Gibbs & Redskin coaches pass on opportunity to coach Senior Bowl. Mistake?

[Taylor Made]

The Senior Bowl is becoming a bigger and bigger event each year. It seems like there will be a ton of first round top prospects there this year. Each coaching staff gets invited to coach a squad during the weeklong senior bowl event. (Starting with the top of the draft list). A lot of teams were passed because most of the teams picking in the top 10 do not even have head coaches. However there were a few teams that declined the invitation that have head coaches: Lions (due to injury lol), Browns, Redskins, Minnesota, and Houston.

Mike Nolan will be coaching the 'South' team this year; while Coach Gruden will be coaching the 'North' team.

The 49ers lucked out because most of the teams ahead of them in the draft order are going through coaching changes. The Lions' staff could have gone, but head coach Rod Marinelli was scheduled for hip-replacement surgery today, and will not be up for coaching.

http://49ers.pressdemocrat.com/

Personally I think its a mistake, although I can see that Gibbs believed that his time was suited better doing his GM work. (Just another reason why we need a GM) When else do you have an opportunity to be up close and personal with 5-100 of the best prospects available. The Senior Bowl roster is getting LOADED more and more each year:

QB

Trent Edwards, Stanford

Kevin Kolb, Houston

Tyler Palko, Pittsburgh

Jordan Palmer, U.T.E.P.

Brady Quinn, Notre Dame

Troy Smith, Ohio St.

Drew Stanton, Michigan St.

RB

Lorenzo Booker, Florida St.

Kenneth Darby, Alabama

Tony Hunt, Penn St.

Kenny Irons, Auburn

Kolby Smith, Louisville

Garrett Wolfe, Northern Illinois

FB

Brian Leonard, Rutgers

Le’Ron McClain, Alabama

WR

Aundrae Allison, East Carolina

Dwayne Bowe, L.S.U.

David Clowney, Virginia Tech

Craig Davis, L.S.U.

Johnnie Lee Higgins, U.T.E.P.

Jason Hill, Washington St.

Rhema McKnight, Notre Dame

Brandon Myles, West Virginia

Jeff Samardzija, Notre Dame

Steve Smith, USC

Chansi Stuckey, Clemson

Courtney Taylor, Auburn

Paul Williams, Fresno St.

TE

Scott Chandler, Iowa

Clark Harris , Rutgers

Martrez Milner , Georgia

Joe Newton , Oregon St.

OT

Levi Brown, Penn St.

Ryan Harris, Notre Dame

Arron Sears, Tennessee

Joe Staley, Central Michigan

Joe Thomas, Wisconsin

Tony Ugoh, Arkansas

OG

Josh Beekman, Boston College

Justin Blalock, Texas

Ben Grubbs, Auburn

Manuel Ramirez, Texas Tech

Marshall Yanda, Iowa

C

Doug Datish, Ohio St.

Dustin Fry, Clemson

Leroy Harris, North Carolina St.

Ryan Kalil, USC

Dan Mozes, West Virginia

Samson Satele, Hawaii

DE

Victor Abiamiri, Notre Dame

Gaines Adams, Clemson

Mkristo Bruce, Washington St.

Adam Carriker, Nebraska

Tim Crowder, Texas

Ray McDonald, Florida

Jay Moore, Nebraska

Quentin Moses, Georgia

Anthony Spencer, Purdue

LaMarr Woodley, Michigan

DT

Kareem Brown, Miami (FL)

Antonio Johnson, Mississippi St.

Ryan McBean, Oklahoma St.

Brandon Mebane, California

Amobi Okoye, Louisville

David Patterson, Ohio St.

Quinn Pit****, Ohio St.

DeMarcus Tyler, North Carolina St.

LB

Rufus Alexander, Oklahoma

H.B. Blades, Pittsburgh

Buster Davis, Florida St.

Earl Everett, Florida

David Harris, Michigan

Kevin McLee, West Virginia

Paul Posluszny, Penn St.

Juwan Simpson, Alabama

Tony Taylor, Georgia

Patrick Willis, Ole Miss

CB

Fred Bennett, South Carolina

Daymeion Hughes, California

David Irons, Auburn

Tanard Jackson, Syracuse

Marcus McCauley, Fresno St.

Aaron Ross, Texas

Jonathan Wade, Tennessee

Josh Wilson, Maryland

S

Josh Gattis, Wake Forest

Michael Griffin, Texas

Michael Johnson, Arizona

LaRon Landry, L.S.U.

