Here is a "hidden problem" we haven't addressed yet...

I will be upset if this organization doesn't build this team the right way. Draft guys, and DEVELOP our your talent. I am tired of seeing these teams draft guys and they are on the field contributing. We have a problem developing our young guys. I think Chris Wilson, Blades to name a couple on the D that look like good players, but rarely get on the field. Offense, Reihart (whatever) looked pretty good to me in the couple of games he played. Lets develop this guy. Devin Thomas and Malcom Kelly have to play. Marco Mitchel, another tall fast receiver that needs developed. We get these guys and they just sit, maybe play about 4 or 5 snaps a game. exception is Thomas. He came on strong toward the end of the season, and that was because he was on the field learning. We need to put this win now crap to rest and build a team that is stacked with young talent, depth, and capable of competing every year. If it means getting additional picks by trading some of the fan favorites (cooley, moss, portis) then so be it. We haven't done jack with them here, so why not start fresh and build a team of young hungry players instead of overpaid premadonnas.

I mean isn't the best part of Allen's reputation his ability to draft talent, acquire FA talent judiciously, and all of this in an efficient cap sense? I understand Shanny will have a strong hand in talent evaluation too...so be it. Shit man anything will be better than Vinny and his nonsensical approach to roster-building.

If there is a facet of the franchise to have come under little fire but possibly been responsible for much of the shit-show we've all endured, it would be the training/doctor group. Look 2 or our starting olineman had extremely serious injuries at season's beginning. We don't know whether there were candid conversations between trainers/doctors and the FO, and honestly I'm more likely to pin the blame on Toady the Moron for doing nothing about the oline. But nonetheless I'd like to know what kind of "diagnosis" the trainers/docs gave Chris and Randy.

has the skins organization EVER done anything right in your eyes?

OMG. Is there no satisfying everyone? For years some of us have been wanting a rebuilding of the team. Me especially. I'm tired of the whole ..."next year is the year", "just one more player", "if we had player X we'd be a contender."

I'm actually looking at this as rebuild. I hope DS is. I hope other fans are and not getting all caught up again in the Allen and Shanahan will fix this whole mess and we will be SB bound next year. Maybe this is what your trying to say, but I'm expecting at least 3-5 years to get there. I just want us to look somewhat competative starting next year.

I agree on the shorter end of you prediction - this will take 3 full drafts to restock the team and become consistently competitive. And this incorporates the Skins making good picks and also not trading away picks for "one last piece". My hope with this team is one they focus on building the trenches first and then on the skill positions - and with drafting on the trenches they need to incorporate an approach of drafting at least one or two lineman every year as depth is so key in this area. Also I hope the team starts to focus on getting younger - if you look at the life expectancy of an nfl player they typically last 3.5 years - so building the team via older free agents simply is betting against the odds - lets look to Ted Lenosis and how he build the Caps into a powerhouse - build from within and keep your core guys - don't try to win the offseason championship - look at the disaster Jagr caused on the Caps and how landing the most expensive free agent completely backfired on the Caps with regards to that move.

Big Haired Asistocrat:

As a matter of fact, I'm really in a good mood today - - been with family and friends for the Holidays and I'm relaxing at a solitary weekend house in south-central PA mountains. Thanks for your concern about my mental state...

The Internet allowed me to have a website because I paid the price that it demanded to permit that to happen. Nothing more than that; nothing less.

If "tall" was the reason to take Devin Thomas over Desean Jackson and nothing else, then the person(s) making the decision should have their job in jeopardy. I understand how that can be the rationalization after the fact when Jackson is a productive receiver and Thomas still has to show he belongs in the NFL as a starter, but if that is the only reason you have on draft day, you got problems in the FO that go deeper than just Vinny the Goofball.

The scouts don't determine contract terms; that's for sure. But if the scouts were to tell the "contract people" that someone like DeAngelo Hall just isn't a top flight shut-down corner at the NFL level, you would like to think that the "contract people" might listen to that competent judgement and not offer the guy $20M+ in guaranteed money. If that isn't the mechanism, there are a boatload of problems. But if the scouts thought Hall was a "bona-fide shut down corner" and passed that message along to the "contact people", you have a simpler problem to resolve...

Bruce Allen will make all contract decsions now? Are you sure? How are you sure? Did Danny Boy swear "Scout's Honor" that would be the case? What if the New Coach wants a player "really bad"? Does Allen have the "ace of trump" over the New Coach? [If so, expect a top-shelf coach to stay here about 18 months to two years.] What happens if Danny Boy gets another "hankering" to sign a player that Allen doesn't think is worth all that much? Will Danny Boy step back and allow 100% of the final decision to rest with Allen? If you say yes, how do you know that? Please recall that Danny Boy has never done that before for very long...

