WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?

[gushogs]

After the debacle of a season we've had this year, it has come to my atention the usual hoopla around the changes required to get this team back to the winning ways. Been a fan for over +30 years and the last +20 are getting my liver worked up because of the the huge amounts boozze I've been taking...
I think I have seen it all, change of owners, new coaches, interim coaches, returning ex-coaches, coordinators turned into coaches, a-hole coaches, new GMs, football operations personell changes, draft busts, free agent busts, draft trades, you name it!
Results: the once proud organization may even lose its name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today the talk of the town (in cyber space that includes Jupiter): change of coach, new knowledgeable GM, draft a new QB...
My question today is: WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE to be competitive in the next 2 yrs?
NOTE: Killing Snyder is against the law!

HaiL,

[chiefhog44]

I'm starting not to care, or watch, and for me, as a die hard fan, that is pretty big. Ultimately, this is an organizational issue which will not change unless the owner is gone or significantly changes his ways. I've seen it with the Blackhawks here in Chicago. The fans just stopped going to games. Then the owner died and his son took over the team and made huge changes including putting them back on local TV. They hired Scotty Bowman as a GM, had a few great drafts and the fans started coming back. Now we are a dynasty. The problem with the Skins is that I'm not confident that we have a very good player evaluation department and we certainly don't have a GM that has been known to be very good at that either. Hell, one of our lead scouts left for the Browns last year and we didn't even replace him to my knowledge. When your GM is being interviewed before the game (like the Colts game) and he is talking about some charity event and not the team or its players, that's an issue. Until that changes, I would say stop paying attention as well and maybe we can force a change quicker. There are a couple young talent guys out there that would be sick hires. The guy from the Patriots and the Ravens come to mind. Can't remember their names, but that would be a start.

[SkinsJock]

Mike Shanahan started the process and Dan hired Bruce and fired Vinny - now he needs to take the next step - Make Bruce the President and bring in a real GM and give him the power to make a plan - he can then be in charge of the hiring and firing of players and coaches

if Jay Gruden does not fit into that plan, then so be it - we need to remake the way things work here - this year to year BS is not working

maybe Jay gets another year but I'm not sure any of his top people (maybe Sean McVay) are worth keeping

someone with a knowledge of how to build a franchise needs to be brought in and given the power to straighten this mess out


we're not losing Dan as an owner but we do need him to take the next step

[markshark84]

After the debacle of a season we've had this year, it has come to my atention the usual hoopla around the changes required to get this team back to the winning ways. Been a fan for over +30 years and the last +20 are getting my liver worked up because of the the huge amounts boozze I've been taking...
I think I have seen it all, change of owners, new coaches, interim coaches, returning ex-coaches, coordinators turned into coaches, a-hole coaches, new GMs, football operations personell changes, draft busts, free agent busts, draft trades, you name it!
Results: the once proud organization may even lose its name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today the talk of the town (in cyber space that includes Jupiter): change of coach, new knowledgeable GM, draft a new QB...
My question today is: WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE to be competitive in the next 2 yrs?
NOTE: Killing Snyder is against the law!

HaiL,

I don't want to kill the thread, but the answer is simple. The owner either has to sell or give up 100% control of football operations. That is, hire a GM AND a president of football operations (POFO). The GM would manage all aspects of football talent, i.e., hires scouts, HC, player evaluation, draft, etc. POFO can run the administrative side. The GM should have little to no contact with the owner; they would provide status updates to the POFO. The POFO would then update the owner. The owner can run the financial side. The owner would not be involved in draft or on-field activities in any respect. The owner could attend practices but on a limited basis.

If you have a good GM, the team will be good. They are EASILY the most important/valuable person to a franchise. Right now we have a horrible owner (who is basically the GM), so we have a horrible team. Danny boy is the common denominator for our now decades long underperformance as a franchise and the reason I do not financially support the team (something many on this site called me a "troll" for doing). But there is a reason I do it. I understood close to 15 years ago Danny was a cancer. I thought it was VERY clear then, and even more clear now. If he has no financial support, he either sells or moves the team --- and I would like to think he'd sell since he's an insecure little dweeb. Either way, it's a chance I am willing to take.

