Roster transition in the Shanny era

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

They're different players but I don't think it's any sort of a stretch to think that Chad Rinehart could have been a better player for less money than Chris Chester. We're talking about a projecting here, but I thought there was more to work with re: Rinehart, than Chester.

I wouldn't say that anything and everything Shanahan has done is a mistake. But let's put it this way: when you trade for Donovan McNabb with two draft picks and can't find a place for him in your offense, and somehow that gets lost in history as some sort of a necessary progression of the QB position in Washington...well, lets just say that stringing together a bunch of small evidences fits a lot better when you also have the all-time personnel gaffe.

The easiest way to make my argument seem like nitpicking is to go pick another losing team, and find six to eight players they've let go via free agency or release who have gone on to start elsewhere within the last two years (with two pro bowlers?!), and suggest that the Redskins aren't alone in their struggles to identify starters. Trust me, I am looking. I don't want to keep repeating this point only to find out that I missed a team that has been doing the same thing.

Every team has two or three of those guys (I would expect the winning teams to have a lot more of those guys), but the Redskins have six or seven even if you count Heyer as a backup.

See, I don't think you can just look at losing teams and I don't think it's fair to just say "team's back-up became starter for another team". Doing so, to me, isolates only whether the guy could play in the NFL but takes him out of context for both the team that cut him and the team that picked him up. Carter no future here b/c of the scheme switch. Rogers had no place here for reasons other than his football play (money/just didn't want to play here). There are just too many variables to make such a comparison - was it actually a miss on talent evaluation, was it a youth movement, was there an adequate or better replacement, or were there other factors that we, as casual fans of other teams, didn't get (do you think most fans of Jax looking at our decision to not pursue C. Rodgers were aware of his back story here?).

Further, except for a few, most marginal to average NFL players are not interchangeable - by that I mean they need to be in places that play to their strengths. The Chester/Rinehart comparison is very appropos of this. As I understand it, Rinehart was viewed as power blocker and not a particularly good fit for the zone blocking scheme MS runs. Chester was viewed by Baltimore as a marginal blocker in the scheme they run. In my opinion, each has been valued more by their acquiring team, in part at least, b/c the new teams play to their respective strengths. Thus, although marginal in their prior settings, each seem to be deemed average to above average in their new settings.

The QB was an epic fail and MS has absolutely punted on admitting any error. Okay. He has a history of ego-mania and poor personnel decisions. Okay. Should he have kept Campbell and forgone the McNabb trade? I think that was the best option but it wasn't really a solution. Grossman? <sigh>. When it comes to his handling of the QB position and his failure to own up to it - I am in complete agreement with you and the majority of the WP posters. That is all on MS.

Ultimately, however, I disagree with you that this current roster has as much dead weight or is as lacking in depth as the team he inherited in 2009. That's not to say it is good or deep. It is not - I would agree that a good 1/4 of this roster may be out of the NFL in 2 years and I believe another 1/4 may be on other teams (D. Hall, S. Moss for example). At the same time, I see a significant amount of contributors being here for the next two to three years and maybe beyond - most of whom have still have a potential upper level (Cofield, Bowen, Riley, T. Williams, Helu, Royster, Hankerson, Kerrigan). There are a lot that could go either way also (Smith, Chester, Hightower).

I think we all agree that this off-season will be key in determining whether this club turns the corner into the realm of well-managed teams or remains among the bottom tier in terms of talent management.

I, like you, hope it has.

P.S. - As to Buffalo, I think you missed Jason Peters but he I don't remember if the Eagles got him in 2009 or before.