'Skins owner gets creative with overhaul - Denver Post

[B&G]

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E86%7E1253602%7E,00.html

Denver Post

'Skins owner gets creative with overhaul

Snyder gambles with big bonuses in bid for crown

By Patrick Saunders

Denver Post Sports Writer

Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - Daniel M. Snyder got burned before. But that has not kept him from playing with free-agent fire. Far from it.

No other NFL team has been as active this offseason as Snyder's Washington Redskins. In the first three weeks of free agency, the young, maverick owner dished out $38 million in signing bonuses and added 10 players to the roster, including seven potential starters.

That doesn't count the offer sheet Washington made last week to wide receiver Laveranues Coles, the New York Jets' prized restricted free agent. If Coles ends up in Washington, and it appears he will, Snyder will pay him a $13 million signing bonus. Plus, the Redskins will owe the Jets a first-round draft choice as compensation.

Snyder is betting his all-out offseason blitz will land the Redskins in the Super Bowl, if not at the end of this season, then after the 2004 campaign. Considering the Redskins were 7-9 last season under first-year coach Steve Spurrier, that's an ambitious climb.

"This is something we had to do," said Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins' director of pro player personnel. "We have a new coach who inherited a football team that didn't fit around what he wanted to do offensively. We knew we had to turn that around. We went out and looked for team speed. That was our game plan."

Spurrier's Fun 'n Gun offense shot blanks last season, so Snyder vowed he would fix that when free agency opened Feb. 28. In the first 65 hours of free agency, the Redskins added seven players: guards Randy Thomas and Dave Fiore, defensive linemen Regan Upshaw and Brandon Noble, kicker John Hall and backup quarterback Rob Johnson. In addition, running back Trung Canidate was acquired from St. Louis in a trade for a fourth-round draft choice and guard David Loverne.

Snyder's philosophy is act now, win now.

He has structured his new players' contracts to lighten the current financial load. The contracts typically include high signing bonuses and minimal salaries. The strategy allows the Redskins to prorate the money for salary-cap purposes over an extended period of time.

But danger lurks. If the new players don't perform or are injured, the Redskins will be stuck paying big bucks for them three or four years down the line.

"We'll see how it turns out," said Jimmy Sexton, Thomas' agent. "Snyder knows he has a coach in Steve Spurrier who is not going to wait around for five, six or seven years. He's not going to wait for all the draft picks to develop. Snyder wants to see things happen now."

Using free agents to turn a team into a Super Bowl winner is not unprecedented.

"You have to remember that back in the late 1990s we did that, and a lot of teams tried to copy us," Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said. "We really were on the cutting edge of free agency back then."

Some hired guns who helped the Broncos win Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII included left tackle Gary Zimmerman, guard Mark Schlereth, linebacker Bill Romanowski, wide receiver Ed McCaffrey, fullback Howard Griffith and cornerback Ray Crockett.

But times have changed, and rather than throw money at free agents, most NFL coaches and general managers are looking to build a winner from within. That is, by developing their draft choices and locking up their most valued veterans to workable, long-term deals.

Snyder's strategy is different. He wanted a major overhaul. To make room for new blood and to clear salary-cap space, the Redskins dumped running back Stephen Davis, safety Sam Shade, tight end Walter Rasby and punter Craig Jarrett.

Redskins fans have seen this kind of upheaval before.

Snyder bought the Redskins in 1999 for $800 million, a record payment for a U.S. sports franchise. In 2000, Snyder's first offseason, he spent extravagantly for aging cornerback Deion Sanders, quarterback Jeff George, defensive end Bruce Smith and safety Mark Carrier. Despite boasting the NFL's first $100 million payroll, the Redskins limped to an 8-8 season.

Critics called Snyder impulsive, impatient and impractical as his attempt to buy a championship blew up in his face.

After two seasons of relative inactivity when he let his staff and coaches do the work, the 38-year- old owner is back to his former methods. Cruising the country from coast to coast in his private jet, named Redskins One, Snyder has been wining, dining and winning over players and their agents.

The Redskins' offseason game plan works like this: The coaches evaluated all of the Redskins' players, as well as all of the free agents and salary-cap casualties from around the league. Cerrato told the coaches to rate the players on ability and not worry about what the player might cost. Snyder controls the purse strings and brokers the deals.

