NFLDD - Some Kind Words for Redskin Honcho Vinny Cerrato—WTF?

[HapHaszard]

http://www.nfldraftdog.com/nfl-team-columns/washington-redskins.html

Let’s start with my Top Five List of questions I never, but never expected I might ask.

5. When did you first feel this strong attraction to me, Miss Alba?

4. Loved you in The Producers; do you have any kids, Mr. Lane?

3. What first made you realize you wanted to spend that much money to syndicate my column?

2. What possessed you to buy this winning Megamillions lottery ticket for me?

1. Is it too soon to nominate Redskins Executive Vice President Vinny Cerrato for NFL Executive of the Year?

The answer to question number one is it probably is too soon, but it’s not too soon to take Vinny off the Worst NFL executive Watch List, and may be time to pay him his props.

Faster than you can yell “Wow are you a hypocrite, you hate the guy,” let me ‘splain, Lucy. It’s beginning to look like Vinny is no longer the blithering idiot many Redskins fans thought him to be. So there may be an enormous heaping helping of Crow available for critics—myself included—who called the Vincemeister some names too ugly to put in a family column—mostly over his drafting skills. (Also, for the disastrous Jason Taylor trade.)

Looking Back at Last Year’s Draft

Vinny managed to snag three receivers in the second round who soon became known as the Ford Pinto, the New Coke and the Edsel auto of rookie pass-catchers. You want to talk disaster areas? One overslept and missed practice. That’s TE Fred “Sleepy” Davis, who languished on the bench catching up on his Zzzzs. The other two showed up at camp out of shape. Devin Thomas, the skins top choice, couldn’t find the bench, his playbook, or where to line up and was written off as a flopperoo. Malcolm Kelly re-injured his oft-injured knee and rode the pine.

Philly’s snagging of WR DeSean Jackson and Denver landing WR Eddie Royal with their second round picks compounded the insult to the receiver-hungry Redskins. Vinny was just warming up, we thought. The Redskins needed a backup CB, a lineman to develop and a punter. Chad Rinehart, a third round tackle, was so awful he couldn’t even grab a spot on special teams. Vinny drafted a little CB named J.T. Tryon in the fourth round. Tryon couldn’t cover leftover pie with Saran Wrap. Later, Vinny drafted a punter—who drafts a punter?—who got cut.

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[bubba9497]

if the three 2nd rounder succeed.... he deserve it

[TheLongshot]

I guess that's what you get when you judge a draft after one season - a lot of crow to eat.

[rd421]

Well I will be the 1st one in line to the all you can eat crow buffet....Serioulsy I would love to be there... I can only hope and dream that all these pieces come together but who knows I guess we will see....

[ACW]

Albert Haynesworth kinda sorta helps the defensive line

Yeah, maybe a little

[Califan007 The Constipated]

That's what I hate about all the "I'll gladly eat crow if" statements...Often, it comes after a knee-jerk type assessment of a coach, player or (in this case) a "GM's" initial performance. Nobody bothers waiting or giving things time before reaching conclusions...we MUST reach our negative conclusions NOW, dammit!! lol...and the "I'll gladly eat crow" quantifiers seems to embolden this stance.

Vinny just may have set up the Redskins with a group of young, talented players who can come into their own within the next year or two. His FA signings have been solid and smart. He's not the "talking chimp" or "bumbling buffoon" or "lap dog" or "yes man" or "raquetball partner" too many relish describing him as. It would be nice if a few of us on here found it within themselves to hold off on declaring Vinny's every move a travesty and letting those moves develop, as reality often dictates they do.

[SilkyDiamonds]

I dont think all of Vinny's moves are bad, actually alot are good, but I will say that results speak for themselves

I REALLY like what Vinny has done in the last 2 years, Im just really peeved at the previous years when an astute advisor/quasi-gm whatever The Danny dubbed him would have pulled his boss aside and told him the Emperor has no clothes on

To be sure Vinny has done more in 2 years to restore and even increase my faith in the future than any amount of bringing in Deion level big names ever has.

