The Bruce Allen/GM Thread

[kleese]

I'll say this, if they DO add a legitimate football guy and Bruce is still on board, then said legitimate football guy will have no one to blame but himself if it doesn't work out. He won't be able to claim he was "duped" or misled. He'd have to know what he was getting into-- and if he didn't, he probably isn't as "legitimate" as we'd think. 

[lavar1156]

As if Louis Riddick has a stellar track record.

[Skinsinparadise]

1 hour ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

An argument I’ve seen more than a few times is “Dan isn’t leaving, so you might as well leave”.  On its face, I get it.  But it’s deeper than that.  I think anyone who is still here giving enough of a crap to post regularly and watch the games every weekend is more than aware that Dan is going to outlive them and most likely own the team for the rest of our entire lives.  I don’t think any of us are under the illusion that he’s going to become self aware and competent overnight.  The hope is that eventually he may “luck out” on a Team President/GM capable of keeping him at bay and building a winning organization and culture.  It’s honestly too late to for most of us to ever root for Dan Snyder.  I don’t think there is anything he can do short of apologize profusely, acknowledge his hand in why fans feel the way they do, and show it’s authentic in the actions he takes from that point forward.  That’s asking a lot and I never see that happening.  But what we can hope for is that he eventually gets lucky on choosing a right hand man with the talent and experience required for building a strong organization that starts with him and trickles down through everything else.  

 

That's the whole thing for me.  Do I think Dan is the bigger problem than Bruce in the scheme of things?  Of course he is.  He's the common denominator through all the losing.  I'd take Dan gone over Bruce gone 100 times out 100, its not even close.  But Dan isn't going away.  So what do we have left?

 

I know some think a variation that Bruce is an innocent dupe in all of this or just some empty vessel who enjoys doing Dan's bidding.  If I felt the same, I wouldn't even bother posting here because it would all feel completely hopeless.  And obviously there is no way to know one way or another for sure.   But for that narrative to be true about Bruce -- a lot of people would have to be wrong about him -- both the people who cover him now and the people who covered him in the past.  For me I am just as confident that Bruce is a douche-incompetent-bad team culture dude as I feel about Dan.  And that's my one hope here.  Break up the Frick and Frack gang.  And replace Frack with someone who is a good dude and is competent.  Maybe that doesn't do the trick.  and I agree it will still be bad because of Dan but I think there is a chance it will lessen the damage and increase the odds they get lucky.

 

Also, maybe fans protesting, showing distaste, now showing up the stadium, flooding Redskins Park with calls, killing them on social media on and on -- may finally get Dan to wake up.  The most interesting and confusing narrative for me is how attuned or not is Dan to the fans feelings about the culture in Redskins Park and the FO.  Hard to get a handle for me on whether Dan is attuned or not -- am inclined to believe he's not that attuned and he and Bruce run around Redskins Park like their crap doesn't stink.  What happens when he gets how many fans think he's incompetent, a jerk, social inept and dense.  Does that finally wake him up?  Got no idea but at the very least I am enjoying seeing fans bring that message in different ways to Redskins Park.

[dyst]

15 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

So what do we have left?

Apathy is what we have left. I think fans know things are practically hopeless as long as Dan is owner and that is why we have become apathetic. If it were just the coach, or GM we as fans would still have hope but when it's the owner...it's much much worse.

[hail2skins]

1 hour ago, kleese said:

 

 I save any venom I have in life for people who have earned it from me personally.

Like Romeo Bandison

[kleese]

3 minutes ago, hail2skins said:

Like Romeo Bandison

 

Touche’. He really did hurt me personally. 

[SemperFi Skins]

Joey Porter should be called immediately for a position coach/LB coach.... Just fired from the Steelers. He's the personality we need

 

Joey Porter - LB - Free Agent

Steelers fired OLBs coach Joey Porter.

Porter is maybe the least deserving Steelers coach of a firing, considering the production from his unit. T.J. Watt was tied for seventh in the league with 13 sacks, and the Steelers as a team led the league in sacks with 52. Porter has a big personality, like a lot of members of the Pittsburgh locker room, so perhaps that played a role. Either way, Porter should quickly find another gig.

Related: Steelers

[bird_1972]

1 hour ago, dyst said:

Apathy is what we have left. I think fans know things are practically hopeless as long as Dan is owner and that is why we have become apathetic. If it were just the coach, or GM we as fans would still have hope but when it's the owner...it's much much worse.

