What do you do if you were GM

[DogofWar1]

You can always tear it up and re-do the deal entirely. That is his rookie contract if I'm not mistaken. Before they put retrictions on the contracts.

I suppose, but he's playing like an elite LT, so his contract wouldn't shrink much for next year if we redid things, he'd still probably be in line for a 10M/year contract. I mean, I wouldn't have a problem shifting 3-5M from 2013 to 2014, when we get our cap back, but I think if we can avoid it we should.

[gaskinsfan]

Get the cap money back if at all possible and then fire Shanny.

He's the personnel man behind letting the defensive priority go.

[redskins4ever28]

There's a great chance that D. Hall will be let go after 2012, thus freeing up some cap room. I'm not sure how much tho.

Why didnt we try to trade hall?

Because no one would tAke him?

If we would ahve even gotten a 6th rounder for him, we could have freed so much room and still got something out of it, would have been great.

[USS Redskins]

After another disastrous season, Fire Shannahan and the entire staff. The guy is lost and I fear that RG3 will follow him into the wilderness. He aint getting it done on the field or in the front office. Three years is plenty to turn a team around...he has Failed miserably... The team is awful and lacks starting talent and depth. When records are being compared to Spurrier or Zorn, then you know its bad.

Find a Head Coach who specializes in QB play and would utilize RG3's skills. A coach who runs a 4-3 D. Also, a coach who does not insist on being the complete master at everything.. no tyrants. No retreads. No one who coached in the 80's.

Go over roster with a fine tooth comb... watch tons of tape.. see who plays and who quits. Cut and start from Scratch if necessary.

[NewEraofSkins08]

A lot of these ideas are pretty solid. Just want to chime in, after watching this pathetic pass-rush since Orakpo's been hurt, if the training staff thinks he's 100% healthy we should extend him. Also, pray that our scouting department can find a few mid-round picks in the next few years that can be above-average starters.

[blueskin]

1. Put a hit on Mara and Goodell- j/k

2. Draft BPA, but only defense (unless there is an offensive player too good to pass up)

3. attempt to trade like a whirling dervish, put players like Orakpo on the block, to gauge interests and offers

4. Did I mention the hit?

5. Don't know if feasible, but we need one good, solid FA signing, either WR (ugh), OL, or DB

Disclaimer- in no way am I seriously calling for the death, dismemberment, or otherwise deliberate harming of Mara and Goodell- this is meant as tongue-in-cheek.

[DogofWar1]

Why didnt we try to trade hall?

Because no one would tAke him?

If we would ahve even gotten a 6th rounder for him, we could have freed so much room and still got something out of it, would have been great.

No one will take him at his current price. We might be able to offload him if he agrees to redo his contract with the new team, but no team is taking Hall with the money he's owed right now.

I suppose we could redo his contract and trade him, but if we get his costs down, he might not be terrible to keep around as a #2/3 CB or as a backup FS. I'd prefer Hall as a #3CB/backupFS to a 6th rounder.

[Skins Wingman]

get all the fastest players in the draft. a fast receiver, a fast running back to compliment morris, fast corners, fast safeties, fast linebackers. our team has always been too slow on both sides of the ball. we need people who are home run threats. DB's who if get beat can catch back up. linebackers who can keep up with this new breed of TE's

[Taylor703]

get all the fastest players in the draft. a fast receiver, a fast running back to compliment morris, fast corners, fast safeties, fast linebackers. our team has always been too slow on both sides of the ball. we need people who are home run threats. DB's who if get beat can catch back up. linebackers who can keep up with this new breed of TE's

Didn't the Oakland Raiders try this approach?

[DogofWar1]

get all the fastest players in the draft. a fast receiver, a fast running back to compliment morris, fast corners, fast safeties, fast linebackers. our team has always been too slow on both sides of the ball. we need people who are home run threats. DB's who if get beat can catch back up. linebackers who can keep up with this new breed of TE's

Ah, the Al Davis approach. Not always the best, but if implemented judiciously it could work ok.

[mi6]

My guess is Hall, Fletcher, Moss, J. Black, J. Brown (June 1st cut), Cooley (again, but for age not salary since his original cap hit was voided when he didn't make the opening roster), C. Griffin, Madoo-doo Williams and Golston will all be gone.

