WP The Insider: Is Bruce Allen to blame for the Redskins' current mess?

[Boss_Hogg]

Gruden couldn't build his own coaching staff, it was done for him by Bruce Allen.

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

I'm not saying that Allen is doing a great job of it. But I'm pretty convinced he's making the majority of the decisions.

Otherwise Haslett and the other defensive coaches would have been fired at the end of the season.

 

So, you're saying it was Bruce's idea to keep Haslett around, and that Gruden didn't have a say in it?  Because I agree with that.

[SkinsFTW]

So, you're saying it was Bruce's idea to keep Haslett around, and that Gruden didn't have a say in it?  Because I agree with that.

 

 

I hope that's true because for Gruden to see Hasletts record as a DC and then say "He's my dude" is a definite strike against him but then just dangling Haslett and not firing him outright is a strike against Allen as well.

 

Well I wouldn't be surprised. I've said since 2009 that Allen was Vinnie 2.0 for Snyder. He's never been anything more than a puppet. The dude spent a decade under Al Davis. That really says all that needs to be said.

 

Still, I think Allen gave Gruden the choice on Haslett, after he gave him the preference from himself and Snyder. Gruden worked under Haslett in that bush league so he probably said "What the hell?" I think Gruden also knows that having Haslett around as a fall guy buys him more time too even though the offense is looking at least as bad as the D considering the talent.

[Rufus T Firefly]

So, you're saying it was Bruce's idea to keep Haslett around, and that Gruden didn't have a say in it?  Because I agree with that.

There's absolutely no reason to believe that. Gruden was obviously the guy Allen was going to pick to be the HC and he kept assistants that had worked with him before. Allen had no relationship with Haslett before he came to Washington, Gruden did.

And why would we believe Gruden would agree to that scenario anyway? He was clearly in line to get a head job soon, and he's going to pick the one where he's being told who his top assistants have to be? Why, because Washington is such a coveted spot? Come on.

[THE HAMMER'IN HOG]

It was only a matter of time before the clouds parted to show the true sky....Shanny was not the problem, he was the scapegoat!

Is anyone still wondering why he had to micromanage Hazlet? The defensive guru that he is!

Hazlet was going to flourish without Shanny breathing down his neck... ROTFL

And RG3 was going to show everyone how he was being held back by MS...  MS was the problem with this,,, and the problem with that, and so on! The problem is; RG3 can't play from the pocket!

It was only a matter of time before certain people had to answer for their ineptitude, their convenient excuse is gone!

The only question that remains; will J. Gruden put up with it? I don't think he's the type content with collecting a paycheck...he want's to win, and will clash with personnel dept. [whomever is in charge] sooner then we think.. 

After this past draft....whomever called the shots, should be fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Thinking Skins]

But here's another thing I like right now (and sorry, but the type of person I am is one who tries to find positives).

I'm looking at our depth chart not really by a chary buy by Rich Tandler's snap counts. That gives me an idea of how coaches view guys.

http://realredskins.com/2014/10/14/redskins-snap-count-analysis-vs-cardinals/

Defensive line:

Jason Hatcher 43, (32)

Chris Baker 35, (27)

Jarvis Jenkins 34; (26)

Frank Kearse 20, (26)

Kedric Golston 20, (31)

Clifton Geathers 16 (27)

Linebacker:

Keenan Robinson 70, (25)

Brian Orakpo 64, (28)

Ryan Kerrigan 61, (26)

Will Compton 61, (25)

Trent Murphy 26, (24)

Adam Hayward 3 (30)

Defensive backs:

Bashaud Breeland 70, (22)

Ryan Clark 69, (35)

E. J. Biggers 61, (27)

Brandon Meriweather 55, (30)

Trenton Robinson 37 (24)

David Amerson 14, (23)

Chase Minnifield 11, (25)

That's seven players 25 and under (and 10 players 26 and under) who are receiving regular playing time. People talk about us "developing talent" and that could be exactly what we're doing with these guys. Some of these guys (Chase and T.Robinson) had high draft grades but went undrafted so there's potential there. I do like to see that our backups are primarily young guys with potential instead of a bunch of veterans, like we did under Gibbs.