That being said, it will take about 3 years to turn around a team like the skins. We need upgrades at the OL (which take 1 year to draft and an additional year to acclimate; and that is if we get everyone this offseason (unlikely); if not it may take an additional year), the DL which takes less time, and the 2ndary (which if we draft will take at least 1 year to adjust from colllege). Then we also need to find a QB, which will again take an additional 1 year (concurrent with the others) depending on when we draft him. We honestly don't have the picks to get this talent all in one year, so if we did it in 2 years, it would take an additional year (so 3).

But in summary, it's not the HC, the QB, the players, the salary cap hits, the schedule, or any other excuses someone can think up in an attempt to avoid admitting the real reason for the sad state of affairs. The success of a team lives and dies by ownership and their GM. In our case, they are one in the same, and they both suck.

[riggofan]

That being said, it will take about 3 years to turn around a team like the skins.

This right here.

I don't know about firing Allen. I get the knocks against him, but he's still 1000x better than Vinny. I'm going to go crazy here and suggest that we don't have to get rid of Bruce Allen right now or make any radical changes at all.

Fire Haslett and upgrade the DC. Sign the best available veteran safety we can get in March. Draft well in April. Be damned sure we get a real play maker with our first pick at whatever position. Win two more games next year than we did this year. Repeat that process the following year.

Two or three years of decent drafts, I don't know if we'll be a playoff team but I don't think we'll be the mess we are right now.

What can't happen is the typical Snyder BS during that time. No trading away three first rounders to move up four spaces in the draft. No trading our second round pick for a broken Tony Romo. No picking up Tom Brady in your private jet for a wine and dine session in Dupont. Don't sign any record breaking contracts in free agency. You can keep the team, Dan. Just stay in your office and count your money.

[oj]

We need some coaches, experienced coaches esp the secondary & offensive line coaches - Gruden might be ok as HC, somebody else needs to call the plays; Haz might be ok, he can't do it all and needs specialist help in the secondary.
Until you get some coaching you won't develop any talent - proof positive this season, esp the last game.
Anybody know the Oline coach? We sure enough used to, he was a superstar, the camera used to follow him around - thats the calibre of people we need again. Its the coaches that make good players great players.
I'm giving gruden the benefit of doubt, but a successful headcoach has to have great judgement and decisive. I don't think I saw more than a couple instances where the team made an adjustment and improved the 2nd half play.

[DarthMonk]

We need some coaches, experienced coaches esp the secondary & offensive line coaches - Gruden might be ok as HC, somebody else needs to call the plays; Haz might be ok, he can't do it all and needs specialist help in the secondary.
Until you get some coaching you won't develop any talent - proof positive this season, esp the last game.
Anybody know the Oline coach? We sure enough used to, he was a superstar, the camera used to follow him around - thats the calibre of people we need again. Its the coaches that make good players great players.
I'm giving gruden the benefit of doubt, but a successful headcoach has to have great judgement and decisive. I don't think I saw more than a couple instances where the team made an adjustment and improved the 2nd half play.

I actually think Gruden is a pretty good designer of plays and a good play caller. The WAAAAAAY bigger problem is our lack of urgency. This points to Gruden as HEAD COACH.

We walk to the line after lolly gagging up to then and all of a sudden we are under 10 secs on the play clock and THE DEFENSE DICTATES TO US.

Meanwhile, the Colts essentially run no huddle the entire game and have 25 to 40 seconds to DICTATE TO OUR DEFENSE.

So their D eats our O alive cuz they never have to worry about showing us what they're gonna do while they make us show every time since they create the luxury of false snap counts by either not using a huddle or getting in and out of it VERY QUICKLY.

The fact that we actually get guys open on offense and leave all kinds of huge plays out there is a testament to excellent play design and play calling in the face of this slow-motion-between-snaps sleepwalking which puts us at an extreme disadvantage.

The defense is simply exposed by an offense with any kind of efficiency.

We cannot afford to play this way if we are only average on the line and at QB. I'm not sure any team has enough talent to play so lackadaisically.

My guess is we are like this all week and the games are just showing what we practice.

We are in dubble trubble.

We might have to blow it up.

[SkinsJock]

I don't know if it needs to be "blown up" but this franchise needs a major change in attitude and way of doing things ...

there seems to be way too many people here without a sense or urgency or great desire to be better ...

