It was Cerrato who urged owner Daniel Snyder to avoid the free-agent frenzy. And it will be Cerrato who takes the wheel for the club's next spin around the NFL Draft.
"I have a lot more say-so," he said.
<snip>
You build through the draft," said Cerrato, "but when there's an opportunity to upgrade you have to look at trades or free agency."
<snip>
But that's where Cerrato comes in. With his advice the Redskins sat on the free-agent sidelines this year, spending early only to retain Collins. Otherwise, they let others do the spending, and that could be a good thing for the Redskins.
Of course, that all depends on how successful Cerrato is.
"If there's a lesson we learned through free agency," he said, "it's that, number one, you try to sign young guys who can play out the contracts, and, two, the guys we had success with all played for one of our coaches or someone on the staff at some time in their careers."
<snip>
He should be. For years he operated in the shadows of Snyder, Gibbs and Spurrier. Now the Redskins are carting him out to help make critical decisions, meet with the media, meet with the public and, above all, keep them competitive in Life After Joe.
"He laid down the foundation and the groundwork for the success we've had," Cerrato said of Gibbs. "We're coming off a playoff year, and we have continuity -- with most of the coaches in place -- and the new guys we've added will bring energy to the group."
The most important one, of course, is Zorn, and already he and quarterback Jason Campbell seem to be hitting it off. The two spend four days a week on the practice fields, with Campbell at the complex most of the past month, and so far, so good.
Zorn and Cerrato seem to be hitting it off, too
I hope it's true....
!
The reality is that we never really went into the level of difficulty that was always predicted. Yes, there were some "restrictions" but never bad enough to cause us to have to release the players that so many other teams had to go through to "manage the cap"