Young Redskins' Players

[GTripp0012]

I don't think not putting the young guys on the field is a technique to not harm their development. Putting them on the field would accelerate their development because its reps in and above what they are getting in practice.

The real issue is that if you are going to make them earn it behind veterans, you need to make sure the vets you have can actually play a bit. The Redskins season was doomed early by lackluster production from the QBs, RBs, WRs, and LBs, and the team actually drafted really well at RB and WR this year. Benching those veterans has been as much a part of the recent success as the development of the young guys.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I don't think not putting the young guys on the field is a technique to not harm their development. Putting them on the field would accelerate their development because its reps in and above what they are getting in practice.

The real issue is that if you are going to make them earn it behind veterans, you need to make sure the vets you have can actually play a bit. The Redskins season was doomed early by lackluster production from the QBs, RBs, WRs, and LBs, and the team actually drafted really well at RB and WR this year. Benching those veterans has been as much a part of the recent success as the development of the young guys.

Yes and no, depends on how ready they are. If they are clueless you could kill their confidence and at the same time you're only hurting the team by playing someone who clearly shouldn't be on the field.

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Yes and no, depends on how ready they are. If they are clueless you could kill their confidence and at the same time you're only hurting the team by playing someone who clearly shouldn't be on the field.

Like Philly did with Mathews. He was clearly not ready to play at the beginning of the year and the only thing they did by playing him was hurt both his development and the team's defense.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

Like Philly did with Mathews. He was clearly not ready to play at the beginning of the year and the only thing they did by playing him was hurt both his development and the team's defense.

If Philly made a mistake with Matthews, I don't think it was that they tried to develop him aggressively, I think it was that they misvalued him as an NFL linebacker in the first place. No team wanted him in the first four rounds, but Philly thought he was a starter.

They were out on that limb by themselves.

[sportscurmudgeon]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

Like Philly did with Mathews. He was clearly not ready to play at the beginning of the year and the only thing they did by playing him was hurt both his development and the team's defense.

True; Matthews was nowhere near ready to play MLB in the NFL in September 2011. But they started Matthews and played him full-time when the Eagles' season still had a future associated with it.

I wonder why the Redskins cannot play a few youngsters for a series or two in games that mean nothing to the Redskins.

That is a significant difference...

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Yes and no, depends on how ready they are. If they are clueless you could kill their confidence and at the same time you're only hurting the team by playing someone who clearly shouldn't be on the field.

I suppose that's true. Still, I think that player development without playing time is a waste of the time of both the coach who is responsible for the players development and for the player himself. With that said, I agree with you that there is a wrong way to do it, and I would also suggest that if there is a wrong way to do something that results in a loss of confidence, the Redskins will find that way.

Hurting the team is the obvious reason to not play a guy before they are ready, but you'd be hard pressed to convince me that Rocky McIntosh and DeAngelo Hall don't hurt the team on a week to week basis, yet we let a 3-1 start evaporate in part because we went out of our way to feature those players. That start could have gone wrong just as easily with guys like Perry Riley and Kevin Barnes starting, but I do think there was a right decision to be made there. And the Redskins didn't make it.