I'm not saying (or even thinking) that ALL these guys will work out and the fact that we're playing this many UDFAs doesn't bode well for our drafting strategy, but it does say that we're not going to sign a known C-level player to come in and fill a reserve role. And these guys that are receiving regular playing time are guys that have been with us all offseason. I'm curious to see what we've got in Jeffcoat (OLB) and Ducre (CB) who also received high draft grades, but went undrafted.

But this is how you find the diamonds in the rough. Its partially about having a great scouting department, but its also about being willing to go in with a young 24 year old instead of signing the known has-been's and expecting them to suddenly become relevant (looking at the Roberts signing).

[Thinking Skins]

http://realredskins.com/2014/10/14/redskins-snap-count-analysis-vs-cardinals/

QB/O-line:

Kirk Cousins - 60, (26)

Chris Chester - 60, (31)

Shawn Lauvao - 60, (27)

Kory Lichtensteiger - 60, (29)

Tyler Polumbus - 60, (29)

Trent Williams - 59, (26)

Tom Compton - 1 (25)

Wide receivers:

Pierre Garçon - 58, (28)

DeSean Jackson - 54, (28)

Andre Roberts - 49, (26)

Ryan Grant - 4, (24)

Santana Moss - 1 (35)

Tight ends:

Jordan Reed - 35, (24)

Niles Paul - 27, (25)

Logan Paulsen - 8 (27)

Running backs:

Roy Helu Jr. - 34, (26)

Alfred Morris - 26, (26)

Darrel Young - 4 (27)

Unlike the defense, we're not seeing any youth injected into the offense. That could be because of a lack of injuries there. When Reed was down Paul (another young sub) took most his snaps, and we know that many of the guys listed above who did get playing time have young backups. So maybe we don't have a "strategy" to get these young guys in yet but it would be nice to see them getting some playing time.

[skins island connection]

It was only a matter of time before the clouds parted to show the true sky....Shanny was not the problem, he was the scapegoat!

Is anyone still wondering why he had to micromanage Hazlet? The defensive guru that he is!

Hazlet was going to flourish without Shanny breathing down his neck... ROTFL

And RG3 was going to show everyone how he was being held back by MS...  MS was the problem with this,,, and the problem with that, and so on! The problem is; RG3 can't play from the pocket!

It was only a matter of time before certain people had to answer for their ineptitude, their convenient excuse is gone!

The only question that remains; will J. Gruden put up with it? I don't think he's the type content with collecting a paycheck...he want's to win, and will clash with personnel dept. [whomever is in charge] sooner then we think.. 

After this past draft....whomever called the shots, should be fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 Plausible.

 Very much so.

 Why MS would sabotage the defense makes absolutely no sense, most likely he saw how inept Haslett was and took it upon himself to step in and make changes; and now one could bring up the possibility that Haslett could have been one of the undermining issues in the turmoil surrounding the entire team, but mostly both Shanahans and their departure.

 

 But now, if Gruden doesn't step up and do something with Haslett, he will be on the short list of the **** list with fans. This buddy buddy crap has to come to a stop; and evidently Bruce is smack dab in the middle of this cluster**** stew, so Bruce should at least fire Haslett then resign out of disgrace for keeping/hiring him to begin with.

[GoldSkinner]

Snyder keeps hiring these bums that no one else in the NFL would give a second glance to. Vinny was a glorified blog writer, and somehow Snyder was convinced to give him a lucrative position in such a prestigious sports organization; Jim Zorn was more of a nobody than a bum initially, but he turned out to be a bum in the end; Bruce Allen is another bum that would have vegetated on the coach had Snyder not given him a job.

 

I'm tired of the owner hiring second-tier talent and throw-aways. When Bill Cowher retired from the Steelers, that head coach vacancy was the most sought after position in all of football, for even active head coaches at the time were inquiring about that job. We don't get that same respect or interest, despite Washington being an equally esteemed and recognized franchise. All we can do is hire BUMS, with real talent being warned not to come here unless looking to cash-out of the NFL after 4 years.

[DJD2]

Sally puts her 2 cents in

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/with-the-redskins-its-always-clear-whom-to-blame-someone-else/2014/10/14/62493aca-53b1-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html

 

Nice summary.

 

Gruden doesn't have a chance.

[Voice_of_Reason]

So, you're saying it was Bruce's idea to keep Haslett around, and that Gruden didn't have a say in it? Because I agree with that.