This is exemplified by having some decent depth finally

Maybe not the greatest quality O-line depth (that remains to be seen though), but at just about every other position there are young high-ceiling players or stable proven vets

As much as possible Id like to say Vinny you have impressed me

edit: swinging and missing in the LB dept for 4yrs DOES bother me

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Just as last year was too early to judge, so is this year. However, I love the direction of this team. With just a few exceptions we have a very young, talented team. If any 2 of Davis, Kelly, Thomas, and Mitchell pan out we will have successfully filled 2 of our 3 biggest holes (please let's not get into a QB discussion here) of OL, WR, and DL in the span of 2 years.

If he devotes next year to improving the OL and, if necessary, finding a QB...I can't really complain!

[MattFancy]

I think Vinny is going in the right direction with this team. Our defense is set up to be successful for a long time. Which is a good idea, because we need to start rebuilding the offense and make it younger. So the defense should be able to keep us in games while that happens. I'd say we're set on defense, WR, and TE. In the offseason we need to address OL, RB, and possibly QB. It wouldn't hurt to start thinking about finding a replacement for Portis and we all know the OL needs some work. If JC pans out and stays, we should be set at QB too. This team doesn't have many holes at all. Vinny has definitely gotten better.

[elkabong82]

That's what I hate about all the "I'll gladly eat crow if" statements...Often, it comes after a knee-jerk type assessment of a coach, player or (in this case) a "GM's" initial performance. Nobody bothers waiting or giving things time before reaching conclusions...we MUST reach our negative conclusions NOW, dammit!! lol...and the "I'll gladly eat crow" quantifiers seems to embolden this stance.

Vinny just may have set up the Redskins with a group of young, talented players who can come into their own within the next year or two. His FA signings have been solid and smart. He's not the "talking chimp" or "bumbling buffoon" or "lap dog" or "yes man" or "raquetball partner" too many relish describing him as. It would be nice if a few of us on here found it within themselves to hold off on declaring Vinny's every move a travesty and letting those moves develop, as reality often dictates they do.

It would be nice if more posters learned from such mistakes.

[clarkskin]

That's what I hate about all the "I'll gladly eat crow if" statements...Often, it comes after a knee-jerk type assessment of a coach, player or (in this case) a "GM's" initial performance. Nobody bothers waiting or giving things time before reaching conclusions...we MUST reach our negative conclusions NOW, dammit!! lol...and the "I'll gladly eat crow" quantifiers seems to embolden this stance.

Vinny just may have set up the Redskins with a group of young, talented players who can come into their own within the next year or two. His FA signings have been solid and smart. He's not the "talking chimp" or "bumbling buffoon" or "lap dog" or "yes man" or "raquetball partner" too many relish describing him as. It would be nice if a few of us on here found it within themselves to hold off on declaring Vinny's every move a travesty and letting those moves develop, as reality often dictates they do.

I agree. But isn't "blogging" basically a collective of knee-jerk reactions?

[Skinsinparadise]

When Gibbs was here as far as I understood the arrangement, he had the ultimate say not Vinny. Before that they had the drunken Snyder buy every FA's days and Spurrier wanted the right guys for the fun and gun.

IMO the last 2 years are the ones to judge Vinny on -- considering it looks as if there were other things in play before that.

As for last year's draft a lot of us and the DC media panicked about the rookie WR's not having instant success but not other teams with their young WR's like Hardy, Manningham, Simpson, Sweed, etc. And yeah like always there is some exception to the rule and a WR or two hit it big right away around the league -- but of course we held Vinny to the highest standartd -- if Kelly isn't a stud from the get go he's a bust.

Some of the players with growing colt status are ones drafted in later rounds like Marko Mitchell, Colt Brennan -- Horton was good last year, Moore is decent for a 6th rounder, etc.

[tshile]

honestly... if snyder would stop changing coaches ever 2 years, i'd only have complaints about the cost of concessions at the stadium....

i'm a firm believer that good teams are ones that have coaches for 5+ years, that have the same system. they're allowed to go through a season and say - this guy didn't work out, we need someone who can replace him that can do <insert ability>. Then they can go out and get that guy, and move on to other positions.

When your coach comes in the first day saying 'i have 2 years to do this, or i'll be looking for another job', its a different situation. You're forced to win with what you have - not allowed to get what you need to win.