^^^this x 1000

[Wildbunny]

3 hours ago, kleese said:

I'll say this, if they DO add a legitimate football guy and Bruce is still on board, then said legitimate football guy will have no one to blame but himself if it doesn't work out. He won't be able to claim he was "duped" or misled. He'd have to know what he was getting into-- and if he didn't, he probably isn't as "legitimate" as we'd think. 

Yes and No.

 

I get your point. But if he come here and Bruce has supposedly no powers regarding football business and still goes on to complain about this new guy with Dan... Well, you can hardly blame him.

 

Anyway, I wouldn't come in it until Bruce is officially out. And even there, it wouldn't be trustful as you don't know what Bruce could do from the backdoor...

[Bang]

5 hours ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

An argument I’ve seen more than a few times is “Dan isn’t leaving, so you might as well leave”.  On its face, I get it.  

for me, i am not saying anyone should leave. Far be it from me to do that. (Last year i was bemoaning them screwing up the Cousins deal and was ready to leave if they did.. well, they did and here I am, so...) 

I'm just saying it as an example of how futile it is to want Dan gone. We all do..  but nobody can fire him. So we're stuck with him if we remain Redskins fans, unfortunately.

 

~Bang

[Skinsinparadise]

 

 

 

 

[skins island connection]

6 hours ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

That's the whole thing for me.  Do I think Dan is the bigger problem than Bruce in the scheme of things?  Of course he is.  He's the common denominator through all the losing.  I'd take Dan gone over Bruce gone 100 times out 100, its not even close.  But Dan isn't going away.  So what do we have left?

 

 

 With Snyder being a fan before growing pubes, then making a ton of money with whatever he sold, then buying his beloved team, I'd have to say that even I would faulter on different things, I would think it would be inevitable for anyone NOT to tamper to some degree, so yes, Snyder is at fault, to a degree.

 

But, if it were me in place of Snyder, I'd hope that I hired a good GM who would have the sack to tell me " I need to stay out of the way and let me do my job ".  I'm sure there would be some explanation of what I screwed up and I'm sure I'd see things his way.

 

This is my interpretation of Snyder's fault IMO: he hasn't hired a GM who knows what he's doing, he has hired his golf buddies or 'yes' men { Bruce Allen } who focus more on catering to the owner for job security purposes than sucking it up and rolling up the sleeves and doing whatever 'dirty' work is needed. Then this GM hires a friend as payback for something in the past, shadows and deflects any negativity over any questions Snyder or others may have had, then THAT person goes to Allen saying he wants person 'A' on the staff or coaching and the once-small issue grows into a big problem.

 

I don't know the process of how he ended up hiring Allen, did he pay a consulting firm or was it simply a walk-in? Somewhere, somehow, word must have gotten to Snyder that Bruce Allen may not be the person to hire, I can't see how Snyder would look at Allen's track record as a resume'. This stumps me. It couldn't be as simple as 'he's the son of George Allen', can it? The cons far outweigh the pros with him.

 

Bottom line, its gonna be difficult to find a worthy GM who will tell Snyder the cold hard truth instead of catering to his ego. I laugh but I can't imagine a new GM telling Snyder to back off and let him do his job, that's job security...

 

  

[Skinsinparadise]

Russell right now talking about the FO.   Listening to his current description I get why Sheehan, Russell, Brewer are suggesting a new FO person is likely coming but without giving the name.

 

The answer to that seems to be there are a bunch of names circulating on this front not just one.

 

Russell goes don't be surprised if its someone who has been here before, been in the inner circle and dealt with Dan and Bruce before.

 

He also goes don't be surprised if its a name that doesn't blow the fans socks off.   That point is similar to Brewer's who said its someone that they are higher on and think the fans are likewise high on this person but he thinks fans won't be.

 

Trying to think of a person like that.  Reddick and Casserly would both fit that bill.    I like both dudes as people.  And Reddick comes off like Rain Man level savant on TV but his track record hasn't been hot. I've been hot and cold on him but I'd still take him over Bruce.   Casserly is a jovial, good natured dude, but his draft record might even be worse than Vinny's.

 

If they are really talking to multiple people I'd presume the one who ends up with the job is the cheapest date.  Dan in the past was willing to spend big on FAs -- but when it comes to the FO he's known as a major cheapskate. 

 

Heck maybe they should just hire an intern out of college who will work for college credit or something like that -- sell it as they are going with new school analytics types.  And most importantly, the dude will say Yes Sir to Bruce and or Dan so they'd always be on the same page.