What I was saying is that if Snyder was calling the shots Haslett would have been fired out of a cannon the day after the season.

Clearly Bruce thought enough of him to keep him around.

I really have no idea whether or not Gruden had a say in keeping him, but I think the answer is yes. The reason is that if Gruden is even half smart, they talked about how they were going to pick the coaching staff during his interview,, and if he couldn't live with it, then he wouldn't have taken the job.

And I don't believe Allen is stupid enough to hire his guy, and tell him one thing in the interview and then cut off his legs not a week after.

I actually think Allen gave Gruden the choice, and he's familiar with Haslett and chose to keep him.

But that's just conjecture.

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

Can't use the quote feature from this computer for some reason but on the subject of Shanny being the scapegoat... definite possibility.

 

It's also occurred to me that maybe Kyle deserves the credit for 2012 and I seem to recall Mike talking most every week about how Robert needed to quit taking unnecessary hits. Is it possible if he would have just listened and learned how to slide or get his rear end out of bounds, we'd be in a much different place right now?

[darrelgreenie]

 

No, Bruce is just a pawn in this failure of an organization.  It's the biggest cluster**** of any organization in any sport.  When Bruce was hired, darrelgreenie and company declared the Redskins on the right path.  Over 4 years later and we are saying we get to hit the reset button.  Silliest thing I have ever heard.

Oh, really? That's what I said when Bruce was hired? Prove it, quote me. Because I'm calling bull****. Look it up. Find out where I expressed the view you claim above.

I grow tired of your completely baseless and inaccurate claims.

Once again you are fabricating a viewpoint and I wonder to myself how is that different from a lie?

At some point after you've been proven wrong for the umpteenth time maybe you'll be more accurate with your statements?..nah, lol

 

I have cautious optimism.

 

Bruce Allen isn't a personnel guy.

 

He's a contracts and negotation guy. Which is important. And personnel is arguable the biggest job of a GM. (next to guiding the ship and managing egos i.e. tell the coach when your special teams coach needs to be let go etc.)

So Bruce Allen, the non-personnel guy, is vouching for 2 personnel guys in M.Brown and Scott Campbell that have been here during some *meh* personnel practices in both draft/FA.

I am left to assume that Allen believes in M.Brown/Scott Campbell for a reason.

I am left to assume that the previous GM, who had final say, should/could have taken more input from M.Brown/Scott Campbell and chose not.

I am inclined to believe that Bruce Allen is correct and that the previous GM did not listen M.Brown and Scott Campbell enough.

But again Bruce Allen isn't a personnel guy.

 

However, Senior Executive AJ Smith is a personnel guy.

But what is his role? I don't know.

But I hope that Bruce and AJ work together and allow M.Brown/Scott Campbell to do their thing.

 

It could work.

Its not ideal but it could work.

I do believe its the best stucture we've had in a long time.

 

http://es.redskins.com/topic/375806-the-new-gm-will-be-more-important-than-the-new-head-coach/?p=9693625

 

The people who are calling for a change at HC or GM are the ones hitting the reset button, not me.

Get your facts straight before you type.

 

Cheers

[Brokenstriker]

Anyone else getting the suspicion that Bruce retained Haslett because it was Bruce and not Jay that wanted someone around who had HC experience?  Me thinks so.

I assume you mean NFL head coach experience.  Gruden has head coach experience.  He's 87 - 57 as a HC of professional albeit not NFL football teams, 10 years, 2 league championships, and get this ... made the playoffs every season.

[chipwhich]

Oh, really? That's what I said when Bruce was hired? Prove it, quote me. Because I'm calling bull****. Look it up. Find out where I expressed the view you claim above.

I grow tired of your completely baseless and inaccurate claims.

Once again you are fabricating a viewpoint and I wonder to myself how is that different from a lie?

At some point after you've been proven wrong for the umpteenth time maybe you'll be more accurate with your statements?..nah, lol

 

Maybe I had the wrong poster.  There was a number of people on here posting that at the time  I would look it up but searching is near impossible given the search term topic.

 

As far as completely baseless and inaccurate claims feel free to call me out when I "tell a lie".  That's a totally baseless and inaccurate claim but feel free to call out all of my lying posts

[Tulane Skins Fan]

Had success developing one qb, not plural, who is having his best year by a wide margin now that his qb developing guru oc is on another team. The same qb guru who had leaked that cousins, not rg3 the face of the franchise, was his preferred qb all along, and yet we expect him to develop rg3.