Brandon Meriweather, Miami (FL)

Aaron Rouse, Virginia Tech

Eric Weddle, Utah

K

Mason Crosby, Colorado

P

Adam Podlesh, Maryland

Daniel Sepulveda, Baylor

I'll take this one step further and if this team was really interested in any of the seniors (Gaines Adams, Joe Thomas, Patrick Willis come to mind) wouldn't this have been an excellent opportunity for this team as a whole? Are the Redskins showing their cards already for Alan Branch?

Do you think that this is a big mistake or non-issue....

[skinfan2k]

passing up a another great way to find a gem.. its too hard to find that street free agent these days and the draft is the only way to go

[JoeGibbsThickandthin]

Thank you skins2k. Can you please go to redskins park and teach Gibbs football?

[KDawg]

Thank you skins2k. Can you please go to redskins park and teach Gibbs football?

Either

A) This post is dripping with sarcasm

or

There is a whole lot of irony in this statement considering your handle...

[Pete]

I think it's the right move for Gibbs. We have enough issues to deal with on our team, so I'm sure he's focused on more important things

[skinfan2k]

well this organization doesn't care about the draft so y attend?

this is a perfect time to get to understand these individuals instead of flying them here to redskins park and asking them questions.. i mean if i were a rookie, besides the money, why else would you want to come to washington.. also, when a rookie sees that gibbs passes the draft in order to handle inhouse business, its pretty much a rookie wont make an impact with his football team..

this is a perfect time to evaluate lesser talent and maybe if we had the chance to trade down if we had a no brainer deal, maybe gibbs as GM or whatever title has, can look it over and say that hey we may be able to get those 2 guys we looked at the senior draft.. the guy has a great work ethic, listens to the coaches and seems to want to learn from our coaches.. alot of us want to trade down or get either a d-line man... In order for that to happen, alot of these prospects will go in the late 1st- late 3rd round choices.. like last year, we gave up future picks to jump for rocky McINtosh, how do we know that the redskisn could be looking to do that again and mortgage 08 picks

[JoeGibbsThickandthin]

Either

A) This post is dripping with sarcasm

or

There is a whole lot of irony in this statement considering your handle...

haha A

Why would a guy coach the senior bowl with 3 draft picks. He needs to focus on fixing the problems in his lockeroom.

Skins2k is a funny kid. But i love that he cares.

[KDawg]

well this organization doesn't care about the draft so y attend?

This doesn't even make sense.

Who cares that we aren't coaching the game? We'll have scouts there, we'll have plenty of film on any of the players we're interested in and it will be studied and watched ad nauseum.

We're not coaching, big deal.

[JoeGibbsThickandthin]

This doesn't even make sense.

Who cares that we aren't coaching the game? We'll have scouts there, we'll have plenty of film on any of the players we're interested in and it will be studied and watched ad nauseum.

We're not coaching, big deal.

He is not a Gibbs fan to say the least. There can be something that says Gibbs went to buy grocerys. He will say , he is buying food instead of looking at draft picks:doh:

But it is true. We do not draft well. He is right on that. That has nothing to do with coach though.

[bobzmuda]

Of course it's not a mistake. The only people who think this is a mistake are those that don't realize that Gibbs will get a better return on his time spent improving this team from a week analyzing what went wrong and how to fix it than coaching a bunch of college players that his team will have little chance drafting and that his scouts will already be covering.

[909997]

because we wanna sign high priced freeagent

[TLusby]

Maybe we are looking at a Junior and Gibbs has better things to do.

[jasimpson]

The mistake this year was the black cleats, we need to go back to the white cleats with burgundy/red trim, seriously.

[skinsfan07]

Either

A) This post is dripping with sarcasm

or

There is a whole lot of irony in this statement considering your handle...

I choose the former. LOL

But I do think Gibbs should have at least considered it. Only way to find out how these draft prospects truly play. Combine isn't much of an indication IMO.

[Hooper]

But I do think Gibbs should have at least considered it. Only way to find out how these draft prospects truly play. Combine isn't much of an indication IMO.

Who needs to see them play up close when you can just ask Vinny what he thinks?