Agreed. I would add Reed Doughty, Brandon Meriweather, Tanard Johnson, and Adam Carriker to the list.

[DogofWar1]

Agreed. I would add Reed Doughty, Brandon Meriweather, Tanard Johnson, and Adam Carriker to the list.

Carriker just got a new contract, and his absence is a major part of the reason we're hurting. He's not going anywhere. Meriweather will be dependent on how he plays, if he does well, he'll be retained, he's fairly cheap. Jackson is minimum contract until he actually plays, so no reason not to keep him considering his play ability. If he's reinstated, I expect he'll be trying out for the starter spot unless we go sign someone like Byrd, and even then, Jackson as 1st backup for vet minimum sounds awesome.

Doughty can take a hike though. Surgically remove the 4-leaf clover stuck in his rectum and implant it (after dipping it in bleach) in RGIII's.

[SWFLSkins]

1. Put a hit on Mara and Goodell- j/k

2. Draft BPA, but only defense (unless there is an offensive player too good to pass up)

3. attempt to trade like a whirling dervish, put players like Orakpo on the block, to gauge interests and offers

4. Did I mention the hit?

5. Don't know if feasible, but we need one good, solid FA signing, either WR (ugh), OL, or DB

Disclaimer- in no way am I seriously calling for the death, dismemberment, or otherwise deliberate harming of Mara and Goodell- this is meant as tongue-in-cheek.

You suck as a GM, seriously, we just need to go all Tony Soprano on them and have them show some respect. (more kidding)

[DogofWar1]

Alright, I made a huge post earlier, but I'm consolidating it into a single coherent plan now.

Step 1: Cut DHall, save a ton of money (appox. 11M if I'm not mistaken)

Step 2: Renegotiate Moss and Fletcher down, Moss to around 1M (basically what happened with Cooley) saving 4.8M, and Fletcher to guaranteed money, which is 3.25M, saving 4M. Cut Brown after June 1, saving 2.4M Total savings of 11.2M. With Hall's savings we would have around 22.2M to play with.

Step 3: Sign DRC, 5 year/50M (mirror Finnegan's or Carr's contract). 12.2M remaining (assuming it's not slightly backloaded, which we might do).

Step 4: Sign Chris Owens, Mike Jenkins, or Leodis McKelvin to contract, try to get it around 5 year/10M. 10.2M remaining

Step 5: Sign Jairus Byrd, 5 year/40M. 2.2M remaining. Again, might backload, might not.

Step 6: Cut other dead weight, free up enough money for the draft.

Step 7: Draft either Fluker or Aboushi in the 2nd round (whoever the FO likes more)

Step 8: Draft one of Jefferson, Reid, Lester, Elam, McDonald, or Vaccaro with our 3rd, trading up (with combinations of 5th, 6th, and 7th rounders, keeping 4th) if we need to in order to secure one of them.

Step 9: Go BPA the rest of the way

End result:

Signed FAs - DRC, one of Jenkins, McKelvin, or Owens, and Byrd

Drafted players - Either Aboushi or Fluker, one of Jefferson, Reid, Lester, Elam, McDonald, or Vaccaro, and then BPA to the end.

Secondary has DRC at CB1, Wilson at CB2, one of those 3 at CB3, Byrd at FS, Meriweather at SS, with 3rd round pick backing them up (also Jackson if he's reinstated).

Right tackle is either Fluker or Aboushi.

As for NT, I'm still thinking we either start Neild or slide Jenkins inside (after he bulks up), and move Cofield outside.

[Mocountyskins]

Trade RG3 for Vick. Vick is faster and a better runner.

Trade Alfred Morris for Michael Turner. Turner has lots of years under his belt which is good he knows how to read the defense

Sigh Chad Johnson and T.O. to get one of the best WR groups out there! ( I can't believe they are available!)

[Brotherz]

If a viable defense can't be implemented in 3 years, I am not sure I have faith in the powers to suddenly fix it in the 4th.

Fix the offense instead. Draft a RT, a RB and TE. Hope the injuries on D are minimal and keep the focus of the GM duties on supporting THE player they committed to, and the player that we all know have to win games for us. The QB.

