BGO.C.D. - Losing the Offseason

[Tarhog]

Blame it on the family dog – but the stench lingering in the air around Ashburn, Virginia isn’t emanating from the golden retriever curled up under the dinner table. It’s the foul fog of another failed season you’re smelling.

For Washington Redskins fans, this is the most compelling time of the year. As the scents of another DC spring - azalea, cherry blossom, dogwood – waft skyward, fans of the Burgundy and Gold drift irresistibly towards optimism. Even the cynic’s heart greets these first warm, sunny days of spring with renewed spirit and hope. As fans, we find a way to banish the long, joyless shadows of a previous season and dreary winter, and look forward to something far more promising.

No one has won more offseasons than our Redskins. We’re the Charlie Sheen of post-season activity. Winning. With a penchant for offseason splashes that would make Donald Trump blush, the Redskins have been a triumph of style over substance for years. Whether tossing away precious draft picks and big money for sexy free agents past their prime, or rolling the franchise dice on reclamation projects, the Redskins have owned the offseason spotlight for nearly a decade. Unfortunately Mr. DeMille, when it came time to perform, these eye-catching Redskins acquisitions have not been ready for their close-ups.

It’s been a puzzling strategy. The most cynical fans explain away the approach as nothing more than an attempt to distract Redskins fans from the unpleasant reality of just two winning seasons in more than a decade. That many of these sexy offseason additions have broken team apparel sales records is not lost on fans either. More optimistic types venture that these moves are evidence of an inexperienced owner, desperate to win now, but entirely unsure how to get there.

If the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, the Redskins front office went off its collective rocker years ago. But there may be signs of sanity. There’s a new sheriff (and his deputy) in town, and current fan grumblings and doubt aside, this one may well know what he’s doing...

To read the rest of 'Losing the Offseason', click HERE.

[MumboSauce]

I don't think they "lost" the off-season, but rather (possibly) won it the right way. substance over style..ie eating your vegetables for the long run, instead of eating a snickers/candy. If anything all of those other seasons of high priced free agents and throwing away draft picks was losing. I understand you meant on paper and public perception though.

[Tarhog]

Well, any way you word it, you've got to love the change in approach, at least so far. Some of my friends have politely pointed out that it's a little early to be congratulating anyone on a 'sea change' related to free agency, since it hasn't happened yet. That's a valid point. Might just be hopeful optimism or wishful thinking on my part

[The Tris]

This article would be on target had free agency come and gone with little more than an Atogwe.

As it hasn't, I can't help but feel this is premature, considering we haven't even had access to our main medium by which we win the offseason.

(and one could argue that with the 2010 FA rules, we are now on our 2nd straight offseason lacking true free agency. Have we changed, or have we just been limited by the league rules of the moment?)

[Tarhog]

In the interest of transparency, I wrote the bulk of this blog entry as a 'pre-draft' article for an issue of Hail! Magazine that didn't make it to publication. That was during a stretch where the outcome of the NFL/Player's Association mess was still potentially positive. That probably accounts for some of the more optimistic comments. So that's a point well-taken. I'd still argue there's been ample evidence that Shanahan, Allen, and Company 'get it' and that we're going to continue to see a radically different approach to team-building than we've seen in a long, long time. I believe the relative debacle that was the McNabb acquisition was an aberration that doesn't really reflect the grand strategy our Front Office has....

[Voice_of_Reason]

I truly appreciate what they've done over the last 2 off seasons. The McNabb trade was a huge gamble, high risk, high reward. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out. Or, I should say, at this time it looks like a disaster.

However, if you look at what they did last year that seems to be working, they selected a LT at #4, they brought in inexpensive FAs to fill holes, they replaced 4/5th of the OL (Rabach was the only remaining starter by week 3, I believe), they found a couple young contributors on offense at RB and WR. There was a lot of good to go along with the bad.

This year has been much of the same. They signed a FS so that they could stop worrying about the middle of the field. They drafted a lot of players, and specifically paid attention to need areas on the defense. Some critics will say that they should have gotten a QB, or that they picked too many WRs, or that they ignored the OL. Ok, I'll give you that, but I'm going to trust Mike Shannahan in this: The man knows how to build an OL. If he thinks that he can do it with what he's got, after a year of evaluation, adding some pieces through FA, then I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Take the one McNabb trade out, and they have been very judicious with their draft picks, they haven't over-spent on FAs. Mike Shannahan's biggest issue is that, in all honesty, he's a self righteous ass. He's not warm and cuddly with the media, and the media guys like to crush him because of it. I find it absolutely incredible for somebody who wants to say so little, that he manages to make so many PR blunders.

