Random Commanders Thoughts

So is Jay on the hot seat or not?

Not so much right now, but he won't make it to the 2018 season. Wade Phillips sees the writing on the wall. Jay had a chance two years ago to hire Wade and that is when he failed to secure a long term job here.

So 2017 will likely be a lost season and a whole new staff will be needed. It has become painfully obvious today that he is not HC material and is better suited to being a position coach. Zorn II.

Michael Jenkins@JenksCSN
McVay leaving and grabbing Phillips the same day points to meticulous planning on his part and disorganization from Gruden. Bad look.

I have to admit... the optics on Norval Gruden are pretty bad in this instance. This likely means Norval Jr is essentially a lame duck this year, which also means it's likely the last year for KC1. If KC1 is franchised again, he's a goner and the team is in rebuild for 2018.

Nick

Well, he'll either prove this season to be the Second Coming McD always says he is, or the Norv Part Deux that many seem to see.

Sigh....and people I know wonder why I have essentially checked out on and written off the Redskins. What a joke. SMH

I don't know if McVay is going to work wonders with Goff who a lot of people think is a bust. The Rams have some good personnel on defense, but are now draft poor due to Jeff Fisher's redux of the RGIII trade to reach for Goff, so it's going to be a moderate ascent for the Rams at best over the next 1-2 years. Unless they are willing to spend money in free agency to upgrade that side of the ball around the qb (assuming Goff is salvageable.)

But one thing that is telling is he DOES have a good idea of who he wants on his staff, which means he has been thinking ahead for some time.

When Joe Gibbs interviewed with the Redskins Bobby Beathard and Jack Kent Cooke were blown away as Gibbs before he was 40, had a list of coaches he wanted to work with and had been compiling that list from the time he was a position coach several years earlier.

The Redskins gave him Richie Petitbon to work with as the DC, and to Gibbs' credit he endorsed the 'marriage' even though Richie was years older and had been with the team for some time through its glory days under George Allen. Gibbs wasn't afraid that with years of experience over him that Petitbon's success would be an issue for him going forward, he wouldn't be threatened by it.

That's where Gruden clearly failed. When it was clear that Haslett was not the answer at DC, instead of going out and hiring a DC that had the requisite experience to help him get off the ground as a HC, Jay went out and hired another coach in Barry that like himself was not established in his position.

To many Barry was a reach as DC and was better suited to being a position coach.

That hire meant Gruden was going to have to expend his own resources of time and energy going over things on that side of the ball just when he was trying to install his offensive system, get the organization settled on a starting quarterback, and building an offensive line to support that qb.

Gruden didn't do himself any favors.

And points up the view some folks have that he is not a very well organized coach, making decisions more by the seat of his pants at times vs. having a 'master' or 'model' plan in place that he is following.

Also gotta wonder if our own free agents, the ones we want to re-sign, will see this as a sinking ship, and just bail.

I don't know about that one. The Redskins have a lot of cap space and if we are smart we use those resources to lock up younger players like Morgan Moses and Jamison Crowder before they become free agents in the future.

It was nice to have two veteran receivers in Jackson and Garcon in 2016 that complemented one another, but under the cap you really can't pay out $10M plus for EACH of your starting wideouts.

That money has to be more equally spread over the balance of the roster to put a winner on the field.

The Redskins were able to sign Trent Williams, Jordan Reed and Ryan Kerrigan to extensions a year before they were set to be free agents and that's the way to go as we continue to bring in younger, capable players that are 'home grown' through the draft.

The Patriots, Chiefs, Cowboys, Packers, Seahawks are all in Round 2 of the playoffs and while most have one established wide receiver making a franchise salary I don't see any of them that have TWO.

Wide receiver is a position of turnover in the NFL, teams tend to keep their #1 and rotate in and out #2 receivers over the years to complement the #1 and keep the cap numbers at WR within reason.

The Steelers let Mike Wallace go. The Packers let Greg Jennings go a couple of years ago when he was asking for a big contract. Golden Tate was gone from Seattle after the team won the Super Bowl. Dallas currently has Terrence Williams and Cole Beasley working on team friendly contracts behind Dez Bryant.