Dan Snyder's not going anywhere - people coming in are just going to continue to do things the way we've always done them

If Dan does not make changes to how he does things, you can draft & add all the super players you like - NOTHING WILL CHANGE

we will all know, shortly after this season, if we're going to continue down this losing track or we're going to make BIG changes

if Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder are still running things - NOTHING CHANGES and we're looking at another wasted season

anyone that thinks these 2 bozos can make things work here in any amount of time are kidding themselves

3 years from now there will be nothing different - we'll still be 4th place in the NFC East and saying "wait until next year"

[riggofan]

I'd love to know specifically what the complaint about Bruce Allen is. Why exactly he is a bozo and needs to be fired. This just sounds like typical DC, we gotta find someone to blame BS.

He keeps such a low profile, especially during the season. I'm also pretty sure he's only had real GM responsibility since Shanahan left which has been less than a year. What exactly are we blaming him for?

Whether he is fully to blame or not, Haslett has a five year history of fielding a bad defense. We know what his job is, what his responsibilities are supposed to be, and by any measure he hasn't been very successful at it. Not looking to scapegoat him or blame him for all of our issues, but that spot just looks like its time for a change.

[PAPDOG67]

We need to start spending some more high draft picks on O-linemen. That's the bottom line. Aside from this season, we've drafted 6 O-linemen in the first 3 rounds in the last 15 years. That simply is a receipe for disaster. Samuels and Trent (Rnd 1) were/are studs. Jansen (rnd 2) was a beast. Dockery (rnd 3) was very good, and Rinehart, believe it or not has become a solid starter. LeReibus has failed to make an impact. Hopefully he contributes at some point, as well as Moses and Long, but we need to start spending some more draft picks on the beef in rounds 1,2,&3.

[SkinsJock]

Just having draft picks in rounds 1, 2 and 3 is a big start ...

it's going to take years because we have not had a plan or the right people REALLY in charge

[DarthMonk]

How would people feel about trading a 2 and a 3 to get a 2nd pick in round 1 and then going after 2 REALLY GOOD LINEMEN? Just askin'.

I actually like our current position in the draft.

Teams ahead of us will likely pick a few QBs, a WR or 2, a RB or 2, and maybe a DL or 2. We have a shot to go BPA and need simultaneously with the best OL in the draft.

[SkinsJock]

How would people feel about trading a 2 and a 3 to get a 2nd pick in round 1 and then going after 2 REALLY GOOD LINEMEN? Just asking'. I actually like our current position in the draft. Teams ahead of us will likely pick a few QBs, a WR or 2, a RB or 2, and maybe a DL or 2. We have a shot to go BPA and need simultaneously with the best OL in the draft.

DM - having draft picks is good - the FO and scouting department need to do better than they have - not that they've been terrible
It takes a while for a FO to earn a good reputation - IMO Bruce Allen needs to be moved to President (he's not highly regarded as a personnel guy) - we should bring in a real GM with a plan and to be in charge of all things to do with what happens on the field

Most important is that Dan Snyder has to finally and forever stop interfering

[markshark84]

How would people feel about trading a 2 and a 3 to get a 2nd pick in round 1 and then going after 2 REALLY GOOD LINEMEN? Just askin'.

I actually like our current position in the draft.

Teams ahead of us will likely pick a few QBs, a WR or 2, a RB or 2, and maybe a DL or 2. We have a shot to go BPA and need simultaneously with the best OL in the draft.

It would depend on where the pick was. We will have a top 5 pick, so our 2nd rounder will be in the top 37 and 3rd in top 60. I would want something in the 15 range; and even then I think we just have too many needs to give away picks.

Also, picking up 2 OL is not prudent given our current circumstances. Our #1 priority is in the 2ndary, then RT. That being said, good OTs go FAST, so I would like to see us pick an OT with our first pick; however there is value at the OG position in round 2. So --- I would say no. We honestly have too many holes to fill here. We need OT, OG, DE, DT, OLB, DB, CB. We can't be giving up picks.

Our GM needs to kill it this draft --- and next --- due to the loss from the RGIII trade. We should be stockpiling picks, not trading them away.

[chiefhog44]

I'd love to know specifically what the complaint about Bruce Allen is. Why exactly he is a bozo and needs to be fired. This just sounds like typical DC, we gotta find someone to blame BS.

He keeps such a low profile, especially during the season. I'm also pretty sure he's only had real GM responsibility since Shanahan left which has been less than a year. What exactly are we blaming him for?