If you accept that Allen is incompetent (I do), then it's no stretch to think his appointment of Gruden is further proof of his incompetence rather than an exception to his incompetence. Gruden hasn't changed the culture here, he's just another extension of the tb losers who have already been here for 5 years. I want a clean slate, sooner rather than later, so we don't spend more time wasting rg3's career.

 

This is the type of decision a terrible owner like Dan Snyder makes.  

 

Jay Gruden was a highly sought after assistant and well-respected mind.  You interviewed numerous candidates and you picked him.  Six games, let me say that again... SIX GAMES into his first season as a head coach in the NFL you are declaring him a bad hire and someone to move on from.

 

As others have said, that is CRAZY.  It is insane.  

 

You know, coaches get better at coaching too.  Bill Belicheck is a better coach today than he was after six games in the NFL.  Its not luck... you learn from experiences.  You get better.  That's why you foster his development AS A HEAD COACH.  

 

Gruden is bright, well-liked, well-respected, works hard, and has the respect of his players by all accounts.  Those are the attributes you want in an NFL head coach.  Now, let him figure it out for a few years before you start to turn on him.  Its insane to do otherwise.

[Thinking Skins]

I've been wondering something, and it kinda relates back to our coaching search that wound up with the hiring of Jim Zorn as our head coach. If I remember correctly, there were candidates that didn't want our head coaching position and would rather remain coordinators. I don't know the validity of that though.

If this is true though, I wonder how much our image across the league has changed and how deeply that affects us. I wonder if we've tried to get better position coaches and they didn't want to come. I wonder if Allen kept half the coaching staff because they were under contract so we'd know that Gruden would have SOMEBODY to fill out his staff. I wonder if Gruden really wanted somebody else as OC and DC (rumor is that he wanted to interview the guy who's Cincy's current DC) and position coaches. I really wonder if he wanted (wants) to replace Chris Foerster, but couldn't get his guy because they didn't want to leave a shady situation.

[KDawg]

Maybe I had the wrong poster.  There was a number of people on here posting that at the time  I would look it up but searching is near impossible given the search term topic.

 

As far as completely baseless and inaccurate claims feel free to call me out when I "tell a lie".  That's a totally baseless and inaccurate claim but feel free to call out all of my lying posts

 

I said that, and I still think that. 

 

The 'Skins are on the right path as far as priorities. However, the execution does still leave something to be desired. Addressing OL, ILB and DL were all necessary. We did all of that. I don't think we did it well, which is part of the issue. 

 

Where I will admit I was wrong, though, is that perhaps Morocco Brown isn't as good of a scout as I thought. The same can be said for Scott Campbell. I don't know for sure, but given our hit rates, and the way the 'Skins seem to be going about their business, the buck can't be passed off to Cerrato any more. Yes, that does fall on Allen, but given this is still his first year in charge, he does get a bit of leeway. 

 

Ideally, I too wanted Allen to hire a GM. But the structure in place is MUCH better than it was prior. We have a front office structure. It still needs to be improved (President > GM > Scouts). But I still think we're on the right path.

[Thinking Skins]

With all the talk of Haslett, I wanted to look at other guys starting with Chris Foerster.

Here are some stats for Foerster's coaching record and where his teams ranked in terms of passing and rushing.

Pass, Run

Washington Redskins

2013 - 16, 13

2012 - 20, 1

2011 - 14, 25

2010 - 8, 24

San Francisco 49ers

2009 - 22, 25

2008 - 13, 27

Baltimore Ravens

2007 - 23, 16

2006 - 11, 25

Tampa Bay Bucks

2001 - 15, 30

2000 - 26, 9

1999 - 30, 15

1998 - 27, 4

1997 - 30, 11

1996 - 29, 22

I wish there was a better metric for grading an OL coach (number of projects developed?) but I'm not impressed with Foerster.

[Thinking Skins]

Maybe I had the wrong poster.  There was a number of people on here posting that at the time  I would look it up but searching is near impossible given the search term topic.

