McLoughan's big decision: what kind of team identity do we want?

[Destino]

I think this team needs too many upgrades for me to see this offseason as the defining identity moment.  I think that comes next offseason assuming this one goes splendidly.  Right now I think the team just needs to increase it's talent in general and focus on lifting all those areas where we are bad and try to be at least pretty good.  

 

Once we're generally pretty good, let the coaches and GM get together and decide where they think the team can be great. 

 

So I'm saying what everyone hates to hear.  We aren't there yet and we need to be patient because we won't be there next year either. 

[DC9]

This is completely incorrect in my opinion. Could not be more incorrect

Where teams get in trouble is drafting for need instead of BPA. Like Devin Thomas and Malcom Kelly

Look at the Patriots. Brady and Bellicheck had never featured a TE in their careers. But they drafted two of them because they were the best players available and found ways to get them the ball.

 

I'm not saying drafting for need.

 

I'm saying drafting for a role.  But you have to stay within that role for the player and that role has to support your identity.

 

There are plenty of teams out there with ridiculous depth on one side of the ball but they don't win games.  There is no syncopation (to use a music term).

 

I feel like we're saying the same thing, but at the moment I'm sounding like old fan because I didn't like the examples you gave with the super teams.  Of course everyone would love that, but it's not realistic these days.

[Wyndorf25]

I doubt we keep both Garcon and Jackson.  So our passing offense will probably take at least an initial step back.

 

Scott M's mentality is based on finding "all around good football players."  Since our defense is farther behind and has less "all around good football players", it stands to reason that this is the area he will focus most of his attention on.  

 

Were still building a foundation and filling out our depth chart.  i anticipate 70 percent of our offseason moves to be for defensive players who are good at special teams and are solid tacklers.

 

I agree and I think it's Garcon that walks. I hate to say it, but I think the team prefers the THREAT of what Jackson poses while on the field over that of Garcon. It's almost like picking an intangible that you prefer and how it affects the rest of the offense. Jackson's D-scaring ability to blow by the defense and score from anywhere or Garcon's possession receiving and WR blocking skills.

 

I just think the offense looks better as a whole with Jackson on the field rather than not. He opens things up for the Redskin's true #1 target in Reed. While I truly appreciate Garcon and his toughness at the WR position, I think he is more easily replaced than Jackson and his speed/abilty combo.

 

God, I hated typing that because I want this team to have more guys with character and toughness like Garcon, but I'm just calling it like I see it. 

[Tsailand]

Just give me a stud C and LG, a big, strong, run stuffing beast at NT, and significantly upgraded talent in the secondary. That alone should reap huge dividends.

 

You would need like four high draft picks to get all that.

[Skinsinparadise]

Good article From Brewer just came out on this issue.

 

 

The confounding thing about the Washington Redskins’ breakthrough season is that they didn’t intend to win this way.

 

They wanted to rely on elbow grease: physical, aggressive defense and a power running game. Instead, they allowed the fifth-most yards per play (6.0) in the NFL and were tied for the third-fewest rushing yards per play (3.7).

 

They wanted to lessen their dependence on the quarterback. Instead, Kirk Cousins rose from backup to starter and set a franchise record with 4,166 passing yards.

 

They wanted to have a nice, quiet season under the radar. Instead, they overachieved and managed to make the masses care again.

 

It was an interesting path to respectability. They lost their directions and somehow traveled to a better place. As you audit the 2015 season and contemplate what it meant to Washington’s future, there are legitimate reasons to fear it was an accidental success.

 

But there’s also this to ponder: The reason General Manager Scot McCloughan focused first on improving the team’s toughness, offensive line, defense and overall talent around the quarterback is because those are the easiest ways to get a rebuilding effort started. Even if those moves don’t produce immediate results, they establish the foundation for change, creating a blue-collar mentality and putting developmental pieces in place that can still help the team in smaller roles as those players grow.

 

If McCloughan started by trying to fix the big things — quarterback, the passing game, acquiring elite playmakers — he would’ve had to wait for all that style to manifest itself through repetition and without a solid base of support. It would’ve been akin to putting fancy windows on a faulty structure, which is what the franchise had tried to do for most of this century.

 

Think about it that way, and the surprise manner in which Washington flourished can be deemed a welcome occurrence rather than reason to worry the team will be exposed as a fraud next season. It’s a bonus that Cousins took command, and the offense (or at least the passing game) thrived. It allows McCloughan to focus on what he does best and devote more resources to ensuring the spine of the team gets stronger.

for more:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/to-sustain-success-after-breakthrough-season-redskins-must-stick-to-the-plan/2016/01/11/5207deb6-b8b7-11e5-b682-4bb4dd403c7d_story.html

 

[skins island connection]

Pride and Respect.