Whether he is fully to blame or not, Haslett has a five year history of fielding a bad defense. We know what his job is, what his responsibilities are supposed to be, and by any measure he hasn't been very successful at it. Not looking to scapegoat him or blame him for all of our issues, but that spot just looks like its time for a change.

There's plenty of complaints bro. I think you just like arguing with SJ on every point he makes. This one is valid. But to satisfy your question, I think the complaint on him is that he's not known to be a very good talent evaluator and we lack talent. Also, my personal complaint on him this year was that he knew that we had major deficiencies in the secondary this past offseason, and he did nothing except bring in Ryan Clark to fill the gap. He instead used our salary cap money to add a flashy WR and an aging DL. We aren't one player away enough to sign DJ. Doesn't make sense. He grossly overrated our defensive front 7 and thought our secondary was much improved. He has nobody qualified in the building helping him throughout the season on talent evaluation. Scott Campbell is on the road at colleges 7 months a year and has little time to even look at our own roster, so we trust Allen, a guy who is not known for being very good at that, to be in charge of it. He is also acting as the president of the team. There are not enough working hours in the day to do both jobs (especially with the name controversy where it is) even handle both adequately.

[riggofan]

I'd love to know specifically what the complaint about Bruce Allen is. Why exactly he is a bozo and needs to be fired. This just sounds like typical DC, we gotta find someone to blame BS.

He keeps such a low profile, especially during the season. I'm also pretty sure he's only had real GM responsibility since Shanahan left which has been less than a year. What exactly are we blaming him for?

Whether he is fully to blame or not, Haslett has a five year history of fielding a bad defense. We know what his job is, what his responsibilities are supposed to be, and by any measure he hasn't been very successful at it. Not looking to scapegoat him or blame him for all of our issues, but that spot just looks like its time for a change.

There's plenty of complaints bro. I think you just like arguing with SJ on every point he makes. This one is valid. But to satisfy your question, I think the complaint on him is that he's not known to be a very good talent evaluator and we lack talent. Also, my personal complaint on him this year was that he knew that we had major deficiencies in the secondary this past offseason, and he did nothing except bring in Ryan Clark to fill the gap. He instead used our salary cap money to add a flashy WR and an aging DL. We aren't one player away enough to sign DJ. Doesn't make sense. He grossly overrated our defensive front 7 and thought our secondary was much improved. He has nobody qualified in the building helping him throughout the season on talent evaluation. Scott Campbell is on the road at colleges 7 months a year and has little time to even look at our own roster, so we trust Allen, a guy who is not known for being very good at that, to be in charge of it. He is also acting as the president of the team. There are not enough working hours in the day to do both jobs (especially with the name controversy where it is) even handle both adequately.

Thanks. And no I didn't write that post just to be contrary to SJ. It just struck me that I haven't heard anything about Bruce Allen in months. Then we get to the end of the season, fans are disappointed and we start tossing out names of all of the folks who have to go. I'd just like to know what the evidence is that Bruce Allen is a bozo, stupid or some huge part of the problems this year.

Yeah I do hear you on the secondary issue, specifically the safety. When I was thinking about what Allen has done wrong post-Shanahan, that's the big one. I'd still argue though that if you look at what happened in free agency, those top tier FA safeties signed for huge, ridiculous deals elsewhere and even some of the more affordable guys opted to go play for other teams instead. Point being, just because we had a need doesn't mean there was necessarily a good way to address it. I don't really believe Allen was totally clueless about the need at safety.

I don't know man. Not trying to defend Allen really, I just still have fresh memories of Vinny Cerrato. An actual bozo. Jury is still out on Bruce Allen for me.

[markshark84]

I'd love to know specifically what the complaint about Bruce Allen is. Why exactly he is a bozo and needs to be fired. This just sounds like typical DC, we gotta find someone to blame BS.

He keeps such a low profile, especially during the season. I'm also pretty sure he's only had real GM responsibility since Shanahan left which has been less than a year. What exactly are we blaming him for?

Whether he is fully to blame or not, Haslett has a five year history of fielding a bad defense. We know what his job is, what his responsibilities are supposed to be, and by any measure he hasn't been very successful at it. Not looking to scapegoat him or blame him for all of our issues, but that spot just looks like its time for a change.