QB's win games in the modern era, not defenses.

Defenses may not win you a playoff spot or a championship anymore but we are seeing first hand that they can certainly lose it.

I think you focus on what you can control. You do everything you can possibly do to fight the second $18 mil cap penalty. Shefter says he believes we can absolutely get some of it back. If that's true get every damn dime you can. Spare no expense on lawyers or whatever you gotta do but get that cap space back at all costs. As much as humanly possible.

Look into the training staff. If they are world class, best of the best and all of these injuries are just bad luck keep em. If not, go get the best of the best right now.

Get all your players back healthy. Rak, Davis, etc. Grueling physical examinations. If there is real doubt that they will come back 100% from the injury find a trading partner. That goes for Rak too. Nobody should be safe right now. Its all about the team. I don't care where you were drafted or how much we hoped for. If Fred Davis isn't coming back from that achilles, that sucks but don't spend two years figuring it out. Go find his replacement asap.

Smart scouting and drafting will be necessary. Secondary, secondary, secondary. Corners and safeties. Get some talent back there at all costs. Young, fast smart talent.

Cut any dead weight that is not going to be part of a 2015 superbowl run. I love London Fletcher. Love him. But he's not gonna be on the field when we are in the Superbowl. One more loss this season and I want to see Robinson. Next year, I don't need to see London. Hire him as a coach, put him in the front office, do whatever you want but every spot on this team has to be looked at for the superbowl run. Santana Moss, Cooley etc. have been good skins. Their time is up.

If it can free cap space restructure of cut it. If Dhall can save us millions in cap space - gone. Etc. we gotta get a little ruthless. Philly did it that way. New England does it that way. Get rid of them one year early rather than one year late.

Depending on the cap space we generate from the appeals and the cuts etc - use it wisely. No big names, no old vets. More Bowen, Cofield, Garcon types. 25 years old - coming out of their rookie contracts. NOT their third contract. Their second contract.

Coach better. I won't go through every stupid thing we've done this year but the off-side penalties, personal fouls ejections, staying in zone against amendola, letting one guy like Gonzalez shred us all day long without adjusting, throwing the ball at the opponent in a crucial time in the game, no pass option on 4th down Qb run at the goal line, turning a shot at the end zone inside the 20 to 4th and 35 from the 49 yard line from penaltiees, two blocked punts from the same damn guy in consecutive weeks, kicking extra points into the ass of the center, not going for it on 4th and 6 inches when your defense can't stop anyone all day long and you can win the game if you convert, illegal shifts calling back huge touchdowns, etc. As I have said in another thread in a world of salary cap and parity, smart disciplined teams win games that undisciplined dumb teams don't. If we eliminated just 20%of our timely boneheaded plays we would be 4-5 instead of 3-6 minimally. May not seem big but we wouldn't have our coach answering questions about evaluating the players or must win games.

Get home field advantage back. Remove 30,000 seats if you freakin have to. That home field environment is horrific. Get some better PR people in there. Start connecting more with the community. You have to improve the game day experience. We have to get a home field advantage back somehow. Start thinking about a new stadium in DC long term. This Raljon Maryland experiment has failed.

Keep the coach and let him finish his five year contract. I need to see Rg3 in year 3 before I say Shanny failed.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I'd fire Shanahan and start over. I want the Number One franchise in the NFL. I don't think Mike is either willing or able to achieve that goal.

Chip Kelly?

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/men-action/201211/how-oregon-coach-chip-kelly-can-spark-moneyball-revolution-nfl

[Oldfan]

Chip Kelly?

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/men-action/201211/how-oregon-coach-chip-kelly-can-spark-moneyball-revolution-nfl

VERY interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

Maybe you are already aware that 15-20 years ago, economist David Romer published a paper called It's Fourth Down and What Does the Bellman Equation Say? A Dynamic-Programming Analysis of Football Strategy, It concluded that NFL coaches were wrong on their fourth down calls like 90% of the time. Belichik was the only coach to take it seriously.

One thing to keep in mind is that we see parity in the NFL whereas in college we often see over-matched teams. That fact will create a different data set. So, Kelly would not be able to come to the NFL with exactly the same strategy and be successful. But there's no doubt in my mind. A football coach with a solid grasp of statistics has a big edge.

