The Bruce Allen/GM Thread

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

I’ve been thinking of names that could boost my spirits ever since this rumor popped up.  Still can’t think of one.  

 

To make any real changes, you first have to acknowledge your failures.  Continuing to employ Bruce is not acknowledging failure.  It’s a publicity stunt based on fan outcry.  

 

Let’s pretend Bruce really will be removed from all football related decisions for a minute.  What has Bruce done to deserve being in charge of the business side of operations?  How is he going to be the guy to bring the fans back?  The fans hate his guts.  

[Skinsinparadise]

4 minutes ago, TK said:

Didn’t Louis Riddick recently sign either a new contract or a contract extension? What’s the buyout clause on that again?

 

Don't know.  But you think Riddick is it?  Seems like an obscure pick that insiders like us would recognize the name but doubt average fans do.  But Joey T did complement Riddick out of the blue on Twitter so there is that.

[MisterPinstripe]

2 minutes ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

I’ve been thinking of names that could boost my spirits ever since this rumor popped up.  Still can’t think of one.  

 

To make any real changes, you first have to acknowledge your failures.  Continuing to employ Bruce is not acknowledging failure.  It’s a publicity stunt based on fan outcry.  

 

Let’s pretend Bruce really will be removed from all football related decisions for a minute.  What has Bruce done to deserve being in charge of the business side of operations?  How is he going to be the guy to bring the fans back?  The fans hate his guts.  

I'm hoping against hope it's Kyle Smith and the name is because of AJ Smith. But I realize that's foolhardy.

[Skinsinparadise]

5 minutes ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

I’ve been thinking of names that could boost my spirits ever since this rumor popped up.  Still can’t think of one.  

 

To make any real changes, you first have to acknowledge your failures.  Continuing to employ Bruce is not acknowledging failure.  It’s a publicity stunt based on fan outcry.  

 

Let’s pretend Bruce really will be removed from all football related decisions for a minute.  What has Bruce done to deserve being in charge of the business side of operations?  How is he going to be the guy to bring the fans back?  The fans hate his guts.  

 

nothing short of Bruce being let go would lift my spirits.

 

But as for lifting my spirits a little with Bruce still in the building:

 

A.  They hire a hot shot personnel guy (with a rep like Scot as opposed to some nostalgia driven name) to add to the FO.

 

B.  They hire Gregg Williams as a DC.  I know some on the board don't like the dude and think he's overrated.  For me, I think he's a really good D coordinator. 

[skins island connection]

I hope it isn't Mark Dominik.

If Bruce is touting anything, I'd be scared. Really scared.

[TK]

6 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

Don't know.  But you think Riddick is it?  

It checks the box for the most Redskins type move.  

[Skinsinparadise]

4 minutes ago, skins island connection said:

I hope it isn't Mark Dominik.

If Bruce is touting anything, I'd be scared. Really scared.

 

I think they got a cynical fan base just ready to pounce on them so if Bruce doubles down on another Tampa connection -- it backfires with fans IMO.  And maybe they don't care what fans think but eventually it will come to a head if people continue now showing up to games, watching the games on TV and even owners of other teams notice (according to the WP) and are concerned.

2 minutes ago, TK said:

It checks the box for the most Redskins type move.  

 

That's true.  The other Gruden just hired an media guy in effect.  Raiders go NFL Network -- Redskins go ESPN.

[bakedtater1]

So what's going on.. what's the scuttlebutt?

[Skinsinparadise]

3 minutes ago, bakedtater1 said:

So what's going on.. what's the scuttlebutt?

 

That Bruce shifts to business operations (but wink wink keeps his powers since he has Dan's ear the most and they have their weird bromance cooking) and they appoint a new head of football operations that has a name that fans will like -- or think that fans will like and the media will like.

[HardcoreZorn]

24 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

That Bruce shifts to business operations (but wink wink keeps his powers since he has Dan's ear the most and they have their weird bromance cooking) and they appoint a new head of football operations that has a name that fans will like -- or think that fans will like and the media will like.

Do you really buy this?

[Skinsinparadise]

4 minutes ago, HardcoreZorn said:

Do you really buy this?

 

That they are going to move Bruce to business operations or that Dan and Bruce have a bromance?  The bromance part I believe.  The move to business operations, got no clue, just saying some covering the team think its going down. 

[bakedtater1]

So what's going on.. what's the scuttlebutt?

31 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

That Bruce shifts to business operations (but wink wink keeps his powers since he has Dan's ear the most and they have their weird bromance cooking) and they appoint a new head of football operations that has a name that fans will like -- or think that fans will like and the media will like.