I don't see any reason to be paralyzed by the thought the Redskins need to go younger and cheaper at WR.

And given what the Patriots do in mid-tier free agency, there is no reason we can't find capable pass catchers that can move the chains and perhaps help us more in the red zone.

Other than Doctson and late-comer Maurice Harris , we still don't have much size at WR. Jackson is 5'9, Grant is 5'10, Crowder is 5'10.

Sean McVay is more likely to hit up the Redskins coaching staff to pull a couple of offensive coaches off Gruden's staff as he is to go after any players.

How are the Redskins a sinking ship all of the sudden? A team that won the division last year then just missed the playoffs this year. Yeah, the end of the year was a disappointment, but let's not act like the team is doomed. I have a lot more to say on this whole doom and gloom that I'll say later. But good grief people. Have some perspective.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am not going to suddenly going to give up on a HC, who just became the first Redskins coach to post 2 consecutive winning seasons, in what - 25 years ?
I am not going to blame Gruden for Hopkins missing a chip-shot FG, that would have put us in the playoffs.
I am not going to assume more of the staff and players will jump ship.
I will take a "wait and see" approach, and let Scot infuse some more defensive talent through the draft and FA.
And wait and see, if we can at least get a mediocre DC and OC.
The offseason has only just begun. It has not just ended, just because we lost one of our staff members. Instead of that being an insult to our team, it should be a compliment, if other teams are coming after our assistants. When was the last time that happened ? Probably 25 years ago, once again.

Kel Varnsen said:

How are the Redskins a sinking ship all of the sudden? A team that won the division last year then just missed the playoffs this year. Yeah, the end of the year was a disappointment, but let's not act like the team is doomed. I have a lot more to say on this whole doom and gloom that I'll say later. But good grief people. Have some perspective.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I don't think the team is a sinking ship at the moment but the next couple of months will go a very long way to determining if it's possible. We need to replace two coordinators, will likely lose two of our most productive offensive players, don't have a qb under contract, have a talent starved defense that doesn't tackle well and can't stop the run ,is mediocre defending the pass, and can't get off the field on third down.

I intend to patiently wait to see who is ultimately chosen for the coordinators positions, who we draft, who we sign in free agency, and if Doctson can ever get on the field. We don't necessarily need to hit a home run this offseason but we surely need a triple.

The "sinking ship" reference was mine. Part of a question. Not an assertion.

Chris said:

We don't necessarily need to hit a home run this offseason but we surely need a triple.

Click to expand...

That's not good. Because in baseball, it's actually more difficult to hit a triple, than a home run

Fear The Spear said:

That's not good. Because in baseball, it's actually more difficult to hit a triple, than a home run

Click to expand...

Not for me.

Are we talking head first slide, close call by the ump kind of triple....or the stand up kind that us ****ers with blazing speed more often get?

I think it all depends on the ballpark, and how deep the walls are.

it's an appropriate question.

A lot of things have changed in the NFC East.

A year ago when we were division champs at 9-7 Dallas was looking at a future of Romo being the starter at 36 and hoping he didn't get re-injured for the umpteenth time. Philadelphia was a mess and didn't have a quarterback, any sense of direction and was non-competitive in a number of games. The Giants meanwhile had the worst defense in the NFC, historically bad for their franchise. A new HC was being hired in McAdoo and no one knew if he had any HC abilities.

Now, the Cowboys are a 12-13 win team with a new quarterback and a franchise running back. They have one of the best OLs in the NFL. Dez Bryant is a premiere wide receiver. One of the best receiving tight ends in Witten. One of the best kickers in Bailey. On defense, the club is getting better, especially in the front seven, and looks as if a good offseason in FA and the draft can solidify that unit to be much better in 2017.

The Eagles now have a franchise quarterback and are much more competitive with new coach Doug Pederson. Their needs at WR and in the defensive backfield seem like they can be addressed in decent order. This club looks like a comer for 2017, perhaps not a playoff team, but close.

The Giants now have the best defense in the division. They already have the best set of WRs on offense. If they can draft a capable running back and solidify their OL to help 36 year old Eli Manning out, they will be competitive again in 2017 for a playoff spot.