About 2 1/2 weeks before free agency started, Snyder was given a 2,000-page binder that outlined the offseason plan. Each day he was updated on Washington's salary-cap situation. Then Snyder set about courting players he coveted. Once he got them on his private jet or into his office, he was able to close the deal.

"Dan's style is a huge part of it," Cerrato said. "We have an owner who is aggressive. Once we sat down with a player, Dan was determined not to let them go. The players see that, they want to be a part of that. He does what he needs to improve the team."

Snyder and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys have higher profiles than other NFL owners. The Broncos' Bowlen, who does his work behind the scenes, said he doesn't believe Snyder's flamboyant ways will necessarily transfer into victories. But Bowlen said Snyder's style doesn't bother him.

"I think both Dan and Jerry are good for the NFL," Bowlen said. "I like Dan and I consider Jerry a good friend. They are both out in front of the curtain more than I am, but that's OK. The NFL is about entertainment."

But it's also a business about winning.

"In the end, the NFL is about two priorities," Bowlen said. "The two priorities are putting winning before money, or money before winning. I think you've seen here in Denver that we put winning ahead of money. I think Dan Snyder's doing the same thing."

[Charlie Murphaaay]

Pretty sound comments by Pat Bowlen. Hopefully our future winning ways will take away all of this talk about our expenditures.

All we need to do is win baby, just win...

[Jimbo]

The Denver Post is on a quest to increase it's readership outside Denver and I think this article is aimed at all those transplanted Washington-area folks, like me, who have relocated to Colorado, and especially Colorado Springs. When I attended the Skins-Broncos game in Denver a couple years, there were a LOT of Skins fans in attendance.

Now that the Colorado Springs Gazette has gone to an online subscription service, although a few main articles are free, the Post is trying to capitalize on it. The Post is all over King Soopers on weekends trying to get Springs' residents to subscribe at a cost of 20 cents a day.

Since I'm too cheap for an online subscription, I get my Colorado news from the Denver Post, the radio and the TV. More Skins articles like that and I may become a Denver Post subscriber.

[codeorama]

Originally posted by Jimbo

The Denver Post is on a quest to increase it's readership outside Denver and I think this article is aimed at all those transplanted Washington-area folks, like me, who have relocated to Colorado, and especially Colorado Springs. When I attended the Skins-Broncos game in Denver a couple years, there were a LOT of Skins fans in attendance.

Now that the Colorado Springs Gazette has gone to an online subscription service, although a few main articles are free, the Post is trying to capitalize on it. The Post is all over King Soopers on weekends trying to get Springs' residents to subscribe at a cost of 20 cents a day.

Since I'm too cheap for an online subscription, I get my Colorado news from the Denver Post, the radio and the TV. More Skins articles like that and I may become a Denver Post subscriber.

Just out of curiosity, why are so many relocated from DC to Colorado?

[NavyDave]

One reason could be that they are flyboys and the Air Force has several bases there and I heard the skiing is not bad and eskimo girls can keep their boyfriends warm at night. :cool:

[codeorama]

Originally posted by NavyDave

One reason could be that they are flyboys and the Air Force has several bases there and I heard the skiing is not bad and eskimo girls can keep their boyfriends warm at night. :cool:

OH.. Ok.. makes sense.

I have been to Denver and it is by far the nicest and cleanest big city I've been to.. (I've been to DC, Baltimore, Philly, NY, Miami...)

Coors field is really nice, not quite as cool as Camden Yards, but still beautiful.

[Jimbo]

Back in the early 90's several high-tech companies, including MCI, relocated their IT section to Colorado because of the tax breaks they were offered to move there. The cost of living was a lot lower at that time than the DC area and the state had a lot to offer so the influx started.

Unfortunately, the with the economic downturn, MCI (now Worldcom) and many other high-tech companies had had to lay people off. Finding a job here is VERY difficult, even in Denver. I've had many friends and former co-workers head back to the east coast in order to find work.

I've survived the layoff bug this long but my day could just as easily come soon. If it does, I'll be back in the DC area in a heartbeat, especially to reclaim my season tickets from my nephew.