Random Commanders Thoughts

[Bulldog]

I disagree. A good talent evaluator as GM goes 365 days a year doing ONE primary job, bringing in talent.

A coach has a number of hats already and putting the GM hat on most coaches is one too many.

There are only 24 hours in a day and you can't tell me a guy that is spending 16 hours coaching and working to win games for 4 months during the season is going to have ANY real time to look at college players or scan the league for upcoming free agents or potential trade targets. So, when he starts to review, the front office people around the league have a huge head start and have seen many of the players play in person.

In addition to this, you have the ego factor. A coach can have a good talent evaluator but then decide in the War Room to go in another direction from the consensus of the front office and scouts based upon much more limited time to review and evaluate the player(s) in question.

It is precisely that lack of checks and balances that doom a lot of coaches.

Parcells, Belichick and Reid are the EXCEPTIONS to the rule.

I think instead of chasing a unicorn the Washington Commanders have to start at the beginning for the first time in 20 plus years.

We haven't had a GM that was actually in charge since Snyder bought the team.

 

[Boone]

I disagree. A good talent evaluator as GM goes 365 days a year doing ONE primary job, bringing in talent.

A coach has a number of hats already and putting the GM hat on most coaches is one too many.

There are only 24 hours in a day and you can't tell me a guy that is spending 16 hours coaching and working to win games for 4 months during the season is going to have ANY real time to look at college players or scan the league for upcoming free agents or potential trade targets. So, when he starts to review, the front office people around the league have a huge head start and have seen many of the players play in person.

In addition to this, you have the ego factor. A coach can have a good talent evaluator but then decide in the War Room to go in another direction from the consensus of the front office and scouts based upon much more limited time to review and evaluate the player(s) in question.

It is precisely that lack of checks and balances that doom a lot of coaches.

Parcells, Belichick and Reid are the EXCEPTIONS to the rule.

I think instead of chasing a unicorn the Washington Commanders have to start at the beginning for the first time in 20 plus years.

We haven't had a GM that was actually in charge since Snyder bought the team.

You don't disagree - you're saying the same thing I just said

 

[Chris]

I am going to stubbornly stick to me cooking analogy.

A talented and accomplished professional chef does not have to be personally responsible for sourcing every ingredient needed to execute his/her vision. Most have purchasing managers that know exactly what is wanted and are tasked with supplying it.

If you really want one of the coaches at the top of the pyramid, I seriously doubt you’ll land one without giving them the final decision on personnel. Those guys are very few and far between though and, except for perhaps Sean Payton, already gainfully employed.

Otherwise, yeah, I’d go the GM route.

 

[Chris]

 

[Bulldog]

Ron isn't looking at candidates under 55 evidently.

Too pushy and aggressive like that Sean McVay guy

 

[Neophyte]

Geez...we are doomed. Doomed, I say!

 

[SilentThreat]

They should be reaching out to Caldwell, they should be interviewing any available coach who's ever called plays, or been an OC in the league. They need to interview everyone and find the right guy.

 

[Bulldog]

If we had a real GM the job of finding a quality candidate might be a bit easier

 

[Chris]

A little nugget from Ben Standig’s most recent article on The Athletic that I didn’t know-

‘One day after losing out on Russell Wilson despite offering multiple first-round picks, Washington sent two third-round choices to Indianapolis for Wentz, a move that offensive coordinator Scott Turner was not on board with, according to a person with knowledge of the team’s discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly.’

 

[Boone]

He probably wanted to use those to bolster the OL

 

[Bulldog]

I am not surprised.

I really did think Wentz was going to become a backup in the NFL once his gig in Indy went south when they missed the playoffs because of that horrible game against Jacksonville, then the worst team in the league.

So, Turner in one way was a scapegoat for Ron and his poor decision-making.

That said, when Taylor took over after the Wentz injury I think there was FAR MORE the offense could have done in terms of using Taylor's mobility to create opportunities for the run and pass on the edge. That was especially true after Brian Robinson proved he was a capable primary back that the opposition had to take note of in game prep.

If anything this weekend's playoff games showed what coaches could do to bring ROOKIES and undrafted free agents along to perform at a competitive level against good teams.

Thompson, Huntley, Purdy, etc.

An offense scoring just 3 or 7 additional points in a couple of those games gets Washington to a 9-7-1 record and a playoff berth next to New York and knocks Seattle out.

So, I don't think Turner was at fault for the Wentz fiasco or the fact Washington wasn't a top 10 scoring offense, but I think he could have been a bit more creative.

 

[burgold]

There's something about these reports that rub me wrong. I remember in real time Shanny being really excited and over the Moon about drafting RGIII. They certainly seemed to develop a great plan for him in his rookie year which made me think that they had been anticipating his strengths and weaknesses. After Griffin failed following that year and never recovered after his injuries this CYA narrative emerged that Shanny never wanted him and the pick was forced upon him. Now, that may be true and it's easy to believe Snyder might try to do that, but then and now with Turner it just feels "convenient" for a report to emerge after a coach gets fired that the coach suddenly was opposed to the move.

Seems to me that when it came to Wentz, as the offensive coordinator, Turner had a hell of a say. Why would Rivera screw his own OC? He's a defensive guy. Defensive coaches usually meddle more on the defensive side and trust their offensive guys to know their stuff. It just doesn't make sense to me. Makes more sense to say, "Turner in three years, every QB who played in Turner's system stank. Wentz was worse in Tuner's system than he was in Indy. Maybe Wentz was the wrong guy, but pretty sure it was Turner, too."

