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Since we start a new GoT thread for every new season, it seems as though we should do the same for football. Granted, the Snyderskins aren't as fun to watch as Game of Thrones, but almost 420 pages (coincidence, not a reference to anything that might make watching a Skins game more tolerable) with a thread title that proudly announces things like Quick re-signed seems unwieldy as well as obsolete. I suppose the first announcement will be when we re-sign Josh Johnson. Landon Collins aka Sam Spade part deux signed. DRC signed. AP re-signed. LT Donald Penn signed RB Wendell Smallwood Ereck "Dead" Flowers.

Who is accountable for decisions at Redskins park? It is a puzzle, wrapped up in an enema, shrouded in anonymous sources trying to blame others. Coaches are inevitably taking blame for personnel choices they may have privately opposed. Everyone's employment is so tenuous that long term strategy is ignored for the sake of overpriced short term fixes. No change in coaching can ameliorate the current dysfunctional disaster. Snyder has proven time and again that he is incapable of finding a capable coach. If Brucifer Prince of Dimness picks the next coach, his primary criteria will be: 1) someone who is too weak (and /or loyal) to threaten his job. 2) someone he knows from either TB or Oakland (see reason #1). Here is my proposal: Hire Ross Tucker as Team President. He began his career here and I believe has a cordial relationship with El Dano. He is a Princeton graduate, so he is obviously quite intelligent. Since retiring, he does football analysis for radio, so he is still up on the game. The fact that he was a journeyman player means he has seen how things are run in different organizations. Ross Tucker would then hire a GM, whether it means promoting Kyle Smith, or finding someone else with a PROVEN track record of success (unlike Vinny, Brucifer, or even Scotty Mac who had terrible records when they were fully in charge). Tucker and the new GM would then hire the new coach. The Tampa Bay contingent is cleared out, from Brucifer on down. Other than Kyle Smith and Eric Schaeffer, I don't expect anyone from the current FO to remain. Most importantly, the GM is solely responsible for personnel decisions, ending the toxic culture where everyone avoids responsibility for mistakes. This is a return to the structure we had in the eighties, and that most successful teams employ - a defined hierarchy where the coach is under the GM. JKC hired Beathard because Beathard already had 2 rings. Beathard, against JKC's wishes, hired Gibbs. When JKC started handing control over personnel to Gibbs, Beathard quit rather than let his reputation be sullied by poor choices he did not even make.

I am going to predict it's either the Lions or the Bengals. With the Browns now on the upswing, one of the other perennial disappointments needs to step up to make sure Dan and Brucifers' Skins can be firmly established as the elite bottom feeders of the NFL. As bad as it is seeing Sean McVay elsewhere, watching Kyle Smith draft probowlers elsewhere whilst Brucifer, Prince of Dimness, fumbles in the dark might feel worse.

Alex Smith's deal means the Skins will not have cap space to sign even a mediocre placeholder QB like Bridgewater unless they gut other parts of the roster. We are in the bottom third of the league in cap space. It would be pointless to blow any of our limited cap space on WRs when we have no one capable of consistently delivering them the ball. This means surrendering any bidding war for Crowder, and probably cutting Vernon Davis. No one-year rentals unless they're on the cheap. We are not one, or even five players away. Besides QB, neither of our tackles can be relied upon to stay healthy (I put the over/under on Trent Williams at 6 games for 2019), our pass rush is mediocre, safety and inside linebackers have been a disaster, and I can't even remember the last time we had a good left guard. Guice may be cleared to play in 2019, but most players don't regain speed from an ACL until their second year back. What we have is the makings of a 3-13 team. The future is manifestly not now. Now must instead be about the future. Unfortunately, Gruden and Allen won't want to bite the bullet for a better 2020 or beyond, knowing that a failed season would hasten their removal long before the benefits of any austerity program can be realized. It's possible Gruden may be enamored enough with his Todd Collins...er...Colt McCoy that the team won't pay through the nose for Teddy, Flacco or Fitz, but... something tells me Danny will insist on finding our own Amari Cooper, and we will overpay for someone who will become a malcontent because there's no one to throw to him after Colt goes on IR around game 4. Our best shot for approaching .500 (which is an overly optimistic projection) without damaging future seasons is probably following Baltimore's late season template - beef up the defense as much as possible, and just hand the ball off. Painfully boring, painfully predictable, and predictably painful. But, is it worth sapping cap more cap space from future years just to get to 6-10 or maybe another 7-9 instead of 4-12? We must go BPA in the draft, but our biggest needs are Edge Rush, safety, and the left side of the OL. FA signings should be limited to role players and depth. If the BPA at 15 (or spot iirc) is an OG or LT, take him...even if it makes Gruden apoplectic. If the BPA for us in both the first and second rounds are edge rushers, take them both. No whining about why didn't we take a QB or WR or LG or FS or ILB or whatever if the BPA was not a position of need. No one player, let alone a rookie, is going to be the missing piece. Settle was a great pick, but NT stopped being a need position after we grabbed Payne. This is the kind of foresight to which we must continue to adhere, even if it frustrates whatever fans have not yet succumbed to apathy. No restructuring of contracts to push a cap squeeze on to future years. Take our medicine now.