Past years, the Redskins were the puns of jokes.

This year it was " well the NFC East was a mess and the Redskins just sucked less than the others".

 

If he can bring perennial winners to this organization, not necessarily NFC Championships but at least constant playoff appearances, it would be something to build from there. To be considered a threat year after year would help many forget the years of Swinging Gate, Jason Campbell, and other failures this organization and team has dealt with.

 

To put a product on the field who can be competitive year after year with a chance to go all the way is a challenge, but he's done it before.

 

 I think he's on the right path.  Fingers crossed.

[GhostofSparta]

Question:  How does a player retiring effect the cap?  I'm asking because I saw a report that Hatcher is considering it.  I'm fine letting him go either way but how does a player retiring vs getting cut effect things?

 

How does the release or retirement of a player affect the Salary Cap?

When a player is released (or retires), the team is relieved of having the pay the player’s base salary (P5) and any Roster Bonus that may become due after that, but still will need to account for any Signing or Option Bonus prorations that haven’t yet counted against the Salary Cap.

 

http://russellstreetreport.com/salarycap/nfl-salary-cap-faqs/

[TheGreatBuzz]

http://russellstreetreport.com/salarycap/nfl-salary-cap-faqs/

Thanks.  I did a little reading on it but was confused because I didn't know what a lot of the terms meant.  What happens to guarnteed money?  It would happen to that?  I get having to pay it if you cut him but if he walks away on his own (retires) what happens to that?

[Larry]

If I can respond to what I think is the OP's question, personally, I love the idea of us continuing to focus on becoming a physically dominant team.

No, that doesn't mean you dump Kirk because you want to replace him with a Wishbone QB. I'm not saying we should get rid of any of the assets this team has, now.

But yeah, when we're evaluating a FA or a draft pack, I think we focus on whether said player will help us get more physical. Especially in the trenches.  (An area which I could see us emphasizing, a bit.) 

 

Among other things, part of my reasoning is that I think it's a lot easier to get better by making your weaknesses better, than it is to do so by making your strengths better. 

 

---

 

What's really puzzling/frustrating, to me, is that I think we had that identity, the first two weeks of the season.  I even started this thread about it, if people don't remember those days. 

 

I'd love to know what happened to it. 

[DJHJR86]

I fully trust McCloughan will continue to develop that "blue collar" mentality and draft the best player available.  Our success this year was pretty much an added bonus and will make his job going into next year easier, IMO.

[ZRagone]

Where teams get in trouble is drafting for need instead of BPA. Like Devin Thomas and Malcom Kelly

 

I'm not saying drafting for need.

 

I'm saying drafting for a role.

I don't think either of you're wrong. And I think how Scott drafts actually is in line with what both of your are saying. Scherff is an excellent example of this.

He was not what would've been considered the consensus BPA at our pick. Williams was widely regarded as the best player in the entire draft, let alone at #5. But the BPA on Clou's board was Scherff. Why? Because within the framework of how he made his board, Scherff was on top.

You can build your board based around an identity, a theme, style. Once you have the board built, you take BPA as you have them ranked as opposed to going after "needs".

Building your board based around a team identity or theme isn't really that outside the norm. It's not much different than building it based on being a 3-4 team instead of a 4-3 team. Or building it based around Zone Blocking instead of Power Man.

BPA still needs "Tie breakers" of sorts. That's where these kind of things come into play. For example, say your "Identity" is a "quick strike" offense primarily predicated on the pass. You have three similarly rated players. A workhorse running back, deep threat WR, a good blocking scat back. Think Jeremy Hill, AJ Green, and Gio Bernard in terms of "style".

All three grade out relatively similarly. But based on your identity you have them on your board as :

1. WR

2. Scat back RB

3. Workhorse RB

Why? Because based on your identity and style, you're going to get more value out of them in that kind of descending order with all other things being equal.

A "Ball Control, Grinder" identity, you probably flip flop the Workhorse RB and the WR. Why? Because having that kind of RB you can feed the ball 20 to 25 times a game gives you more value for your identity than the deep threat does.

Essentially, you want to draft BPA like Zoony's suggesting. But you want to be drafting the BPA in a way that your various picks compliment each other as opposed to clash.

