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ESPN.Com-Five Things Shanahan Must Address

Coolio47

By Coolio47
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Coolio47

Coolio47

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One of Mike Shanahan's challenges will be to make sure Dan Snyder feels involved in decisions.

Now that we know Mike Shanahan is going to be the head coach of the Washington Redskins, it's time to look at five of his top priorities. Bruce Allen may have the title of general manager, but it looks like Shanahan will have final authority on football decisions. If that's really the case, here are five things he needs to address -- in no particular order:

Figure out what he's going to do at quarterback: Dan Snyder and his old pal Vinny Cerrato made a mess of this situation last offseason by pursuing every quarterback not named Jason Campbell. Allen has been complimentary of Campbell's work, but this is something Shanahan needs to figure out. I talked to Campbell about Shanahan last week and he expressed excitement about the coach's credentials. Shanahan obviously won the two Super Bowls with John Elway, had some success with Jake Plummer and appeared to have Jay Cutler headed in the right direction. I think Shanahan will look to draft a quarterback and groom him for the future, but you don't want to throw a kid to the wolves behind this offensive line. If Shanahan believes Campbell could elevate his game, I think it behooves him to invest some time in him. Campbell had the best statistical season of his career while playing behind perhaps the worst collection of offensive linemen in the league. I'd like to see what a quarterback guru such as Shanahan could accomplish with Campbell, who has handled this entire situation with a lot of grace.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/9540/five-things-shanahan-must-adress

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Ghost of

Ghost of

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I don't think I really like this piece by Mosley.

To me, it seems like if Shanahan doesn't do some things, it'll be a sign that "Snyder is stll in charge." Stuff like, "Let Shanahan get rid of Portis." I think Shanahan will make the decision on that but even if he kept him, that would still be him--not Snyder.

I think Mosley just overstates how much influence Snyder will have on Shanahan's success.

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CommDownMan

CommDownMan

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So you aren't excited about Davis, MK and DT?

One of the few bright spots of this season.

Yeah, they played well, but I'm tired of there being no plan. They treated the draft as a luxury and have crappy depth because of it. Now that they are here and playing better you can be happy, but the "plan" was a joke.

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TheLongshot

TheLongshot

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I think Mosley just overstates how much influence Snyder will have on Shanahan's success.

I think he overstates Snyder's influence in general. Snyder likes to have input but in recent years has let his football people make the decisions. I'm sure both Snyder and Allen will make cases for some members of the coaching staff, but it will be up to Shanahan to decide who he wants to keep.

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jtyler42

jtyler42

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I don't think I really like this piece by Mosley.

To me, it seems like if Shanahan doesn't do some things, it'll be a sign that "Snyder is stll in charge." Stuff like, "Let Shanahan get rid of Portis." I think Shanahan will make the decision on that but even if he kept him, that would still be him--not Snyder.

I think Mosley just overstates how much influence Snyder will have on Shanahan's success.

I agree Ghost...

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TheLongshot

TheLongshot

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Yeah, they played well, but I'm tired of there being no plan. They treated the draft as a luxury and have crappy depth because of it. Now that they are here and playing better you can be happy, but the "plan" was a joke.

I don't know, depth has gotten better across the board. The problem is, there were so many depth issues after Gibbs that there was no way to address them all. Also, the draft isn't always the best way to address needs because what you need isn't always available where you pick.

For example, what OL could we have picked in the second round of that year? There were only two picked the whole round.

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Oldskool

Oldskool

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It's time to rebuild the offensive line: This goes hand-in-hand with the quarterback situation. You can't ask Campbell to endure another season behind this collection of former undrafted rookies and aging players. It looks like your best offensive lineman Chris Samuels will probably retire because of a neck injury and it's not like you received outstanding play from your other veterans. Randy Thomas is too old to count on and Casey Rabach is just a serviceable center at this point. I supposed Derrick Dockery was your best lineman this season after Samuels was injured, but that's not saying much. Free agency is going to be limited because of the potential for an uncapped season. With the No. 4 pick overall, you need to take a long look at the left tackles in the draft. I know everyone will talk about Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford, but you don't have to pick a quarterback at that spot.Hopefully Shanahan and Allen will have a logical plan in place. Picking two wide receivers and a tight end in the same round isn't the way to go -- even if you argue they were the "best players on the board."

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REDSKINZ-RIDEORDIE

REDSKINZ-RIDEORDIE

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So you aren't excited about Davis, MK and DT?

One of the few bright spots of this season.

I dont know mannn, Im kind of excited, but everytime I think MK or DT, I think about how much I now wish we selected DeSean Jackson. That kid is going to be terrorizing our division and the LEAGUE for many years to come. I know it's easy to say who we shouldve picked after the fact, but man did we miss out on that pick.

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Master Blaster

Master Blaster

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I dont know mannn, Im kind of excited, but everytime I think MK or DT, I think about how much I now wish we selected DeSean Jackson. That kid is going to be terrorizing our division and the LEAGUE for many years to come. I know it's easy to say who we shouldve picked after the fact, but man did we miss out on that pick.

A better system that uses these two correctly will yield results.

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Redskins4ever

Redskins4ever

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Sometimes these sportswriters exaggerate too hard. What's the point in having both a GM and head coach that will see over, employ, and shape the roster and be kind enough to Snyder to make him feel that he's involved? Snyder shouldn't be concerned with personnel decisions as he's already pleadged to get out of Allen's and Shanahan's way.

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33

33

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So you aren't excited about Davis, MK and DT?

One of the few bright spots of this season.

Have we been better off with them? I tend to think they are maturing into players, but we still would have been better served focusing on the trenches.

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