For the love of god, even if the skins got 4-12, keep zorn around... I (personally) want the same coach for 10-15 years...

[James Moss]

Cerrato has really only been in charge of all aspects of personnel, team roster, and scouting since 2008. So if the '08 and '09 drafts/acquisitions turn out to be successful, then obviously Vinny deserves some respect—especially from those that criticized him.

I wonder if La Canfora saw this coming. :ciao:

[gaskinsfan]

I agree with the article, Cerrato has made some pretty good moves lately. Horton and Mitchell were downright steals, I like the Jaron pick, and bringing in Alridge and Williams. The soph receivers are coming into their own. If Brennan turns into a least a good backup QB, 2008 will be a hugely successful draft class.

I also add the signing of Zorn, I really think Zorn will have a much better year this year, after going through the learning curve of last season.

[Vicious]

The way I view Vinny is this, he is the last line of defense against Daniel Snyder's meddling and so far he's kept us from becoming the Raiders.

[Redskins:Victory_or_Death]

Tryon couldn’t cover leftover pie with Saran Wrap.

:hysterical: :rotflmao: :hysterical:

[TSO]

I was happy with last years draft last year, and now I'm happier. Same goes for this years draft. I like the guys we've been bringing in. Vinny has done a good job so far, and I'm glad to see the naysayers forced to admit it.

[James Moss]

I agree, but there are still plenty of ignoramuses that will want to hold him accountable for players brought in during his Director of Player Personnel (2002-2007) years. They could be right, but it doesn't look that way to me. Seems like "VP of Football Operations Vinny" has been pretty sharp.

[ouvan59]

honestly... if snyder would stop changing coaches ever 2 years, i'd only have complaints about the cost of concessions at the stadium....

You realize that Snyder hasn't "changed" a coach since 2001, right? Spurrier and Gibbs resignations can not be blamed on Snyder.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

before everyone praises vinny for the last draft, lets see these guys actually produce on the field. preseason and practice in ashburn dont count as production.

i do think vinnys draft this year was better than last years. mitchell could be great, orakpo most likely will rule, and jarmon was a good pick.

[SkinsSyco4Life]

My man Vinny.....

[addicted]

before everyone praises vinny for the last draft, lets see these guys actually produce on the field. preseason and practice in ashburn dont count as production.

i do think vinnys draft this year was better than last years. mitchell could be great, orakpo most likely will rule, and jarmon was a good pick.

Good post. This blog is pure speculation. That one TD for DT aside, who besides Horton done anything meaningful in the regular season from this group? No one. It does look as if some of the players taken last year are slow learners and I wish them all nothing but the best but I'm having a hard time with this. The OP is talking about eating crow because he speculates one way and is now flip flopped and is speculating the other way without any proof. Did he not learn anything the first time? I want to see something real on the field before doing that myself.

And this years draft looks much better at this time then last years at this time by a mile

[Santana_89]

You realize that Snyder hasn't "changed" a coach since 2001, right? Spurrier and Gibbs resignations can not be blamed on Snyder.

If the media pundits say so it must be true right;)

You would think REDSKINS fans would remeber such facts instead of spewing the talking points of the likes of JLC,NFL Network,and ESPN.

I agree, but there are still plenty of ignoramuses that will want to hold him accountable for players brought in during his Director of Player Personnel (2002-2007) years. They could be right, but it doesn't look that way to me. Seems like "VP of Football Operations Vinny" has been pretty sharp.

I can't understand how so many ppl hate him. Unless you know him personally and he slept with your wife or something I could understand it.

Personally I like Vinny, his laugh soundbite on Redskins Nation is one of my faves and the music for Tuesdays with Vinny.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

before everyone praises vinny for the last draft, lets see these guys actually produce on the field. preseason and practice in ashburn dont count as production.

i do think vinnys draft this year was better than last years. mitchell could be great, orakpo most likely will rule, and jarmon was a good pick.

:rotflmao:...First you say don't praise Vinny for last year's draft until we see the players drafted last year "actually produce on the field", and that "preseason and practice" don't matter.

THEN, you go on to praise Mitchell, Orakpo and Jarmon...even though they haven't produced on the field and ONLY have produced in preseason and practice! lol :rotflmao:

Ah, gotta love it...