[RWJ]

23 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

Russell right now talking about the FO.   Listening to his current description I get why Sheehan, Russell, Brewer are suggesting a new FO person is likely coming but without giving the name.

 

The answer to that seems to be there are a bunch of names circulating on this front not just one.

 

Russell goes don't be surprised if its someone who has been here before, been in the inner circle and dealt with Dan and Bruce before.

 

He also goes don't be surprised if its a name that doesn't blow the fans socks off.   That point is similar to Brewer's who said its someone that they are higher on and think the fans are likewise high on this person but he thinks fans won't be.

 

Trying to think of a person like that.  Reddick and Casserly would both fit that bill.    I like both dudes as people.  And Reddick comes off like Rain Man level savant on TV but his track record hasn't been hot. I've been hot and cold on him but I'd still take him over Bruce.   Casserly is a jovial, good natured dude, but his draft record might even be worse than Vinny's.

 

If they are really talking to multiple people I'd presume the one who ends up with the job is the cheapest date.  Dan in the past was willing to spend big on FAs -- but when it comes to the FO he's known as a major cheapskate. 

 

Heck maybe they should just hire an intern out of college who will work for college credit or something like that -- sell it as they are going with new school analytics types.  And most importantly, the dude will say Yes Sir to Bruce and or Dan so they'd always be on the same page.

Wouldn't surprise me.  The best I think we can hope for is what's been talked about before.  Let Schaffer take over FO ops, Smith become the GM and let him either keep or hand pick his own HC.  Only problem is Allen is still employed with the team and we all know what that means.  However, I think we would be more successful with Schaffer and Smith than anyone else and we wouldn't have to go out of house.  Just my 2 cents.

[Chump Bailey]

Quote

The Redskins, inevitably, find themselves back in a familiar situation that can easily be summed up in one word; dysfunction. As Redskins fans, each year starts with great hope...ideas of change and growth in this franchise, and each year ends with dismal performances, infighting, and institutional arrogance from the front office. Perhaps Redskins fans simply have a thicker veil pulled over their collective eyes, or perhaps this organization truly is unable to function like an organization that deserves the respect of its peers. Sorry for the doom-and-gloom during the holidays, but let's be honest, guys-unless Daniel Snyder fires the face of ineptitude in Bruce Allen, hires a GM with real power and truly takes his hands out of the football pot/sticks to the business side, this team will continue to meddle in mediocrity at best.

Bruce Allen's various displays of arrogance and flat-out lack of understanding of the reality of the deterioration of 1-the organization's optics, 2-the team's roster and therefore play on the field, 3-the lack of respect/trust her garners from the rest of the league's players and agents, and most importantly, 4-the deterioration of the fan base itself (demonstrated by diving attendance and century-low cable ratings) is leading this franchise off the rails into an ocean stretching to the deepest depths of abyssal trenches. Change needs to happen and it needs to happen now. Fire Bruce Allen, bring in a GM, and let him clean out the dirtiest corners of Ashburn, take out the trash, and rebuild this dumpster-fire from the roots. Oh, and draft a QB, DB, ILB, WR, LG, and/or EDGE player...because...eh...we don't have players at those positions and those positions are important. 

-Kennedy Paynter, Draft Analyst (@Kennedy_Paynter on Twitter)

 

https://www.drafttek.com/2019-NFL-Mock-Draft-Round1.asp

 

 

[dyst]

1 hour ago, Skinsinparadise said:

Casserly is a jovial, good natured dude.

This guy? 😛

 

 

[Skinsinparadise]

1 hour ago, RWJ said:

Wouldn't surprise me.  The best I think we can hope for is what's been talked about before.  Let Schaffer take over FO ops, Smith become the GM and let him either keep or hand pick his own HC.  Only problem is Allen is still employed with the team and we all know what that means.  However, I think we would be more successful with Schaffer and Smith than anyone else and we wouldn't have to go out of house.  Just my 2 cents.

 

I think this is close to a consensus agreement among fans especially FO critics.  but if the beat guys sources are correct its not happening.  Seems like there are three competing narratives

 

Most popular narrative

 

A.  New front office person -- not some hot shot highly regarded around the league type -- but more of a celebrity name type

B. Bruce moves to business operations but is still the defacto key guy because he will still be hanging with his BFF Dan.