There's plenty of complaints bro. I think you just like arguing with SJ on every point he makes. This one is valid. But to satisfy your question, I think the complaint on him is that he's not known to be a very good talent evaluator and we lack talent. Also, my personal complaint on him this year was that he knew that we had major deficiencies in the secondary this past offseason, and he did nothing except bring in Ryan Clark to fill the gap. He instead used our salary cap money to add a flashy WR and an aging DL. We aren't one player away enough to sign DJ. Doesn't make sense. He grossly overrated our defensive front 7 and thought our secondary was much improved. He has nobody qualified in the building helping him throughout the season on talent evaluation. Scott Campbell is on the road at colleges 7 months a year and has little time to even look at our own roster, so we trust Allen, a guy who is not known for being very good at that, to be in charge of it. He is also acting as the president of the team. There are not enough working hours in the day to do both jobs (especially with the name controversy where it is) even handle both adequately.

YES. This is VERY true. BA hasn't performed well in the past (see Tampa Bay) and he is not a talent evaluator --- which is probably why Danny boy hired him..... I gave him a chance, but began questioning his decisions almost immediately (at least after the Shanahans left). I knew he wasn't a good drafter when he took Murphy in the 2nd. Defensively, OLB is our strongest position. I could understand it if Murphy was a top level pass rusher since literally any team could use guys that can get to the QB, but he wasn't (and isn't). On top of it, Murphy was a bit of a reach. Then he took Moses in the 3rd..... someone all GMs started to run from after performing a more in-depth analysis of (he was projected a 2nd, but on draft day was downgraded by many to a mid rounder). It is even worse that the skins disclosed that they were going to take him with the 47th pick before they received a trade offer..... Out of that draft, literally only Breeland has been an impact player. That is sad even without a #1.

Then there are his FA signings..... DJAX has actually been better than I anticipated. Clark is historic in football year playing a position which thrives on youth. Hatcher has been ok, but he's old; therefore we paid top dollar for dwindling talent and as with all old players, injury prone. Lauvo was a default starter in CLE, wasn't hugely popular in CLE, got little interest in FA --- yet we signed him for $17M....

The only comment I slightly disagree with is in italics --- only because people forget the DHALL injury and Breeland has been pretty solid for a rookie. That being said, a GOOD GM creates depth and has people to adequately fill in when an injury happens, which isn't the case here.

I do agree with Riggofan in that everyone in washington LOVES to push blame on who was wrong or inadequate when we lose. It's a by product of being so close to slimy DC politics.

[riggofan]

That being said, a GOOD GM creates depth and has people to adequately fill in when an injury happens, which isn't the case here.

There's no doubt about it, and I don't completely disagree with what you or chief wrote there. But Allen has been the GM for exactly one free agency/draft (and had no first round pick to boot). You know what I'm saying? We're a team with a lot of holes. His not addressing every one of those issues this past spring doesn't strike me as damning evidence that he's incompetent.

I also think its way too early to judge that 2014 draft. OLB apparently wasn't our strongest position because sure enough we lost Rak, and Murphy has had to start as a rookie. Whether you like him or not, he's a second round guy who has been capable of starting games for us. Same thing with Morgan Moses. Breeland was a freaking score. We won't really be able to judge that draft for a year or two, but I'd put my money on Murphy, Long, Moses, Breeland and probably Ryan Grant being starters on this team over the next few years.

I honestly don't know when it comes to the draft though how much credit or criticism to give one guy. I don't think its just Bruce Allen evaluating tape for months and months on his own and making these decisions on draft day is it?

[chiefhog44]

That being said, a GOOD GM creates depth and has people to adequately fill in when an injury happens, which isn't the case here.

There's no doubt about it, and I don't completely disagree with what you or chief wrote there. But Allen has been the GM for exactly one free agency/draft (and had no first round pick to boot). You know what I'm saying? We're a team with a lot of holes. His not addressing every one of those issues this past spring doesn't strike me as damning evidence that he's incompetent.

I also think its way too early to judge that 2014 draft. OLB apparently wasn't our strongest position because sure enough we lost Rak, and Murphy has had to start as a rookie. Whether you like him or not, he's a second round guy who has been capable of starting games for us. Same thing with Morgan Moses. Breeland was a freaking score. We won't really be able to judge that draft for a year or two, but I'd put my money on Murphy, Long, Moses, Breeland and probably Ryan Grant being starters on this team over the next few years.