[Dark Acre]

Use FA for D and draft for O.  Hopefully there's a WR we can justify using our #1 on.  TE should be fine when our injured guys come back, esp. Niles Paul.  LG and C are needs.  If we're going to emphasize one over the other, I'd go O.  Give Cpt. Kirk the best crew in Starfleet.

[Warhead36]

That Brewer article is really good.

 

I think our passing game right now is good enough to contend with. I'm not saying its the best in the league but its well above average with room to be even better. So McC's thought process might be to continue building the smashmouth identity on D, improve the run game, and leave the pass game as is, so perhaps we won't be a dominant passing team but instead be a good if not very good passing team while improving to average to above average in other areas.

[Burgold]

That Brewer article is really good.

 

Brewer's  writing is generally very good. I look forward to his columns in a way I have not another sports writer in a while.

[Larry]

Or, another way to look at it: which do you think will make Kirk Cousins look better?

1). Another WR.

2). A better run game.

[Wyvern]

My sense is that to keep the 'Skins in contention for the NFC East title, McCloughan will emphasize defense. The Giants and the Cowboys have strong offense and suspect defenses -- the Skins offense can probably still compete but next year, the Skins defense has to be better to keep even.

Just where on the defense Scott plans to focus his upgrading eforts, will depend on what happens on the following:

( a ) whether "Pot Roast" commits to being in better condition and is willing to re-sign for a reasonable amount;

( b ) whether Keenan Robinson can be signed for a reasonable contract and the Skins believe he can resume playing at the same level he was before his injury;

( c ) if they still want to keep Perry Riley;

( d ) whether or not Hatcher decides to call it quits;

( e ) whether Galette will return and under a reasonable contract

( f ) how well Culliver, Johnson, Ikenacho, Jarrett, and others return from injury.

( g ) if the Skins believe Hall CAN make the transition to safety (that puts less pressure on the Skins to find a free agent solution.)

I anticipate the core of Scott's picks (and free agent acquisitions) will be on defense -- but I wouldn't be surprised if he uses a high round pick isn't to land a top-flight tall WR that fell to him. (It usually takes a couple of years to work in a new WR for Jackson's eventual replacement. I suppose the Skins could look for another RB as well, but not in the early rounds.). But If that 'elite' WR doesn't drop to their 1st round pick, I see the Skins drafting a difference-maker at one of the defensive front seven's positions, or a high-quality free safety with potential.

For some reason i don't see the Skins drafting a center in the first 5 rounds -- although I think they need one.

Bottom line: McCloughan's going to emphasize assembling his defense (which is the older group) in 2016 -- and just sprinkling in few talented offensive players, to be groomed for when their time comes.

[skins island connection]

Looking on the defensive side of the team, what would the barometer be on getting some big and relatively fast safeties in place of a LB or 2 in the line-up?

One thing we couldn't do well was match up with physical WRs and TEs, and not going the actual 4-6 route totally but a defense which has similarities.  A player like Cam Chancellor is hard to find, but a couple of physical guys like that would be big problems for any offense, with the ability to be moved all around.

[Skinsinparadise]

Looking on the defensive side of the team, what would the barometer be on getting some big and relatively fast safeties in place of a LB or 2 in the line-up?

One thing we couldn't do well was match up with physical WRs and TEs, and not going the actual 4-6 route totally but a defense which has similarities.  A player like Cam Chancellor is hard to find, but a couple of physical guys like that would be big problems for any offense, with the ability to be moved all around.

 

More of a draft point but wonder about Su'a Cravens -- linebacker/strong safety type -- if current mocks are any indication, we would be in a good place to draft him.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/nfl-draft-scout/25260413/nfl-draft-kessler-cravens-top-deep-pool-of-talent-at-usc

 

With his long limbs, tapered frame and impressive fluidity, Cravens looks the part of a traditional NFL strong safety. He's at his best attacking the run, showing excellent recognition and terrific closing speed on outside runs to slice past pulling linemen and lasso ball-carriers for big losses. Cravens shows little regard for his own welfare, taking out the knees of oncoming blockers when necessary to create a pile and allow other Trojans' defenders to get the credit. Like former USC All-American (and Pittsburgh Steelers great) Troy Polamalu, Cravens can get a little out of control, at times

[Wyndorf25]

What's really puzzling/frustrating, to me, is that I think we had that identity, the first two weeks of the season. I even started this thread about it, if people don't remember those days.

I'd love to know what happened to it.

