The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

John Keim @john_keim · 7h 7 hours ago
McCloughan on possible QB @ No. 5: "I don’t have any ties with any of the players. I didn’t draft them. So I’m coming in, prove it to me."
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McCloughan echoed what many others have said: The draft is deep for offensive linemen, but not for safeties. McCloughan said he’s looking forward to talking more with new offensive line coach Bill Callahan about draft prospects.

“He knows what kind of player he wants,” McCloughan said. “We have a similar philosophy about big guys, smart guys, tough guys. We want to be able to run the ball, be able to pound the ball and get that D-line to want to quit and understand that when you play the Washington Redskins, we’ll come at you no matter what.”

“It comes down to best available player,” said McCloughan, who earlier this month attended Mariota’s Pro Day. “I’m walking in from the outside in here, saying ‘Okay, I’ve been around a world championship team. I helped another one that made it there – didn’t win it – I kind of have a feeling of what it’s supposed to look like.’ And in San Fran and what we did in Seattle, we understand that we’re not a real deep roster, so let’s not just focus on a certain position, let’s focus on the best football player because we’re not just talking about Year 1, we’re talking about Year 3, Year 5, and you want to be able to re-sign your own guys. You get to the second contracts. We were lucky enough to do that in San Fran and Seattle, and that’s when things start rolling.

“But, just because it’s a quarterback sitting there at 5, and say it is, and that’s the best available player, then we’re going with it. You can never have enough. I was in Green Bay where we had Brett Favre, who won three MVPs in a row, and every year, we drafted a Matt Hasselbeck, an Aaron Brooks, and not that early, but still took quarterbacks.”

Prowl33 wrote:

“It comes down to best available player,” said McCloughan, who earlier this month attended Mariota’s Pro Day. “I’m walking in from the outside in here, saying ‘Okay, I’ve been around a world championship team. I helped another one that made it there – didn’t win it – I kind of have a feeling of what it’s supposed to look like.’ And in San Fran and what we did in Seattle, we understand that we’re not a real deep roster, so let’s not just focus on a certain position, let’s focus on the best football player because we’re not just talking about Year 1, we’re talking about Year 3, Year 5, and you want to be able to re-sign your own guys. You get to the second contracts. We were lucky enough to do that in San Fran and Seattle, and that’s when things start rolling.

“But, just because it’s a quarterback sitting there at 5, and say it is, and that’s the best available player, then we’re going with it. You can never have enough. I was in Green Bay where we had Brett Favre, who won three MVPs in a row, and every year, we drafted a Matt Hasselbeck, an Aaron Brooks, and not that early, but still took quarterbacks.”

There has been a lot of debate between all of us by what he originally meant by BPA. But McCloughan has made it crystal clear... at this point, position has 0 influence at all.

On Johnson, who is in line to start at strong safety after four years as a backup in Seattle:

“I’ve known him. I was there when we signed him as a college free agent. I told [Seahawks GM] John Schneider, as soon as we signed him, ‘He’ll be a hard guy to run off.’ The coaches will fall in love with him because he’s a smart guy. He’s a tough guy. He’s been through a lot of adversity in his life, and he’s always responded the right way. The thing about it too, is he has not had a losing season since high school, and that plays into it a little bit.

“But he’s what I look for in an overachieving guy from the standpoint of toughness, work ethic, competitiveness, intelligence. I told him, ‘Listen, bring what you guys did on the practice field in Seattle. Bring that with you. Bring that competitiveness. Bring that every day world-championship team.’ And he has that mentality and he wants that mentality. From his standpoint, it’s too bad he was behind Earl and Kam. But you’ll see. He’s a good football player.”

On Terrance Knighton, who signed a one-year deal and will compete with Chris Baker for starting nose tackle duties:

“Getting Terrance Knighton; give him a one-year deal. Great. And if you prove yourself, I’ll take care of you. If you produce, you know? And they want that: the opportunity.

“The thing about with Baker, I was really impressed with him off of tape. I didn’t really know him that well, so watching last year’s tape, I was very impressed. He’s going to come in here and play and he’s going to play well for us. But the thing that was impressive about Terrance was for a 350-plus-pound guy, last year, he played 48 percent of the snaps. And for a big guy like that, a nose, you just don’t see that, and he played well. He played hard. He had a mentality. He wants the big contract, which I love. Come in here and play, and be a Pro Bowler. I’m going to take care of you.”

On Paea, who is coming off of a career year in Chicago with six sacks:

“It’s excellent from a standpoint of our 3-4 scheme as a 3-technique. Being able to get up the field. Last year was his best year by far, and I’ve always followed him. I liked him a lot in college, because he’s a high-character guy, and he just plays and plays and plays. He loves football. He has that initial quickness, that first step to get upfield and cause problems as a rusher. In the three-technique in our defense, that’s huge, and he fits right into that.”

On Culliver, who earned the largest contract of any Redskins signee this free agency period ($8 million per season), and will start at one of the cornerback positions, but does have some baggage:

“Good football player from a really good defense [in San Francisco]. We did all our homework and background, and all is good.”

On remaining holes that must be filled, including free safety, outside linebacker and offensive linemen:

“We’ve still got some things we’re working in free agency, and I understand, there’s holes still left to be filled, and we’re working on it. It’s not an overnight fix, but we made steps in the right direction, to help us get better.”

OldSchool wrote:Scot says the right things and I hope 3-4 years from now we all convinced he has been in charge but no words will convince me I'll have to see a long string of sound, non Snyder type decisions over the next few years to believe.

riggofan wrote:

OldSchool wrote:Scot says the right things - I hope 3-4 years from now we'll be convinced he has been in charge ..

That's probably the best policy for all Redskins fans at this point.