What I would do if I was the owner...

[Spitfire71]

I think, for the sake of his career, we should let Jim Zorn go. He took the job mainly because no one else at the time wanted it. He would have been perfect getting his feet wet somewhere like Detroit or Oakland or Cleveland, where the teams have struggled to win 5 games in the last couple of decades and where, therefore, the fans wouldn't have been so anxious to see a playoff team right away because they know their franchise is a couple of years away from that. In his first 21 games, Zorn is 10-11. In terms of this being his very first tour as a head coach, you could do a lot worse in terms of record. But that's not good enough for Washington fans. Nothing's good enough for Washington fans.

Which brings me to Jason Campbell. I fear he will be yet another one of the players that might not reach his true potential until he leaves the Redskins. There are only very rare cases where, in drafting a first-round QB, you don't have to build an offensive unit around him through the draft as well. And that doesn't mean to start assembling pieces right as he's getting to the end of his contract and people have already tagged him with the 'bust' label. We should have been drafting offensive linemen and receivers the year after we took Campbell at the latest - even with Chris and some of those other guys in their prime. And don't get me started on some of the receivers we've missed on. I'm not giving up on Kelly or Thomas in the least bit, because any one knows that, for most receivers, it doesn't really click until their third year of play. Which probably means that Kelly and Thomas were just plain drafted too late to really help Campbell all that much. And all of that with the constant turnover and threat of turnover? Sometimes, you have to leave well enough alone. The fact is, the team's talent on the offensive side of the ball isn't really as good as we were in '07 when we made the playoffs. We're in that awkward phase with maybe two or three guys in their prime, and the rest either aging or yet to develop.

A lot of things have to be in sync to establish a perennially winning franchise. Drafting Campbell when we did, and then Thomas and Kelly when we did, gives us now a middle-aged (in terms of football years) veteran quarterback with a supporting cast that are either all over the hill or too inexperienced. It's hard to win with that unless you're a great coach. And Zorn, too, is inexperienced. He didn't help himself by choosing to essentially be the offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and head coach at the same time. And the front office didn't exactly help him by failing to hire or promote anyone capable at those positions. Right now, our coaching staff is a melting pot of guys that are very inexperienced at what they're doing, and guys that might have been around a little bit too long.

In making rosters and coaching staffs, it's not just about who you get, but when you get them. We might have overpaid a couple of guys in our organization, but we got them as free agents, which means it's coming out of Snyder's infinitely deep pockets instead of the pool of potential talent we could be drafting. We're going to need a new quarterback after this year - even if Campbell's numbers were to somehow warrant a contract extension, I can't imagine him wanting to play for this circus again. I think our defense is fine for another year or two (maybe a long term replacement for Fletcher and/or Griffin, as difficult as that would be to find?).

Get a competent complement back/long term replacement to Portis. There's no shame in admitting that he's not an every-down back anymore. The guy's got a lot of mileage on him. In fact, with a half-decent season, he should crack 10K this year. Not that, but he's one of the most physical running backs in the league in pass protection. It's a wonder he's survived this long, frankly. The league isn't designed for those types of guys anymore. On top of that, for some reason, defenses find it hard to shut down two different guys. Note that in this game, we had DeAngelo Williams pretty well contained, but Jonathan Stewart came in and beat our heads in.

Get the long-term replacement for Chris Samuels NOW while he still has a year or two left in the tank.

As for the coaching...I wouldn't go with Holmgren. We're going to need about three years to reset things, and I'm not under the impression that Holmgren would want to hang around that long. After all, he's most likely already bound for Canton. He's got nothing left to prove to anybody. One guy that might have something to prove is (if you can ever get him out of the analysts' booth) Jon Gruden. A lot of people say that he simply finished what Tony Dungy started, and I bet Gruden - who's still in his 40s and therefore has a lot of coaching left in him - would like to prove some of those people wrong. That's if you want to go the 'old school' way of pulling in a guy with experience. Either that, or maybe go the 'new school' way of giving a coordinator with a good track record a shot at the top spot - Pete Carmichael Jr., for example? He's been the QBs coach and the offensive coordinator with the recent New Orleans Saints teams since Sean Payton got there. 'Nuff said. Or, if you want a defensive mind (which I would doubt, giving our offensive struggles), how about Mike Zimmer from Cincinnati? As bad as the team (that is, the Bengals) was last year, he fielded a defense that was top half of the league.

Just a thought.

Imagine you're the owner. Campbell is gone. Zorn and his entire staff are gone. Who would you draft at quarterback, and what would your coaching staff look like?