I honestly think losing Lavao and Lichtensteiger had the most to do with the team being forced to recognize that they no longer could run consistently. That and Morris' struggles to adapt to this new-fangled blocking scheme.

It's almost as if at some point someone made the decision to scrap the forced "we are a run-first team" mantra and started accepting that under the given circumstances, this team seems to perform best when they gear the offense to passing the ball to the receiving playmakers on this team.

[mike42]

The running game is one of the biggest concerns. The struggling running game has caused our offense to rely on Kirk more than usual. Fortunately, Kirk and our talented receiving group played at an super bowl caliber level.

 

Sadly, I think Alfred's finished as our go to guy. Matt Jones or someone else will be the new starter. Alfred doesn't seem to fit this system like he did under Shanahan. Some of it is on the oline, but you would think Kirk would be able to open the running game up by passing. It hasn't helped either. Morris isn't physically fast enough to cut and make a last second decision to run where there is room. We need a running attack that doesn't just help contribute to a nice 10 minute drive in the first quarter, but a but a running game that can make a 50 yard touchdown.

[skins island connection]

 Cravens is a freshman isn't he? I don't really follow college ball but the guys that I heard about was Brooks Fla St. and Calvin Pryor. Both can bring the wood and are fast and agile.

 I would be a little concerned about Brooks maybe getting overzealous and aggressive but it sends a message to anyone coming downfield that he's gonna hit you, and hard. If Barry could control him he would be the guy.

[Skinsinparadise]

 Cravens is a freshman isn't he? I don't really follow college ball but the guys that I heard about was Brooks Fla St. and Calvin Pryor. Both can bring the wood and are fast and agile.

 I would be a little concerned about Brooks maybe getting overzealous and aggressive but it sends a message to anyone coming downfield that he's gonna hit you, and hard. If Barry could control him he would be the guy.

 

He's a junior and entering the draft: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000602738/article/sua-cravens-of-usc-to-apply-for-early-draft-eligibility

[ZRagone]

Here's the weird thing with Alf. That first game, I thought he looked the best of any of our RBs almost all season. He looked legit. And then the wheels came off. It was just really odd.

[Alaskins]

I think this offseason the biggest priorities have to be:

 

1. One offensive line spot.  ...

2. One defensive line spot. ...

3. One DB. ...

 

I like your list and agree with almost everything that you posted.  The only difference for me is that it looks like C is a more pressing need then LG.  We do have Luavao there if he's healthy.  For C, Lichtensteiger is WAY better then Stabby, but Lict is still a bottom 10 C in my book.  (Love his toughness BTW, just he's kind of undersized).  Agree, Disagree?

[Wyvern]

What's really puzzling/frustrating, to me, is that I think we had that identity, the first two weeks of the season.

...

I honestly think losing Lavao and Lichtensteiger had the most to do with the team being forced to recognize that they no longer could run consistently. That and Morris' struggles to adapt to this new-fangled blocking scheme.

It's almost as if at some point someone made the decision to scrap the forced "we are a run-first team" mantra and started accepting that under the given circumstances, this team seems to perform best when they gear the offense to passing the ball to the receiving playmakers on this team.

So true. The first few weeks it was 'ground and pound' and Cousins only going to the air to convert that 3rd down, and move the chains. But the defense was healthier then too, and Jackson was out. And Gruden probably didn't trust Cousins to go to the air early often, much less 30-40 times.

The wheels came off that strategy when Lauvao went down, then Lichtensteiger, -- which happened to coincide with the phased-in return of Reed and Jackson. Then Jones and Thompson started getting dinged up, along with the defensive secondary -- meanwhile Cousins was starting to show what he could do with Reed and Jackson upgrading his receiving corps. And the run game kept trending down, and the passing game had to pick up the slack. The Skins were almost one-dimensional, and teams were still stacking the box, expecting Cousins to serve up those INTs. -- and getting burned. basically, Green Bay decided to take away the pass, but the Skins running game couldn't take advantage of that.

Bottom line -- the Skins probably want to remain a ground and pound team, to better open up the pass. But Morris doesn't fit the new system, and LeRibeus/Long couldn't create enough holes for any RB trying to run between the tackles. If Lauvao/Lichtensteiger can come all the way back, the defense gets solid and healthy, and they find a suitable replacement for Morris -- you'll see the return to the running/ball control team that Gruden prefers. (My sense is that Gruden's fairly conservative and doesn't want to institute a 2016 version of 'Air Coryell'.)