So, overall the division is MUCH better than it was 2 years ago.

The Redskins might have won the division at 9-7 in 2015, but you aren't going to see 9-7 be good enough to win it again for some time to come.

This past season a 9-7 record would have only gotten the Redskins to 3rd place.

At 8-7-1 we only finished 1.5 games ahead of the Eagles, who were clearly in rebuilding mode in 2016.

I'm with Chris and Kel. If you want to see panic and maximum spazzing, go visit some of the larger Redskins forums. Let me try and give a calmer approach. First, I'll admit just as Chris stated, we're experiencing a lot of change. I think it's amusing that some are making what could even be characterized as personal attacks on Gruden, but when his young OC gets a head-coaching opportunity, it's apparently in spite of having to suffer in his role with Gruden's tutelage, not a positive reflection of our franchise? Hmmm... The Barry hire didn't work out. I think we were all highly skeptical it would. It happens, probably more often than not. I give Gruden credit for at least recognizing it wasn't getting better and doing something about it. I would have preferred we hire someone else to begin with, but theres not a lot of productivity in rehashing that. So we are looking at replacing both OC and DC, some other assistants, and there's the prospect of retaining Cousins or losing him. That's a lot of scary change, but really it is all absolutely necessary change.

1) We have to decide if Kirk is our long-term guy and if we sign him without crippling us financially. There's no way around it. That has to happen. What occurs there is only partially 'controllable' by the team. Kirk will ultimately decide what direction this takes.

2) We lost our OC. Good for McVay. I don't think any of us know if our offensive success over the past 2 years was all McVay, all Gruden, all Matt Cavanaugh, or a combination of those. Bottom line, coordinators are going to get HC opportunities and we probably knew this was likely be it this year or soon after. It's actually a positive reflection on the organization. Get over it

3) We lost our DC. Not going to rehash the hire since I've never met a Skins fan who was pining for Joe Barry. I think the hand-wringing is mostly the result of the frenetic media tweets last evening that we had a shot at Wade Phillips. We probably never had a shot at him. Lets face it, as others have pointed out, he didn't get an offer last time. That's always going to make things more difficult. I am guessing that whatever the barriers to hiring Wade last time, some of those (perhaps on both sides) still existed. I don't think we thought we'd be able to lure him here, and we didn't.

The change we are navigating doesn't equate to chaos or even a lack of a plan. The Redskins may have top choices available on teams in the playoffs right now. They may have college guys on the radar. Or there may be guys we haven't even thought of they are talking to. Fans want a quick decision, first of all because we want our anxiety addressed. Secondly, because logically the longer you wait the fewer options you have. That IS logical, but I think it mostly applies when we are pursuing one of this year's hot commodities (see 'Gus Bradley') who we may or may not actually view as a top choice.

Does this franchise warrant a lot of blind trust and benefit of the doubt? No, probably not. But I'll echo what Kel said earlier - we are coming off the first 2 season stretch of more wins than losses in 20 years. Things have improved. Those of you who talk about Gruden as if he made your mom give him a reach-around at gunpoint - okay - I get he is not a perfect coach. He's a work in progress. Some are adamant he can't and won't get better. Everything Yoda (McCloughan) does is magic, everything Gruden does is garbage - that's an easy way to view it, but I think it's a little simplistic.

Do I think all of this change and uncertainty could go south and that Gruden could be gone in a year? Yeah. But I could also see us finding a good replacement for McVay (he may already be on staff) and an upgrade on Barry (that's certainly not hard to imagine), locking up Kirk for a long-term deal, and focusing intently on upgrading our defense in FA and the draft, and being right back at the top of the NFC East next season.

Burgundy Burner said:

Michael Jenkins@JenksCSN
McVay leaving and grabbing Phillips the same day points to meticulous planning on his part and disorganization from Gruden. Bad look.

Click to expand...

When a new coach is hired it's encouraged to have a staff in place that's why teams that go farther into the playoffs generally have a harder time filling positions. I think Atlanta had the Oc and DC basically secured even though the head coach wasn't hired yet when they hired their current coach. now you have the unwritten rule of coordinater fall under the Rooney rule when not first time hired to a team