And until the team starts winning, which probably won't be in 2011, might be in 2012, but more realistically 2013, idiots like Lavar and BMitch are going to have a field day. (My 2013 prediction is based on 2011 being mediocre with Beck/Grossman at QB with a lot of young talent, but no off season to learn, 2012 being not great as they probably break in a new rookie QB, and 2013 being the year when they hope to have the QB in place, the young talent now is in their 3rd or 4th year, and they're ready to go.)

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Color me optimistic too Tarhog man.

Real pertinent piece. We've done everything this fan base has been crying out for, for decades now. Much rather this way of doing things than the last decade or so of the owners tenure and even further back than him.

We have indeed lost the (modern Redskins) offseason. And it feels FANTASTIC.

Hail.

[Tarhog]

I truly appreciate what they've done over the last 2 off seasons. The McNabb trade was a huge gamble, high risk, high reward. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out. Or, I should say, at this time it looks like a disaster.

However, if you look at what they did last year that seems to be working, they selected a LT at #4, they brought in inexpensive FAs to fill holes, they replaced 4/5th of the OL (Rabach was the only remaining starter by week 3, I believe), they found a couple young contributors on offense at RB and WR. There was a lot of good to go along with the bad.

This year has been much of the same. They signed a FS so that they could stop worrying about the middle of the field. They drafted a lot of players, and specifically paid attention to need areas on the defense. Some critics will say that they should have gotten a QB, or that they picked too many WRs, or that they ignored the OL. Ok, I'll give you that, but I'm going to trust Mike Shannahan in this: The man knows how to build an OL. If he thinks that he can do it with what he's got, after a year of evaluation, adding some pieces through FA, then I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Take the one McNabb trade out, and they have been very judicious with their draft picks, they haven't over-spent on FAs. Mike Shannahan's biggest issue is that, in all honesty, he's a self righteous ass. He's not warm and cuddly with the media, and the media guys like to crush him because of it. I find it absolutely incredible for somebody who wants to say so little, that he manages to make so many PR blunders.

And until the team starts winning, which probably won't be in 2011, might be in 2012, but more realistically 2013, idiots like Lavar and BMitch are going to have a field day. (My 2013 prediction is based on 2011 being mediocre with Beck/Grossman at QB with a lot of young talent, but no off season to learn, 2012 being not great as they probably break in a new rookie QB, and 2013 being the year when they hope to have the QB in place, the young talent now is in their 3rd or 4th year, and they're ready to go.)

I love this post. Great points all the way. And yeah, despite what Shanahan and Allen said early on (probably just to build some marketing buzz and fan enthusiasm), they never intended to 'win now' - this is a 4-5 year plan we're seeing put into action.

[LetThePointsSoar]

I love this post.

I love this post and this entire thread. Exactly how I feel as well.

One additional side point as well, is even in this regime's "signature loss" if you will, meaning the McNabb situation, our FO and Bruce Allen were still smart enough to structure the contract with an incredibly easy exit strategy. In the past, we would have been fleeced and handcuffed a la Haynesworthless. Love what we're doing and where we're headed.

Hail.

[addicted]

I truly appreciate what they've done over the last 2 off seasons. The McNabb trade was a huge gamble, high risk, high reward. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out. Or, I should say, at this time it looks like a disaster.

I don't think the mistakes start and end with McNabb. He was the biggest mistake of course but not the only one.

Besides trading away draft picks to a devision rival who got better with the draft pick we gave them, we doubled down the screw up with McNabb giving him that contract. Everyone knows why we signed him to that and what it means for us next year - He's too expensive to keep around ala Reggie Bush. So not only did we evaluate him poorly and give up 2 draft picks we also tipped our hand to the league and devalued any trade value he might have

Add these to the list of mistakes this new management has done for a more complete list:

1. Allowing Santana to hit FA with only Armstrong on the WR team with any production. Very stupid thing to do with our limited options at the position. Gives the player the leverage to squeeze more money in a contract if he re-signs, opens the door for him to leave if he gets a better option, and possibly based on the market could make him unsignable.

2. Signing Larry Johnson and Willie Parker. LJ still cost the team 3 million when he was cut and having that circus here last preseason hurt team development and it only got better when they were both cut. Nothing good came of this situation and showed clearly that they didn't know what team they had and were unprepared. The good here is that fans didn't see the team throw away too much money like in years past, but 3 million is still a lost 3 million that I'm sure Snyder will shift to the fans in some way.