I honestly don't know when it comes to the draft though how much credit or criticism to give one guy. I don't think its just Bruce Allen evaluating tape for months and months on his own and making these decisions on draft day is it?

I believe he heavily leans on Scott Campbell and his team to evaluate for draft day. Scott has been here for a while. But Moroco Brown and Mike Shannahan both left last year, and nobody was brought in to replace them to evaluate talent. So who is qualified to evaluate the current roster and determine what holes need to be filled. Take the defense for example. The only person in this entire organization that has experience with identifying talent for a 3-4 defense is Jim Haslett. None of our scouts, none of the front office, and very few of the assistant coaches have ever built a quality 3-4 defense. Do you trust a guy like Bruce Allen, who has never been a GM for a 3-4 defense, to know what kind of talent to draft? Why not move him to a president role and have him deal with the alumni, the contracts, the name change, the owner, the facilities and whatever else, and hire a quality talent evaluating GM to come in and build a quality team. Stop spending on free agents and build from the draft. Every top team does it this way. Packers, Ravens, Patriots, Steelers, Seahawks. The way we do it is ridiculous. It allows Snyder to have influence on personnel which is not a good idea.

[markshark84]

That being said, a GOOD GM creates depth and has people to adequately fill in when an injury happens, which isn't the case here.

There's no doubt about it, and I don't completely disagree with what you or chief wrote there. But Allen has been the GM for exactly one free agency/draft (and had no first round pick to boot). You know what I'm saying? We're a team with a lot of holes. His not addressing every one of those issues this past spring doesn't strike me as damning evidence that he's incompetent.

I also think its way too early to judge that 2014 draft. OLB apparently wasn't our strongest position because sure enough we lost Rak, and Murphy has had to start as a rookie. Whether you like him or not, he's a second round guy who has been capable of starting games for us. Same thing with Morgan Moses. Breeland was a freaking score. We won't really be able to judge that draft for a year or two, but I'd put my money on Murphy, Long, Moses, Breeland and probably Ryan Grant being starters on this team over the next few years.

I honestly don't know when it comes to the draft though how much credit or criticism to give one guy. I don't think its just Bruce Allen evaluating tape for months and months on his own and making these decisions on draft day is it?

I totally understand what your saying and think it is reasonable. I also don't think BA should have magically addressed all our needs --- especially considering he had like 2 draft picks. My gripe was that he didn't address them in the order in which he should have. He also went out and got players we don't need. It also doesn't help that I am VERY pessimistic when it comes to anyone working under Danny boy. The fact we only had draft day 1 impact player, combined with BA's poor performance in Tampa, doesn't help.

As far as the draft, I personally don't think it is too early to evaluate. I think you can tell if a player is going to pan out fairly soon. I am also less concerned with whether our draft picks turn into "starters" --- I care more if they are "impact players". That is my standard in which to be judged. And second round guys, at a minimumu, should be starters. I would even say 3rd rounders should start or at least play 50% of their respective downs.

As far as criticism, the GM is the guy to blame (if you can consider BA a "GM"). The GM has final say on all picks. They also should be the ones hiring the scouts --- so if they take the word of the scout and the scout is wrong, the GM is wrong by the fact he hired the scout. The GM should also be evaluating tape more than anyone else in that building. They need to watch NFL and NCAA tape. They need to instruct their AV guys on how to make the tapes in a way they can absorb as much as they can.

But I do understand where you are coming from. He has only had 1 draft that he can call "his".

[riggofan]

Why not move him to a president role and have him deal with the alumni, the contracts, the name change, the owner, the facilities and whatever else, and hire a quality talent evaluating GM to come in and build a quality team. Stop spending on free agents and build from the draft. Every top team does it this way. Packers, Ravens, Patriots, Steelers, Seahawks. The way we do it is ridiculous. It allows Snyder to have influence on personnel which is not a good idea.

Yeah, that scenario makes a ton of sense. And there's no question why we have the current set up. I guess the only problem with your proposal is that I just can't imagine Snyder actually doing it.

He's comfortable with Allen for whatever reason. Probably because BA doesn't tell him to keep his fat face out of football decisions. BA hasn't been great, but didn't do anything wildly stupid this first year I don't believe. He might not be the ideal GM, but he's not stupid and not a bozo. To me, Bruce Allen just looks like the "could be worse" option at GM.

