Final Say on Personnel

Speaking purely pragmatically this Snyder's team and if he wants to sign a bunch of clowns he can and should. From a football point of view he needs to take a step back and remove himself from the situation some more. From what I have read he has passed the phase where he gives input and tries to sign big names and ahs moved on to letting Vinny be his eyes and ears and allows Vinny to enlighten him. Pretty much he reflects what Vinny thinks now. He trusts Cerrato's opinions and finally realizes he doesn't know what he is doing but he still is involved because he just mimics what Vinny thinks. I am hoping Gibbs' aura reigns that in a bit. It look slike it alreadt has this offseason a little.

The Gibbs-Snyder-Cerrato trifecta worked pretty well last year (bar the one obvious mess-up in Brunell), we brought in Marcus Washington, Shawn Springs, Clinton Portis, Cornelius Griffin, Walt Harris, we drafted Sean taylor, etc among other deals so all in all we did very well in personnel decisions.
I have faith that the same 3 will again produce the goods in the upcoming draft and whatever remaining FA moves we may do.
The Coles Saga was obviously not handled as well as it could have been, but you live and learn - in my opinion we would have been better off fascilitating Coles release (along with his forfeiting the $5M bonus) and using the cap room to sign a replacement via FA than the way that it did occour.
But whats done is done, plus we got Santana Moss out of it so it isn't all bad!!!

I put someone else, but it has more to do with the structure of the decision mnaking process than the principals involved. I think Snyder can be the final arbiter, but not if he's involved in the early decision making.

If Gibbs decided he wants a player but Cerrato doesn't think he fits the financial picture (or vice versa), they should go to Snyder and each state their case. The check-signer then makes the call. My fear is that it works the other way around - where Snyder gets hopped up about a player/name, and runs to Gibbs and Cerrato and says "Make this work."

The Gibbs-Snyder-Cerrato trifecta worked pretty well last year (bar the one obvious mess-up in Brunell), we brought in Marcus Washington, Shawn Springs, Clinton Portis, Cornelius Griffin, Walt Harris, we drafted Sean taylor, etc among other deals so all in all we did very well in personnel decisions.
I have faith that the same 3 will again produce the goods in the upcoming draft and whatever remaining FA moves we may do.
The Coles Saga was obviously not handled as well as it could have been, but you live and learn - in my opinion we would have been better off fascilitating Coles release (along with his forfeiting the $5M bonus) and using the cap room to sign a replacement via FA than the way that it did occour.
But whats done is done, plus we got Santana Moss out of it so it isn't all bad!!!

I agree, personnel decisions were pretty damn good last year.

As for this offseason, I'll reserve my final judgement until next year at this time.

I want Casserly back. Cant Danny boy bribe him away from Texas?

I don't think they should change a thing with their front-office structure. here are the players this front office group "hit" on:

Marcus Washington
Cornelius Griffin
Shawn Springs
Clinton Portis
Walt Harris
Sean Taylor
Chris Cooley
Joe Salavae'a
Ron Warner
Garnell Wilds
Antonio Brown (I'd call him a hit at his salary level, just based on his little return duty last season)

Players they wiffed on:
Mark Brunell (bad cap consequences, though he restructured)
Mike Barrow (moderate cap consequences, though he restructured and could redeem himself)
Corey Raymer (small cap consequences)
Ralph Brown (no cap consequences)
Walter Rasby (no cap consequences)
Vaughn Parker (no cap consequences)

This front office group has added to our core, and most of the mistakes they've made have had minimal salary cap impact. The Coles situation is up for debate, but I don't think it's fair to call for a GM over that issue until you see the results on the field in 2005.

Unlike a lot of people, I actually like the structure they have now. Yes, Snyder is involved, but I get the distinct impression that his part in making football decisions is diminished now with Gibbs having more pull, and with Williams having a say on the defensive side of things. When it comes to financial matters and contracts, that's where he comes in. Vinny is a glorified scout, and don't forget about the cap expert who's name I can't recall (Scott something???). I'm sure he is involved in the decision-making to some extent.

Is it the right way??? Who knows....But there are certainly teams out there with a traditional GM set-up that aren't doing any better!

If they were to get a GM, who would it be? Someone older that has GM experience (and like some players, may just be looking for a "Redskins payday"), or finding an up-and-comer from another team that may be more of a risk? Either way, people would probably criticize them just as much....

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter how they do it, as long as they put more W's on the board. Until that happens, everyone will criticize.

To me, Snyder and Cerrato are the same. They think alike when it comes to bringing in new talent. That's why I say bring in someone new. No need for having two boneheads in the front office. Snyder has the power. He doesn't need a yesman. Heck. I'm available. :oink:

From what I heard from Gibb's today during his radio interview on sportstalk, there wont be anyone new for quite some time. Gibb's likes his structure now. He emphasized that he was implementing the same structure that was in place previously when he had GM's. He was very adamant on that point twice.

But I am available too. Maybe we can consult with Cerrato.

a quality GM, take out Cerrato and it would be a vote among the staff and owner. with the gm pulling the trigger.