• Welcome to BGO! We know you will have questions as you become familiar with the software. Please take a moment to read our New BGO User Guide which will give you a great start. If you have questions, post them in the Feedback and Tech Support Forum, or feel free to message any available Staff Member.

Om Field: Redskins first-round draft picks "that got away." Or did they?

It's easy to discount these stories as coming from disgruntled ex-employees with an (not the) Ax to grind. And Shanahan very well could be rehashing the Schotty stories to make himself look better so he can get back in the league. Snyder really screwed himself with previous actions, that's the problem. I have no issue whatsoever with people who do not give him the benefit of the doubt anymore. What Shanny laid out is probably not the complete, full truth; we'll likely never know the complete full truth, but Shanny's stories aren't THAT much of a stretch to make me think he fabricated everything out of thin air.

If it could be verified (and it can't), I wouldn't be surprised to find out that his stories were embellished, but ultimately based in reality.
 
The bottom line is the Redskins never adjusted to the salary cap era. Look at George Allen's over the hill gang, Gibbs reliance on veterans and not trusting rookies. That worked great when you could stock pile quality veterans for depth. But the Salary Cap changed that. You have to hit on your drafts more as the younger players are cheaper. Gibbs would just hide some rookie on IR or on the bench, let them learn while a couple of vets would get the job done. Free agency stopped that as good players will just go where they can play and get paid. Gibbs leaves an older roster and Casserly and Turner do a poor job rebuilding, relying on vets and free agents to cover up the bad draft picks. Then Snyder continues the same pattern, but on Steriods. Combine that with poor coaching and GM decisions, and because he doesn't know what he is doing, he keeps doing it over and over. The point is, the Redskins have never adjusted their thinking, and Snyder has doubled down on that philosophy after every mistake instead of adjusting and figuring out what to do.

I hope the new GM will help change that philosophy.
 
It's also not a 'plug and play' world. Put Bruce Springsteen in Iowa growing up, maybe he ends up playing at hoe downs and Moose Lodge shindigs his whole life. We assume that if Beathard and Gibbs had stayed we'd have continue to go to Super Bowls. Maybe not. Ron Wolf? Maybe he comes to DC and never has the success he had elsewhere. Timing, chemistry, luck - a lot of factors go into success. And lots of things have to go awry to be as consistently irrelevant as the Redskins have been for the past 20 years. And yeah, we were already in a downward spiral before Snyder got here. But that's hardly a defense of the guy. I could care less if Snyder is super fan - he has been, in practice if not intent, awful for this team. And I dislike Mike Shanahan, but some of his recent comments (if true) seem to indicate that hoping he and Bruce Allen stay out of the football decision-making may be nothing more than a pipe dream.
I don't believe Shanahan any further than I can throw him. He owns those decisions but he is trying to play them off on Danny and Bruce to save himself. Not a chance he didn't want to do those deals.
 
Maybe Bob. But we don't really know that, do we? And in my experience, even in distortion there are often grains of truth.
 
Maybe Bob. But we don't really know that, do we? And in my experience, even in distortion there are often grains of truth.

John, he had total control in Denver the last decade and his moves there looked a lot like his moves in Washington. Jake Plummer anyone?

The very first thing he said when he came in was the he was in control here at the White House and was the final authority on all football operations. It was a definitive statement with no wiggle room. Now, a year after being fired and still looking for a job he is trying to rewrite history to make himself look better.

At best he is guilty of gross lying so I don't buy anything he says now.
 
I think Mike Shanahan lost me when he staked his reputation on Rex Grossman and John Beck. It indicates that either the man is not the genius he believes he is, or he is willing to say anything at any time to serve his purposes.

Either way, his credibility went the way of the woolly mammoth with that.
 
Guys - I'm not arguing that Shanahan is/was a good guy or a good coach. I have no doubt his primary goal is to shift blame/culpability for the negatives we experienced after his first year, and responsibility for some of the decisions made. But lets remember who we're talking about on the other side of the equation here :)

I guess I would characterize my argument along the lines of suggesting one might not want to be so adamant that all our woes and all the ineptitude lay with Shanahan and that what we were told Snyder would do is what actually happened.

I am a little surprised that many are putting forward the idea that 'Shanahan had complete control - it was in his contract!' - as if that means Shanahan had complete control because it was in his contract. It makes me wonder if some of you have never worked in a dysfunctional work environment with an overly aggressive power hungry asshole at the top. I have. And I have no doubt that Snyder was up to his eyeballs exerting influence (if not outright power) on every decision that was made.

I'm not absolving Shanahan - of anything. I'm just trying to combat/counter what I think is going to be proven the 'myth' of the 'new' Snyder's 'hands-off' approach. I saw enough in my time covering the Redskins to believe that none of us would want to work for this organization - so I'm surprised we want to give all the credibility here to the guy who has made it such a peachy work environment over the years.
 
Amen Bro.! It's not a mutually exclusive deal. Both Snyder and Shanny bear a degree of responsibility for the train wreck during the latter's tenure. For example, I doubt Snyder had any input on Shanny's well known strategy of using smallish, mobile lineman. As we've discussed before, it seems Snyder doesn't even know what an OL is. :beadyeyes: Likewise I think he had zero input on Shanny's coaching staff. Conversely, Snyder is well known to buddy up to players thus ruining team chemistry and for being a toxic boss. Again, it's not either/or, it's both. Unfortunately only one of the two could be fired. :(
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Help Users
As we enjoy today's conversations, let's remember our dear friends 'Docsandy', Sandy Zier-Teitler, and 'Posse Lover', Michael Huffman, who would dearly love to be here with us today! We love and miss you guys ❤

You haven't joined any rooms.

    You haven't joined any rooms.
    Top