 

[Boone]

Seems to me that when it came to Wentz, as the offensive coordinator, Turner had a hell of a say. Why would Rivera screw his own OC? He's a defensive guy. Defensive coaches usually meddle more on the defensive side and trust their offensive guys to know their stuff. It just doesn't make sense to me. Makes more sense to say, "Turner in three years, every QB who played in Turner's system stank. Wentz was worse in Tuner's system than he was in Indy. Maybe Wentz was the wrong guy, but pretty sure it was Turner, too."

Snyder is likely the one who wanted Wentz and told Rivera to go get him. That explains it all.

 

[burgold]

Snyder is likely the one who wanted Wentz and told Rivera to go get him. That explains it all.

Perhaps, though Wentz doesn't seem sexy enough for Snyder.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Whenever I read these stories, and I think the RG3 comparison is spot on burgold, this is what I believe happens. Someone in the organization comes to the coaches and says “We should get player X”, they debate the pros and cons, maybe discuss other players, but then eventually they all agree this is the guy they will go with. That’s why all the talk is always supportive at first. Then when things go off the rails, everyone who was initially opposed to the move comes out of the woodwork to say they were always against it. It as though they don’t want anyone to remember they were fully behind it when it happened. Again, that is my belief as to what happens in these situations. I have no inside information, just my own specification. Maybe Turner was always against Wentz and made it known behind the scenes. But I do agree that it becomes revisionist history. That’s the cost of failing and with this organization, there are so many failures, this happens pretty much all the time.

 

[Bulldog]

It's a sign of desperation and a lack of creativity when teams get to the level where they are trading for or signing retreads who were never that great to begin with and expressing hope to the media that the player was simply misused or misunderstood in his previous stops or had 'more in the tank' that WE are going to get out of him.

Ryan Fitzpatrick and Carson Wentz in consecutive years is evidence this HC and front office are not operating at a level of teams that have quality front office personnel and sound organizational decision-making.

The fact we are now hearing that Sam Howell goes into the offseason as a candidate to start in 2023 is the first SMART thing I have seen from this team in a long while at the quarterback position.

Why?

1. Good teams trust their draft picks. They trust their front office and scouts to find players that other teams may have overlooked. Washington did that in the past with Jonathan Allen who slid from the top 5 to the #17 overall pick. Sam Howell, from what I was reading during and after the draft, was rated as a late first to second round pick before his senior year based on his skill set. The departure of most of his OL and WRs produced a weaker senior season but he had the tools and the years in starting you look for. It's only one game, but Howell had no problem throwing that 15-20 yard out pass that bedeviled our other quarterbacks under Turner the past 3 years. He also showed rare athleticism in cutting back on the defense and breaking tackle to score that TD on the ground against Dallas.

2. Good teams realize that the 'rare ruby' in the NFL is getting a rookie quarterback who is on a CHEAP 4 or 5 year contract and being able to build around him with some pace to be able to field a very good team quickly. Seattle benefited from that with Russell Wilson, Baltimore benefited from that with Lamar Jackson, Philadelphia is now really benefiting from that cap savings by getting MVP level play from Jalen Hurts.

Washington going into a season paying a 35 year old Alex Smith $25M or the 29/30 year old Carson Wentz $28M is exactly the OPPOSITE of what good teams do. If your quarterback isn't a top 10 passer in the NFL or is coming off injury history I think the lesson over the past 10-15 years is, DON'T PAY THEM. Move on and avoid pouring money into a black hole.

3. Coaches who maintain the high energy and loyalty of their players are ones that put the talent on the field, regardless of salary and reward those who are working hard and achieving something. From what I have been reading from these mini-leaks, Carson Wentz was erratic and inaccurate for a good portion of training camp and players on the offense preferred to work out with Taylor and Sam because they were more consistent in what they could do.

Wentz was hardly an established veteran who deserved a carte blanche to start for this team in 2022. In fact his career when he came back from a second injury in 2019 before the Eagles traded him looked like a player that had hit a plateau and was no longer going to ascend to being a top level performer. That was only confirmed in Indy, where a likewise meddling owner in Irsay, made the deal with the Eagles after having brought in aging veterans like Philip Rivers and subsequently Matt Ryan to fill the hole that Andrew Luck left when he retired.

It's a sign of a poor front office when the ONLY way a team can acquire a capable passer is to have the #1 overall pick in the draft where ta clear generational talent is available. That's where the Colts find themselves.

The only issue with the news I am now hearing is I don't entirely trust this management group.

Yes, Howell looks good and cheap right now with the Wentz fiasco right in front of us. But 2-3 months from now I wouldn't be surprised hearing that Washington is once again sniffing around the Garoppolos, Derrick Carrs and other 30 plus year old passers that are on the way out from their current organizations and would love nice high dollar contracts with Washington to help finish out their careers.

 

[Boone]

 

[Chris]

 

[Kel Varnsen]

So that sounds different and sound more like what we were hearing. They were calling about everyone and I mean everyone. You don’t know until you ask. I’m just glad they didn’t end up with Stafford or Wilson. The cost was just too great. Yea, Stafford won the Super Bowl, but then got hurt and his future looks bleak. All those picks and all that money for 1 year. It worked, but it was 1 year and they have nothing to build now. Wilson was just dreadful. You think the fans hate Wentz? Imagine how much they would hate Wilson if there were multiple first round picks involved and an albatross contract you have to ride out despite being awful.

 

[burgold]

I guess you could call this due diligence. I call this delusional.