 

As far as completely baseless and inaccurate claims feel free to call me out when I "tell a lie".  That's a totally baseless and inaccurate claim but feel free to call out all of my lying posts

I'm in Allen's corner. I was when we first hired him in 2009 and still am now. I don't care about his "football background". Danny asks who's going to be on the phone when the Skins call, and thats Allen's job as GM. He's the one orchestrating the trades. He's the one doing the negotiating. He's the one doing the drafting. All this is with the input of scouts. But for the first time under Snyder's reign we look like other franchises. After Shanny's departure we look even more like other franchises because we have one GM and one coach and they're different people and the GM does GM things and the coach does coach things.

I was excited about the way Allen handled the offseason. I can't grade the draft this early but I liked that he traded down. I also like that he's signing UDFAs to compete for the backup spots instead of Vinny's way of trading picks. The signing young hungry guys both makes our team younger, builds our depth, and builds future starters. Look at what happened with Will Compton. Think about it. That could be Lorenzo Alexander, who's a great special teams player but not much more. Thankfully we found some young talented players to come in and play ILB well. That's what Allen's been doing since he got here.

People want to grade him based on bad drafts, but that's not our only ability to bring in young talent. Look at how he (Shanny) found Carriker. That was a former first round bust with the Rams. We traded a low round pick for him and he was a consistent starter before he got hurt.

People may not see it right now, but we're building a good team.

[Brokenstriker]

People may not see it right now, but we're building a good team.

I don't necessarily disagree with you as far as Allen goes ... but if the next draft doesn't generate at least one rock-solid destined to be a career starter and frequent Pro Bowl invitee O-Lineman ... preferrably with a decent if not as excellent side kick who will also start year 1 on the O-Line ... then I'm going to expect to see Allen resign in disgust or be summarily fired for allowing "rebuilding" to ignore building a superior O-Line.

[Thinking Skins]

So I've been looking for how things have changed over the years, some level of accountability within the scouting department. Here's what I've found.

 

2014:

Morocco Brown leaves to go to Cleveland

Promoted Alex Santos

promoted Jeff Scott to pro scout

promoted Josh Washburn to pro scout

 

2011:

Hired Kyle Smith to scout SW region

Moved Chip Flanagan to SE region

Bill Baker retired

 

2010:

Fired Russ Bolinger, their National Scout

Fired Donnie Warren

 

2005:

Mike Kelly is no longer with the club

Promoted Louis Riddick to Director of Pro Personnel

2004:

Fired: Cary Conklin

Fired: Marcus Dupree

 

2003:

Hired Marcus Dupree

Hired Mike Kelly

Hired Foge Fazio

Hired Eric Schaffer

 

2001

Joe Mendes resigns

Hired Louis Riddick

 

 

Other names I've read about, but wasn't able to see hire/fire dates:

Richard Mann II

Terry Ray - Pro Scout

Tim Gribble - Area Scout

Shemy Schembechler - Area Scout

Jim Zeches - Area Scout

Mike Faulkiner - Area Scout

I did read a quote saying that we had fired our pro scouts under Shanny because he'd be doing more of the scouting himself. I don't like that at all and it seems that with Bruce being named GM we hired two scouts to serve as the pro scouts, which is a good move again.

http://learninglover.com

[Jumbo]

nice work on gathering that info, TS, and kudos on your site---good stuff

[Thinking Skins]

Updating that information I just gave out, here is the scouting department for 2014:

 

President and GM - Bruce Allen
VP of Football Administration - Eric Schaffer
Director of Player Personnel - Scott Campbell
Director of Pro Personnel - Alex Santos
Player Personnel Assistant - Matt Evans
Senior Executive - AJ SMith
BLEDSTO Scout - Darryl Franklyn
Area Scout - Tim Gribble
Area Scout - Kyle Smith
Area Scout - Cole Spencer
Area Scout - David Whittington
Area Scout - Jim Zeches
Pro Scout - Richard Mann II
Pro Scout - Jeff Scott
Pro Scout - Josh Washington
Personal Executive - Doug Williams
Administrative Assistant - Brian Zeches

 

So it seems we have 5 area scouts (college) and 3 pro scouts.

 

And http://www.bgobsession.com/skinsreleases/2014WashingtonRedskinsMediaGuide.pdf is a link to the 2014 media guide where I got this information.

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

Should've never fired Cary Conklin...