[Ingtar]

Of course it's not a mistake. The only people who think this is a mistake are those that don't realize that Gibbs will get a better return on his time spent improving this team from a week analyzing what went wrong and how to fix it than coaching a bunch of college players that his team will have little chance drafting and that his scouts will already be covering.

and this, folks is the correct answer. The internet has not made him stupid.....yet.

Why bother coaching this event? Don't many of the top players skip out on it anyway? It seems silly to think it is a mistake that a coach would take time away from his bad team to coach a bunch of people he can't draft.

[StevieInferior]

That's just it, maybe just maybe you go and see something in a kid in the practice that you would not see in game tape that makes you want to grab the kid. All it is is an extra opportunity to see someone up close and scout in a way not available to others.

If the draft were simply about taking these so called blue chippers the stars of the league would include folks like Leaf, Bosworth, Westbrooke, etc would be stars and folks with abilities like Pierce, Brady, and even TO would be stocking grocery store shelves (perhaps good for TO). Not saying they were all SR Bowl finds, but the Senior Bowl is one extra opportunity to find that gem. An opportunity that a 5-11 team with a highly compensated coaching staff needs to cash in on! What better does the coaching staff have to do right now? Oh i know, go have an interview to Kelli Johnson to explain why you late Pierce go two years ago. (For those of you who say hire a GM, a coaching staff on a well run team does not hire a GM...even if he is Joe Gibbs)

and this, folks is the correct answer. The internet has not made him stupid.....yet.

Why bother coaching this event? Don't many of the top players skip out on it anyway? It seems silly to think it is a mistake that a coach would take time away from his bad team to coach a bunch of people he can't draft.

[skinfan2k]

That's just it, maybe just maybe you go and see something in a kid in the practice that you would not see in game tape that makes you want to grab the kid. All it is is an extra opportunity to see someone up close and scout in a way not available to others.

If the draft were simply about taking these so called blue chippers the stars of the league would include folks like Leaf, Bosworth, Westbrooke, etc would be stars and folks with abilities like Pierce, Brady, and even TO would be stocking grocery store shelves (perhaps good for TO). Not saying they were all SR Bowl finds, but the Senior Bowl is one extra opportunity to find that gem. An opportunity that a 5-11 team with a highly compensated coaching staff needs to cash in on! What better does the coaching staff have to do right now? Oh i know, go have an interview to Kelli Johnson to explain why you late Pierce go two years ago. (For those of you who say hire a GM, a coaching staff on a well run team does not hire a GM...even if he is Joe Gibbs)

thanks.. we have a million coaches on the sidelines and i doubt the entire coaching staff would need to indded to do this.. this is what i mentioned in the my previous respones.. honestly it seems like we are still in that win-now mentality and not looking to build for the future with young and cheap talent

[skinsfan07]

He did have nothing to lose by going and only so much to gain. he should have def. attended.

[StevieInferior]

Good point just look at the great depth that our reliable scouting dept has provided us from previous drafts :doh:

Of course it's not a mistake. The only people who think this is a mistake are those that don't realize that Gibbs will get a better return on his time spent improving this team from a week analyzing what went wrong and how to fix it than coaching a bunch of college players that his team will have little chance drafting and that his scouts will already be covering.

[jeronimobrat]

We will not be looking into the future until Gibbs and these ancient dinosaurs retire!

[JoeGibbsThickandthin]

We will not be looking into the future until Gibbs and these ancient dinosaurs retire!

YES! Dan Snyder loves the draft. It must be killing him.:applause:

[Smurf85]

I think it's the right move for Gibbs. We have enough issues to deal with on our team, so I'm sure he's focused on more important things

Yeah nascar!

[The Consigliere]

Thank you skins2k. Can you please go to redskins park and teach Gibbs football?

Gibbs doesn't need that. He does need someone with a clue to take over personel evaluation, and strategic decisionmaking in the offseason though. Skipping the opportunity to coach in this bowl was and is a big time mistake. No other way around it PERIOD, if we actually had this opportunity.

[The Consigliere]

I think it's the right move for Gibbs. We have enough issues to deal with on our team, so I'm sure he's focused on more important things

Then going to perhaps the single most helpful offseason event in the January-March Window in terms of evaluating potential draftees and undrafted free agents? There is no more helpful event then this, other than college workouts and the combine, and in some ways, coaching a side in this game is even more helpful because the players often sit out the combine, and only do particular things in workouts. Here the coach is the coach, and the player is the player and the insights can be of inestimable value.