Scouts make mistakes; that's for sure. I used to be a scout for an NBA team and I made several mistakes about players who I thought were marginal talents and who turned out to be stars whose names you would surely recognize. I - - and my comp0atriot scouts - - made far fewer mistakes about players who simply could not play than the Redskins scouts plus front office seem to have made in the last 3 years.

I didn't say I didn't like the scouting dept. I said that the new administration had better take a look at what the individual scouts said about a couple of dozen specific players to see if those individual scouts are worth keeping around. Even if you are ready to anoint Bruce Allen as a "football genius" - - before he does anything here in Washington more complex than finding the men's room at Redskins' Park - - he has to rely on the summary notes of the individual scouts and the folks who aggregate players under consideration for him.

Vinny was and is a "football goofball". Maybe he was even more "exposed" in his lack of insight by an imperfect scouting department/system? Might it be possible...?

Paintrain:

I have no intention of "burying the new regime". I fundamentally believe that Bruce Allen is a big step up from Vinny Cerrato. But he will be only as good as the information that is available to him from those who work for him.

Smootsmack:

Yeah, I realize that being a curmudgeon means pointing out the turds in the punchbowl more than once in a while. But at least this time I can say it was "before the fact" and not "after the fact".

With regard to Vinny not being a "consultant" or an "advisor" to Danny Boy, I completely agree that he will not be for at least a year or so. After that, I am not sure that Vinny will not find a way to wiggle his way back into a position where he gets to nibble on Danny Boy's earlobe more than once in a while. The ONLY way that would NEVER happen would be for Vinny to get a job as the GM of another NFL team and that is just not gonna happen in the near future...

OK, I'll keep the book on Rinehart open for the moment. Will you concede that his on-field performance in the two years since they drafted him has been far less than satisfactory for a first day draft pick? Maybe he'll develop. If he does, kudos to the next OL coach...

Granted, Montgomery cost the team the minimum salary and granted that he was the best of the lot that Vinny and the scouts found to bring in. But is that REALLY the best that was available? If so, that says the NFL is likely to run out of offensive linemen in the near future. Two words here: Can't play.

I'm not bitching about drafting Thomas ahead of Jackson - - even though that sure looks like a mistake. What I think is important is the scouting input that went to the honchos in the FO that led them to think Thomas was the better player. Big Haired Aristocrat thinks it was "height". I have to think that there had to be more scouting input than that. I can hire a twelve year old to rank order players in terms of height.

The Redskins roster as listed on NFL.com says that "he" is still on the roster as of 12/30/09. Even if that is outdated, he was surely on the roster for most of the season. And - - wait for it - - he can't play either!

Other NFL teams have had OL injuries and have had better players top plug in than what is on the Skins roster now and during the season. The Eagles had ONE offensive lineman play in every game this year - - and now he is on IR (Jamaal Jackson). The Panthers had ONE offensive lineman play in the game where they dominated the Giants who was a starter in September. They lost both OTs and both OGs. Their replacements are competent; go through my list and find "competent"...

Kevin Huntly is on the roster - - not the practice squad, the roster. Who told whom he could play? Have you seen any evidence that is the case after 3 years in the NFL?

Sorry, forgot about Marty in SD. You are right; he was the head coach there after Danny Boy let him go. Mea culpa!

Dirtbag 359:

I am indeed crusty and ill-tempered.

However, I take exception to your saying that I am "usually old". I am in fact ALWAYS old...

CRedskinsRule:

First of all, I have already admitted that I made a mistake about Marty Schotenheimer not coaching in the NFL after Danny Boy fired him.

Secondly, if you buy into the Redskins hiring a "blue-chip coach" who has Super Bowl credentials", then you also have to buy into the FACT that that coach and not Bruce Allen will hire his (the coach's) staff.

Now as to Allen's staff, if he does not find out what the track record of regional scouts was with regard to players who turned out to be stars elsewhere or marginal players on the Redskins, how might he decide who to keep and who to send packing?

GusFrerotte:

If you - - or the current Skins' Staff - - wants to convince yourself/itself that the drafting in the past several years was "good" simply because a bunch of players made the roster, then you wil consign this team to mediocrity forever. Roster building is as important as coaching; wasting draft picks on players who never amount to more than a "special teams demon" or worse is a ticket to "Top Ten Picking" more years than not.

If you don't think so, go ask a Raiders fan...