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SI MMQB: Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan seem to have a (fiscally conservative) plan in Washington (MET, merged)

MattFancy

By MattFancy
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MattFancy

MattFancy

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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/03/07/freeagency/index.html?eref=sihp

Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan seem to have a (fiscally conservative) plan in Washington

I'm not sure it's going to work, but it's can't be much worse than the old days, when the Redskins won the NFL offseason championship every year but precious little else. Shanahan, the Redskins' coach with the power, and Allen, the new general manager, worked on a long-term plan for the team in their first month on the job and gave it to Snyder just before the Super Bowl. "He said, 'Good. Do what you guys think is best,' '' Allen said Sunday.

And the plan really included keeping the checkbook in the pocket on the first weekend of free agency? Really? Was

No,'' Allen said. "He didn't throw anything at me. And he didn't throw a tantrum. He's fine with it.''

Allen believes is setting a plan for free agency, for instance, and not moving very off it with the emotion of the moment. As with Julius Peppers. Were the Redskins interested in Peppers, the eighth-year Carolina defensive end who signed with Chicago? I believe they were. Absolutely. But I think they were interested in Peppers at a reasonable level of compensation -- say, $10 million a year. When they started hearing how desperate the Bears were for Peppers, I believe the Redskins knew they'd never have a chance at him. Same with several other guys they liked. What we did,'' said Allen, "is when we got the list of free agents with their phone numbers and agent phone numbers from the league [Thursday at midnight], and I highlighted the 40 or 50 we were interested in, and we started calling them. We left messages for some of them, talked to some of them, and told them we were interested. And we'll see where it takes us."

Washington had left tackle Chad Clifton from Green Bay in on Friday, but the Packers kept Clifton with a three-year, $21-million offer -- probably more money and more years than Washington wanted to offer. On Saturday, they settled for a less accomplished but more versatile offensive lineman, Artis Hicks, who has played four of the five line positions in his checkered career. He's 31, with much less wear (and experience) than Clifton.

They re-signed center Casey Rabach. The offensive line and offensive backfield are still positions of major need. But Allen's experience tells him some historically good players with a year or two left -- maybe Thomas Jones, for instance, in the backfield -- will be there when the money is more to their liking. "The music hasn't stopped, and there's still a lot of chairs to be filled,'' Allen said. At least the tune in D.C. is different this year.

Also this quote from Allen about FA:

Free agency isn't a day, and it's not a weekend. We think free agency runs 'til the first day of training camp. Let's see who you have a couple of months from now, not just who you have after a couple of days. What difference does it make when you sign them, if they help you?

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SkinsHokieFan

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I love this

Shanahan, the Redskins' coach with the power, and Allen, the new general manager, worked on a long-term plan for the team in their first month on the job and gave it to Snyder just before the Super Bowl. "He said, 'Good. Do what you guys think is best,' '' Allen said Sunday.

And the plan really included keeping the checkbook in the pocket on the first weekend of free agency? Really? Was Snyder apoplectic?

"No,'' Allen said. "He didn't throw anything at me. And he didn't throw a tantrum. He's fine with it.''

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/03/07/freeagency/index.html?eref=sihp#ixzz0hb2leERG

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KDawg

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That last quote is what I've been saying that many people aren't comprehending.

We have June cuts as well as many other possibilities to pick up players. Why get so bent out of shape about our lack of spending when we're 3.5 days into free agency?

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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That last quote is what I've been saying that many people aren't comprehending.

We have June cuts as well as many other possibilities to pick up players. Why get so bent out of shape about our lack of spending when we're 3.5 days into free agency?

What I also love is nobody really knows what our plan is/was.

King is speculating that we were interested in Peppers. As far as anybody knows, its just a guess.

As much as I would love to see the plan Allen/Shanahan came up with, I am glad we don't have a clue

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Burgold

Burgold

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The hopeful thing about this quote is that if held true, it highly reduces the probability of that desperation move to get a Jason Taylor or TJ Duckett and get robbed in the process.

The 'skins weren't always bad at targeting folks, but when the slightest thing went wrong they lunged for a solution that was often costly and too often a bad fit.

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MattFancy

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The hopeful thing about this quote is that if held true, it highly reduces the probability of that desperation move to get a Jason Taylor or TJ Duckett and get robbed in the process.

The 'skins weren't always bad at targeting folks, but when the slightest thing went wrong they lunged for a solution that was often costly and too often a bad fit.

Totally agree with that. We have plenty of time to bring guys in here. Let's make sure we get the right guys instead of just jumping at the first thing that comes by. Like Allen said, we have until training camp to bring in FAs. Why rush now? All the top guys are gone at this point, so make sure we get good deals with guys that want to be here.

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TheLongshot

TheLongshot

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The hopeful thing about this quote is that if held true, it highly reduces the probability of that desperation move to get a Jason Taylor or TJ Duckett and get robbed in the process.

The 'skins weren't always bad at targeting folks, but when the slightest thing went wrong they lunged for a solution that was often costly and too often a bad fit.

Well, the problem comes when injuries set it and you lack depth in certain areas that you need a guy to come in and play. Those are moves you really don't want to have to make. We'll have to wait and see if we are forced to make one of those moves at some point.