 

2nd more popular

 

A.  New front office person -- not some hot shot highly regarded around the league type -- but more of a celebrity name type

B.  Bruce stays in the FO and this new person works under Bruce

 

3rd most popular

 

Nothing -- everything status quo

 

 

[skinsfan212689]

Did Marvin Lewis have a say in the Bengals player personnel decisions?

[Rufus T Firefly]

2 hours ago, Skinsinparadise said:

<snip from tweet>

The Washington Redskins have not had a first-team All-Pro player since 1996, when punter Matt Turk received the honor.

The last thing I want to do is defend the Redskins under Snyder. In fact, I am definitely not doing that. 

 

But, it should be noted that, over the period outlined above, the Redskins have had players like Chris Samuels, Champ Bailey, Clinton Portis, Shawn Springs, Sean Taylor, Chris Cooley, Trent Williams and Ryan Kerrigan, among others. The fact that none of them made a single first team All-Pro team is more a statement on the quality of the AP than on the quality of those players. 

[Skinsinparadise]

2 hours ago, skins island connection said:

 

 

Bottom line, its gonna be difficult to find a worthy GM who will tell Snyder the cold hard truth instead of catering to his ego. I laugh but I can't imagine a new GM telling Snyder to back off and let him do his job, that's job security...

 

 

I think you need a Gibbs like personality.  The impression I got about Gibbs with Dan is they were both very friendly but Gibbs knew how to talk to him where Dan felt included and Gibbs still got what he wanted.  The opposite extreme like someone like Marty who would just probably just tell Dan off -- that doesn't fly. 

 

So we need to get lucky and find a dude who is both good at his job and also is a master at playing Dan.  Bruce is described by just about everyone as a master at playing Dan -- now that wouldn't be a bad thing if he had other attributes going for him but alas he doesn't IMO have much.  

 

The one common narrative that I keep hearing is Vinny was Dan's stooge especially when Gibbs wasn't the HC.    Bruce on the other hand isn't Dan's stooge like Vinny was and the dude is a power hungry politician behind the scenes.  Combining Liz Clark's narrative from a radio interview with another narrative it paints the picture that

 

Bruce is living the dream because he has more power at Redskins Park than he ever had in his prior two jobs and can play the role of an owner in one sense by how he represents Dan in league meetings -- with Bruce sometimes even going to these meetings without Dan.  And Bruce gets a fat salary to boot.  So Bruce is living large money wise and power wise.  And if anyone in that building threatens the dude's fiefdom, he will run over them like a Mack Track.

 

And Dan and Bruce go drinking with each other telling each other how great they are.   Or so is the vibe I get. 

 

[Skinsinparadise]

Hopefully eventually stuff like they will have them kicking and dragging themselves into discovering that maybe they aren't smarter than everyone else.   And maybe changing how they run things isn't so crazy.

 

 

 

[Andre The Giant]

22 minutes ago, skinsfan212689 said:

Did Marvin Lewis have a say in the Bengals player personnel decisions?

 

Yes, I believe the Bengals rely on their Coaches to scout players more than other teams.

[RWJ]

3 hours ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

I think this is close to a consensus agreement among fans especially FO critics.  but if the beat guys sources are correct its not happening.  Seems like there are three competing narratives

 

Most popular narrative

 

A.  New front office person -- not some hot shot highly regarded around the league type -- but more of a celebrity name type

B. Bruce moves to business operations but is still the defacto key guy because he will still be hanging with his BFF Dan.

 

2nd more popular

 

A.  New front office person -- not some hot shot highly regarded around the league type -- but more of a celebrity name type

B.  Bruce stays in the FO and this new person works under Bruce

 

3rd most popular

 

Nothing -- everything status quo

 

 

I surely don't want to see Schaffer or Kyle Smith depart this team.   That would be a HUGE disappointment.

[Renegade7]

On 1/2/2019 at 8:37 PM, Skinsinparadise said:

 

Who will be Robespierre in that mix?  Fellow NFL owners?  Goodell? 

 

That's a good question that I'm still putting some thought into because Robespierre despite his good intentions went too far and got executed him damn self. 

 

I predict it will be someone like the governor of Maryland when the FedEx lease is up.  Feds won't let Redskins back in DC without name change and Virginia won't stand for the carcass of this franchise getting free land and money. They aren't Amazon.

 

Maryland Governor will stand up to Snyder applying the type of pressure needed for change, but that will lead to them leaving Maryland and costing that person an election.

[Stadium-Armory]

My unsupported speculation: Sashi Brown.