3. Not trading useless players who could easily have been. Keeping guys like Andre Carter and Albert Hanyesworth around was dumb. We could have trade both of them and saved ourselves the conditioning test embarrassments and gotten something for both players one who was coming off his most successful NFL season in his career and the other a single year removed from a productive season. Rebuilding requires draft picks and we could have cashed in and gotten more there with those guys but now likely to get nothing for either.

And I'm sure I could list others but those were the biggest. Again none of these were as big of a blunder as McNabb was but they were screwups just the same.

However, if you look at what they did last year that seems to be working, they selected a LT at #4, they brought in inexpensive FAs to fill holes, they replaced 4/5th of the OL (Rabach was the only remaining starter by week 3, I believe), they found a couple young contributors on offense at RB and WR. There was a lot of good to go along with the bad.

This year has been much of the same. They signed a FS so that they could stop worrying about the middle of the field. They drafted a lot of players, and specifically paid attention to need areas on the defense. Some critics will say that they should have gotten a QB, or that they picked too many WRs, or that they ignored the OL. Ok, I'll give you that, but I'm going to trust Mike Shannahan in this: The man knows how to build an OL. If he thinks that he can do it with what he's got, after a year of evaluation, adding some pieces through FA, then I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Glad you feel this way, it helps me to quite the concerns I have with the approach.

As far as the QB goes, well that's a bigger mess today then before Mike took control over the team. John Beck, Rex Grossman, McNabb? Seriously we can't be happy with that. Hate to say it but that 4th next year better be a damn good player because it seems to me as if we might have been better just using Campbell. As for the rookies we passed on, if any of them turn out to be good in this league we will forever look back on that draft and kick ourselves because the position is totally unsettled. Not always a good thing to look over your shoulder like that for longevity.

As for the OL, all I can say is this...what's the deal with the RT position and we gave up a ton of sacks last year. I think it's far too early to judge if passing on OL was anything resembling a smart move for this team to do.

Said it before, saying it again.

What I see from Mike and his drafting, team rebuilding plan is a short term outlook. Why pass on a QB? Because he isn't likely to be here long enough to develop a 21 year old kid. Why pass on linemen? Again because he's not likely to be here to reap the rewards. The mans got 4 more seasons on his deal which like Gibbs and so many others he likely won't see that 5th season unless an immediate and sudden turn around occurs. I think this is the reason he operates like this. He can't give up on any season and is operating under terrible stress to win now. I expect many more shortcuts to come in this season as a result.

Take the one McNabb trade out, and they have been very judicious with their draft picks, they haven't over-spent on FAs.

So far your correct about the money, but I think the message out of the park is that we will spend money this year so for one year I think that comment about money is correct but that will change this year. Already started with the OJ pickup. How will you feel if we spend big money this offseason? Still give him that benefit?

Mike Shannahan's biggest issue is that, in all honesty, he's a self righteous ass. He's not warm and cuddly with the media, and the media guys like to crush him because of it. I find it absolutely incredible for somebody who wants to say so little, that he manages to make so many PR blunders.

Actually that fits in well with Snyders attitude towards the media.

And until the team starts winning, which probably won't be in 2011, might be in 2012, but more realistically 2013, idiots like Lavar and BMitch are going to have a field day. (My 2013 prediction is based on 2011 being mediocre with Beck/Grossman at QB with a lot of young talent, but no off season to learn, 2012 being not great as they probably break in a new rookie QB, and 2013 being the year when they hope to have the QB in place, the young talent now is in their 3rd or 4th year, and they're ready to go.)

If Mike hasn't won by the end of next year I won't be surprised to see him fired but 2013 is do or die for him to show something.

And I don't agree at all with your take on those two former players. People seem to forget that we are just fans reading news and those were men who were on the ground in the trenches who saw everything that went on in Snyders Redskins park for many years. They give first hand accounts and are to me a very good source for knowing how current players feel and what they are going through. Authenticity is definitely there with them. We the fans just want to cheer and think everything is always ok when it's not. They get a bad rap from the fans because they speak a different message that we want to hear. We want to hear everythings perfect but its so far from the truth. No they aren't idiots but usually when people say truth that isn't what someone wants to hear the receiver perceives them to be stupid. Happens to me on here all the time since I don't just believe anything I see or hear or think everything fine. And I speak on that and it pisses all kinds of people off who just don't want to hear a single negative comment. Sad but true

[Chump Bailey]

I don't think the mistakes start and end with McNabb. He was the biggest mistake of course but not the only one.

2. Signing Larry Johnson and Willie Parker. LJ still cost the team 3 million when he was cut and having that circus here last preseason hurt team development and it only got better when they were both cut. Nothing good came of this situation and showed clearly that they didn't know what team they had and were unprepared. The good here is that fans didn't see the team throw away too much money like in years past, but 3 million is still a lost 3 million that I'm sure Snyder will shift to the fans in some way.