BTW, you didn't mention Kendall, which was also one of those moves.

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authentic

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Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan seem to have a (fiscally conservative) plan in Washington.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/03/07/freeagency/index.html?eref=sihp

I'm not sure it's going to work, but it's can't be much worse than the old days, when the Redskins won the NFL offseason championship every year but precious little else. Shanahan, the Redskins' coach with the power, and Allen, the new general manager, worked on a long-term plan for the team in their first month on the job and gave it to Snyder just before the Super Bowl. "He said, 'Good. Do what you guys think is best,' '' Allen said Sunday.

And the plan really included keeping the checkbook in the pocket on the first weekend of free agency? Really? Was Snyder apoplectic?

"No,'' Allen said. "He didn't throw anything at me. And he didn't throw a tantrum. He's fine with it.''

Allen believes is setting a plan for free agency, for instance, and not moving very off it with the emotion of the moment. As with Julius Peppers. Were the Redskins interested in Peppers, the eighth-year Carolina defensive end who signed with Chicago? I believe they were. Absolutely. But I think they were interested in Peppers at a reasonable level of compensation -- say, $10 million a year. When they started hearing how desperate the Bears were for Peppers, I believe the Redskins knew they'd never have a chance at him. Same with several other guys they liked.

"What we did,'' said Allen, "is when we got the list of free agents with their phone numbers and agent phone numbers from the league [Thursday at midnight], and I highlighted the 40 or 50 we were interested in, and we started calling them. We left messages for some of them, talked to some of them, and told them we were interested. And we'll see where it takes us.''

Washington had left tackle Chad Clifton from Green Bay in on Friday, but the Packers kept Clifton with a three-year, $21-million offer -- probably more money and more years than Washington wanted to offer. On Saturday, they settled for a less accomplished but more versatile offensive lineman, Artis Hicks, who has played four of the five line positions in his checkered career. He's 31, with much less wear (and experience) than Clifton.

They re-signed center Casey Rabach. The offensive line and offensive backfield are still positions of major need. But Allen's experience tells him some historically good players with a year or two left -- maybe Thomas Jones, for instance, in the backfield -- will be there when the money is more to their liking. "The music hasn't stopped, and there's still a lot of chairs to be filled,'' Allen said. At least the tune in D.C. is different this year.

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authentic

authentic

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Well, the problem comes when injuries set it and you lack depth in certain areas that you need a guy to come in and play. Those are moves you really don't want to have to make. We'll have to wait and see if we are forced to make one of those moves at some point.

BTW, you didn't mention Kendall, which was also one of those moves.

Or the problem could be that they aren't patient enough to identify thier own talent. Like the Jason Taylor situation. They could have simply started Demetric Evans and promoted the Jackson kid from the practice squad as his back up. I know its not the flashy move, but eventually the coaching staff was forced (towards the end of the season) to start D. Evans anyway. And to make matters worse, they still lost Taylor, the 2nd round & 6th round pick in the offseason.

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TheLongshot

TheLongshot

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Or the problem could be that they aren't patient enough to identify thier own talent. Like the Jason Taylor situation. They could have simply started Demetric Evans and promoted the Jackson kid from the practice squad as his back up. I know its not the flashy move, but eventually the coaching staff was forced (towards the end of the season) to start D. Evans anyway. And to make matters worse, they still lost Taylor, the 2nd round & 6th round pick in the offseason.

And D Evans was gone as well after that season, which kinda tells you what the coaching staff thought of him. Outside of him, they didn't have much after all the injuries. You had a 7th round draft pick which they had judged wasn't going to be ready to contribute much and a guy that they didn't even know was going to play much. It was a bad situation.

There were two reasons why Taylor didn't work out for us, and they are two reasons that were mostly out of the team's control. One, Taylor got hurt. It wasn't even a predictable thing. Second, Taylor decided he was having second thoughts about being here, since he didn't seem to be honest with himself about what he wanted. It was obvious in that offseason that he didn't want to be away from his family and even paying him the money it wasn't worth it for him to work out here in the offseason. This after previously committing to fulfill his contract.

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authentic

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And D Evans was gone as well after that season, which kinda tells you what the coaching staff thought of him. Outside of him, they didn't have much after all the injuries. You had a 7th round draft pick which they had judged wasn't going to be ready to contribute much and a guy that they didn't even know was going to play much. It was a bad situation.

There were two reasons why Taylor didn't work out for us, and they are two reasons that were mostly out of the team's control. One, Taylor got hurt. It wasn't even a predictable thing. Second, Taylor decided he was having second thoughts about being here, since he didn't seem to be honest with himself about what he wanted. It was obvious in that offseason that he didn't want to be away from his family and even paying him the money it wasn't worth it for him to work out here in the offseason. This after previously committing to fulfill his contract.

Don't misunderstand me, its not like i was shedding tears with D. Evans left. I suppose my point is that they could have found other options (waiver wire?) to fill that void outside of mortgaging a 2nd and 6th for a player who was out of position from the jump. So you have a player who really didn't want to be here: You have Blatche who doesn't really want him here: Taylor is out of position as a(145 pound LB :silly:) DE: And then you waste $8m along witht the picks....all around it just didn't make sense no matter which way you look at it.

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