[Skins3000]

First things first I am signing Mike Wallace to a free agent contract mirrored to Vincent Jackson. D Hall and Josh Wilson will be cut along with Jamal Brown. DRC would be signed. All safeties would be released at this point except Merriweather and replaced through free agency. Rounds 2-4 would be defensive players starting with a lb in the mold of James Harrison or Joey Porter in the 2nd round. Third round I am looking at a safety and the fourth round I am looking at a nickle back. Of course Shanahan would have to make the playoffs to keep his job and must fire Haslett and all offensive plays must be approved by Mike before Kyle calls them. If Kyle runs the option then Kyle is fired immediately.

[S.T.real,lights,out]

If im GM, I wait to see what the rest of the season brings. If we can pull of a few wins and end up something like 8-8 (which I dont think will happen) and the guys are playing good i keep Shanny. If we look dead and Shanny looks the same i dump him. For players I do everything in my power this offseason to bring more talent to the O side of the ball. I know crazy right...but hear me out. Our future is clearly RGIII. We need to get him as many weapons as possible. Need to see whats going on with Fred and if we are bringing him back if not we need to get another TE (a real threat). Hopefully Garcon will be back and 100% by next season but i would still try and bring in a guy like Bowe or another #1 WR (I dont like Hank at all). I would try and keep Morgan and put him in the slot. Need a new 3rd down back. If Helu can come back healthy im ok with giving him a chance. But Royster needs to go. Finally we need to fix the OL. Hopefully Brown can stay healthy if not, cut him. Also need to see if the guys we drafted last year can do anything.

++Play calling has to improve. RGIII is great at throwing the deep ball. Why we dont do it more often idk. Is it b/c we dont have a guy who can get down the field??

For the D. If Shanny is gone i bring in a D-minded headcoach. If not, Haz is gone. Need to get Hall to restructure. I would prob cut ties with Fletch. Re-up Rak or put the tag on him. Need to get FS/SS in the draft. And NEED to get a NT if we stay with 3-4.

[pjfootballer]

Agreed. I would add Reed Doughty, Brandon Meriweather, Tanard Johnson, and Adam Carriker to the list.

Reed "may" get cut depending on who we bring in, but he's always good for special teams. Meriweather "may" get re-signed depending on his performance in the last 7 games. I think if Raheem is still on the staff, Jackson gets"one" more shot in training camp and Carriker is not going anywhere. We just re-signed him this year and he is very good in the 3-4.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

VERY interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

Maybe you are already aware that 15-20 years ago, economist David Romer published a paper called It's Fourth Down and What Does the Bellman Equation Say? A Dynamic-Programming Analysis of Football Strategy, It concluded that NFL coaches were wrong on their fourth down calls like 90% of the time. Belichik was the only coach to take it seriously.

One thing to keep in mind is that we see parity in the NFL whereas in college we often see over-matched teams. That fact will create a different data set. So, Kelly would not be able to come to the NFL with exactly the same strategy and be successful. But there's no doubt in my mind. A football coach with a solid grasp of statistics has a big edge.

I agree that the data set would probably yield different go/no go decisions, but that would be OK with me. I would just love a coach who is always making the decisions to optimize our chances to win. You could argue it is even more important when there is so much parity than it is in college.

For example, Oregon was going to win that game in the article no matter what decisions Kelly made (just maybe not ny 49 points). On the other hand, how would our 7-point loss to Cincy have looked if we adopted that mentality?

I figured you would like that article...I lifted it from another thread/poster (Kirk Cousins' Cousins).

[Redskins4ever]

If I were Bruce Allen I would simply take command of the roster and pick the players. He should be the one picking the players. Not Shanahan.

[DeadExField]

I had a dream last night that fletcher was cut lol. It was a wacky dream, but it wasn't a nightmare. With that said I wouldn't cut him at this point, obviously

[Redskins4ever]

Bill Parcells was able to revamp the entire Dolphins squad in 2008 after they struggled to go 1-15 in 2007. The Dolphins made the playoffs in 2008 because of Parcells retooling. Shanahan certainly can do the same thing.