A Plea for Pioli

Two years ago, I made this same argument. Ultimately, the Redskins chose McCloughan over my top choice, Scott Pioli. Still, I was relieved that we were getting someone with true drafting acumen as a genuine GM. The McCloughan era is over, but the benefits of a proper FO structure should now be apparent. The Redskins must not go back to the Snyder cycle of alternating between giving a has-been coach full control over personnel or using an amiable enabler. Bruce Allen could be fine in a Mark Murphy team president role, but we MUST find a true GM with proven drafting chops to avoid returning to cellar dwellers.
Pioli is currently the assistant GM for the Falcons, where he serves under fellow Belichick alumnus Tom Dimitrov. While the Belichick coaching tree is littered with a plethora of failures, his personnel evaluators are the cream of the crop - Ozzie Newsome, Dimitrov, and Scott Pioli.
Pioli had a brief stint as GM at Kansas City. He made two damning mistakes - he hired the wrong coach, and his QB pick Cassel didn't pan out. The team also had to deal with the murder suicide of Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend. He did, however, do extremely well with personnel. As I recall, the team had 6 probowlers on the roster his last year, despite being a losing team from a small market. This is the guy we should all want running the draft, and the guy who can be the voice of dissent against overpaying for the latest shiny toy. Unlike the situation in KC, we already have a coach in place, and as for QB...uh, who knows.

Will he want to come here, given that our team has become a notorious resume stain? Perhaps not...he is working for one of his old Cleveland roommates (if you haven't seen NFLN's A Football Life - The 95 Browns, I recommend it), but, as a competitor I would imagine he wants to prove he can build a winner, and there is always Dan's checkbook.

Sadly, I don't think this will happen simply because of what I have seen of the Bruce Allen modus operandi. Familiarity, allegiance, and perhaps even a touch of sycophancy always seems to prevail over competence. (see pathetic defensive coordinators Haslett, Barry, etc.) We will give a fresh title to a token candidate from within, or we will resurrect the career of some lamentable Tampa Bay loser. And we will revert to double-digit losing seasons.

I don't think GM's are much different from coaches. In that, they believe "they" can make the difference.

I think the narrative that people don't want to come here is often overblown.

It all depends on the contract, and the money involved.

I don't see the harm in waiting. Most qualified people are knee deep in this years Fa and draft, wherever they're currently employed.

I just don't want the guy from Tampa days. Bring in a young guy who is hungry to succeed. Find that next Newsome or Wolff. Think outside the box. Look inside your own building.

Ax, the good thing about this time of year being as good as any to hire a new GM is because they are so heavily into it, they know who is available.

I have to be honest, I don't want Doug Williams to be the GM...or Schaeffer. Some have suggested that the current duration of certain personnel in our front office suggests quality, but look at the mistakes made over the past 10 years...is that the type of front office we want to maintain, even through this time of year?

I would be for bringing Pioli in.

I'd have zero problem with Pioli, but I don't believe we can talk to him at this point based on what was being reported yesterday. Unless I misheard, we're in a period where teams can't hire FO types from other teams.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong ...

The simple truth is no one who has other good options is going to come here.

They realize the toxic nature of working for Snyder and now Snyder/Allen.

These guys are in control and whatever they tell new hires about in re any autonomy it is subject to arbitrary change and all kinds of limitations.

Nobody with proven ability is going to allow themselves to get tooled like that.

I do wonder how many people that want a GM position will want to come here if they aren't in charge of the purse strings. When Scot came on board, we talked about that difference then compared to other places and we basically said, that he wasn't in much of a position to demand it. I know in the last few days we heard some rumors that Allen overruled or went another way than what Scot wanted. I can't say that's been proven yet, but if there's the chance of that would a Pioli want to come here?

Honestly, it would take a strong and well established GM to make it work here.