[SkinsJock]

I believe he heavily leans on Scott Campbell and his team to evaluate for draft day. Scott has been here for a while. But Moroco Brown and Mike Shannahan both left last year, and nobody was brought in to replace them to evaluate talent. So who is qualified to evaluate the current roster and determine what holes need to be filled. Take the defense for example. The only person in this entire organization that has experience with identifying talent for a 3-4 defense is Jim Haslett. None of our scouts, none of the front office, and very few of the assistant coaches have ever built a quality 3-4 defense. Do you trust a guy like Bruce Allen, who has never been a GM for a 3-4 defense, to know what kind of talent to draft? Why not move him to a president role and have him deal with the alumni, the contracts, the name change, the owner, the facilities and whatever else, and hire a quality talent evaluating GM to come in and build a quality team. Stop spending on free agents and build from the draft. Every top team does it this way. Packers, Ravens, Patriots, Steelers, Seahawks.
The way we do it is ridiculous. It allows Snyder to have influence on personnel which is not a good idea.

this would be a good thing - anything less is just more of the same 'wishing and hoping'

When Snyder brought in Bruce Allen it was a good step - I thought he was finally putting the operation in the hands of football guys

Bruce Allen is not the worst player/personnel guy, he's done OK here - I'm even OK with him staying at GM as long as it's the GM and the FO/scouting dept making decisions and not Dan Snyder - the reason to move Bruce to Presdident is not that he's done a bad job, it just gives us a chance to have an NFL guy that is better at being a GM than Bruce and to eliminate Dan Snyder from all decisions

the way this franchise operates and the attitude that is here has to change - that only happens when Dan Snyder is not involved

we have to change the mission statement here ... do we even have a mission statement?

[Neo]

More like "What would it take for Snyder to sell the team?"

I used to laugh at guys who say that Snyder only cares about making money; not winning. I actually feel like I've been blind for years and now suddenly there's sight. Flashy signings and names = more profits for him. The guy has even sued grandmothers who couldn't afford their season tickets (assuming that old report was true).

I'm at the point now where I'd rather see a name change and a new owner and FO then endure more of this ass douche.

I wish to God that there was a way to get him out of here (legally). After this Snyder regime I would settle for nothing more than ownership by committee (see GB Packers).

And please...freaking please someone tell me tho guy doesn't have a son or heir-apparent to this "throne". Bunch Jr ass douches running around the stadium...

The common variable for all our failed years since the glory days is Snyder. Failure begins at the top; contributors are everything below that.

Add in fresh water doesn't fix the dirty douche problem...

[HEROHAMO]

I actually think we are one great draft away or off season acquisitions.


We need a dominating Oline and Dline. We have some pieces we need more.

We need to acquire pro bowlers or future pro bowlers at these positions this off season to get great again.

Nose tackle, DE/defensive tackle, Saftey, tackle, guard and another guard wouldnt hurt. Another Big reciever would be nice too but we have sufficient skill position players.

Oline via the draft. We already have a pro Bowl left tackle. So we could go 2nd, 3rd and fourth all Oline. Just to make sure we should acquire a proven tackle in free agency. Pay top dollar if we have too.

The first pick of the draft should go to a gamechanger. If we have a chance at getting a once in a lifetime defensive player at the Dline or saftey position we should grab him with the first pick.

Free agency we need a proven gamechanger on the Dline. Pay top dollar if we have too as well.

[SkinsJock]

I actually think we are one great draft away plus some great off season acquisitions.

We need a dominating Oline - in free agency we need a proven gamechanger on the Dline. Pay top dollar if we have too as well.

are you freaking kidding me - this is what we hear at the beginning of each and every season ...

these words are used almost as much as Hail to the Redskins





many here refuse to look at the fact that Bruce Allen is not a really good personnel guy and he and Dan are in charge here ... it's a mess

we know that Dan is staying but there is no way we can get an honest evaluation about the status of the franchise and every player and coach (including the HC) with these 2 guys who have put us in this mess doing the evaluation

this from John Keim of ESPN ...
"I can see this franchise having the occasional good year -- just as they've done in the past 15 -- but I have a hard time ever seeing them sustain success. It just hasn't been a good organization for some time now. If they make a couple changes, mostly in the front office, they could become one. But they haven't proven they can make the necessary moves to build the right franchise.
They absolutely need to bring in a strong football man to make the football decisions. When that happens, they'll have a chance."