3. Not trading useless players who could easily have been. Keeping guys like Andre Carter and Albert Hanyesworth around was dumb. We could have trade both of them and saved ourselves the conditioning test embarrassments and gotten something for both players one who was coming off his most successful NFL season in his career and the other a single year removed from a productive season. Rebuilding requires draft picks and we could have cashed in and gotten more there with those guys but now likely to get nothing for either.

Those decisions really bother me too and gives me pause. I'm not completely sold on the idea that Mike and Bruce are the ones to lead us to salvation. I did think their draft was decent enough to tilt the scales a bit back toward the middle.

[BeefJerky]

Color me optimistic too Tarhog man.

Real pertinent piece. We've done everything this fan base has been crying out for, for decades now. Much rather this way of doing things than the last decade or so of the owners tenure and even further back than him.

We have indeed lost the (modern Redskins) offseason. And it feels FANTASTIC.

Hail.

Couldn't have said it better myself! It really is a breath of fresh air.

[ThomasRoane]

To put a different twist on it we lost the offseason because of the the lockout. Out of all the NFC East teams the lockout will hurt the Redskins more than the other 3 teams. On paper it seems as if our team drafted well. But you don't know until the OTA's. That will push back the development and evalutaion process considerably. On the positive side the staff may be forced to give the draftees more time. Thus minimizing our dependence on free agents (most of them are really merceanries who just wanna get paid). So I'm okay with that. But these young guys need this important time to learn what it means to be a pro. Once training camp starts it's too late. So this will definitely set the Redskins back more than our competitors.

[Bang]

Good piece, Tarhog!

Honestly, watching that draft unfold felt so good, seeing how they manipulated and maneuvered, and the players selected.. they fit so many of the RIGHT criteria for a change..

The McNabb deal obviously is a huge gaffe, but I take note that instead of sticking with the obvious mistake to even further detriment, they sucked it up, ate the humiliation of the move, and went forward. In other words, they put their egos in check for the betterment of the team.

I love what I see. I see committment to the proper method of doing things, I see high character players, I see high character smart draft choices.

I am confident I will soon see wins. Not this year yet... but it's finally coming.

~Bang

[Darth Tater]

I don't think they "lost" the off-season, but rather (possibly) won it the right way. substance over style..ie eating your vegetables for the long run, instead of eating a snickers/candy. If anything all of those other seasons of high priced free agents and throwing away draft picks was losing. I understand you meant on paper and public perception though.

I never understood why we were considered to be "winning the off-season" anyway. To me, the winner of the off-season is probably the team that improve the most (which you don't really know until a season or two later). If this year or 2012, we are much better than most people seem to expect and the core of that is the guys brought in this year, then I would say we were the winners of the 2011 off-season. If we'd done whatever most people say makes us the "winner of the off-season" and sucked, I'd say we definitely didn't win the off-season.

[Tarhog]

I think that's a good point Darth...I always felt that those who painted the Redskins as having 'won' the offseason always said it with tongue firmly planted in cheek, and in a mocking way. They weren't lavishing the Redskins front office with praise for the great, team-improving, transactions they made. They were (mostly rightfully) criticizing them for expensive, 'quick fix'-focused, and 'splashy' moves that earned a lot of media attention and headlines, but ultimately cost the Redskins far more than the dividends they were supposed to reap.

Taking a more reasoned approach doesn't necessarily guarantee success. Although I love that we traded back multiple times in the draft and seemed to go after lunch-pail guys with good work ethics and character, that may or may not translate to our having found long-term contributors. We'll have to wait and see on that front. But I do think that the change in approach is more likely to reap success down the road if we stick to that kind of strategy.

[Oldfan]

...

Careful Charlie Brown. Lucy's gonna do it to you again.

Let's see what happens when free agency opens up. My bet is that we end of with a roster of ten free agent pickups of mediocre quality sopping up playing time and keeping younger players on the bench.

I think Allen and Shanahan will make an equal number of long-term and short-term moves which will virtually guarantee 7-9 to 9-7 seasons over the long haul. I see us scaping for wild card berths every other season.

I'll get optimistic if the Skins pass on 30 year-old free agents this year.

Another well-written piece, Tarhog. I enjoyed it.

[dg28daman]

Personally, I love when we "lose" the offseason. Look at both our offseasons before 2005 and 2007. Both years we stayed away from flashy big name signings, and both years we ended up in the playoffs. Coincidence? Maybe. But it makes you wonder.