So they're bringing in a general manager?....I must have missed a Tweet something somewhere.. delivering milk for the farm and trying to get caught up here lol

[SkinsFTW]

42 minutes ago, bakedtater1 said:

So what's going on.. what's the scuttlebutt?

20 more years of this:

 

 

[RandyHolt]

My peeps are saying Reed Doughty, Sensitivity Trainer.

[Skinsinparadise]

12 minutes ago, bakedtater1 said:

So what's going on.. what's the scuttlebutt?

So they're bringing in a general manager?....I must have missed a Tweet something somewhere.. delivering milk for the farm and trying to get caught up here lol

 

just rumors, scuttlebutt from Brewer and hints from others.  Nothing concrete.

[HardcoreZorn]

14 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

That they are going to move Bruce to business operations or that Dan and Bruce have a bromance?  The bromance part I believe.  The move to business operations, got no clue, just saying some covering the team think its going down. 

I guess I kind of see the bromance/social crutch angle and that makes sense. But what doesn't is hearing now how much power Bruce has behind the scenes after hearing all off-season and season he's slowly being phased out while guys like Schaeffer/Doug/Smith get more added to their plates. And then there is the fact that are drafts have been very good as of late, which we were lead to believe is directly due to Kyle Smith's presence. There seem to be a lot of things not adding up, so I guess I'd be very surprised if moving Bruce to business ops was some secret ploy to keep him around making all of the football decisions. But who the hell knows.

[Renegade7]

3 hours ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

I said I can't believe he doesn't see removing Bruce is the PR hit he needs -- meaning I think he does know it but he can't let Bruce go, regardless.  Just like it took him forever to let Vinny go.   I am stuck on my theory that Dan's social life and the FO go hand in hand.

 

Snyder sounds more and more like King Louis XVI of France while Bruce keeps telling us to eat cake.  Sometimes I wonder if this does end badly will it be with a whimper or a bang.

[TK]

1 hour ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

 

That's true.  The other Gruden just hired an media guy in effect.  Raiders go NFL Network -- Redskins go ESPN.

AJ Smith is another name I keep quietly hearing mentioned but I just can’t bring myself to put much stock in that with his kid here suspossedly being groomed for a GM role. Besides, I believe they still have AJ as a “consultant” because as Booze told us in his same Winning Off The Field presser, they have phones in Hawaii. 

[Skinsinparadise]

3 minutes ago, HardcoreZorn said:

I guess I kind of see the bromance/social crutch angle and that makes sense. But what doesn't is hearing now how much power Bruce has behind the scenes after hearing all off-season and season he's slowly being phased out while guys like Schaeffer/Doug/Smith get more added to their plates. And then there is the fact that are drafts have been very good as of late, which we were lead to believe is directly due to Kyle Smith's presence. There seem to be a lot of things not adding up, so I guess I'd be very surprised if moving Bruce to business ops was some secret ploy to keep him around making all of the football decisions. But who the hell knows.

 

No way to know for sure.  It's just piecing different narratives together some of which conflict but some which are consistent from person to person.  I don't pretend to know squat as for what the truth is.   I just trust my own instincts as to who to trust (based on who got things previously right about the FO) and i especially trust things which overlap from narrative to narrative and make my best guess based on that.

 

We all have our quirks but my football quirk is I love scuttlebutt when it comes to things that we wouldn't have a clue about otherwise so that would including contract negotiations, what guys the team likes in the draft, FA targets, and FO dynamics like what we are talking about now.  I am like a kid in a candy store when I see Finlay, Sheehan or whomever say they got a scoop or when guys like Cooley go off script and say what they heard.  Russell is talking about the FO for example now and am loving it.   Doesn't mean these guys are right and yeah they can be exaggerating so my only cross check is are multiple people saying the same thing?

 

The impression I get to listening to things lately is that they want to do something to appease fans.  Yeah sometimes that narrative is contradicted with some saying Dan-Bruce don't care what fans think.   Have heard mostly Manusky is the sacrificial lamb (but Jay might try to stop that move) replaced by some big name.  One that they are saying its more likely than not but it isn't slam dunk.   Heard that they likely add someone to the FO -- that's Russell's thing.  Brewer said today Bruce gets reassigned with someone new in the building.  Finlay said something similar recently.  Both think Bruce would keep power regardless.  

 

As for what Bruce does or doesn't do.    I've used this analogy before about him.  The impression I get is he listens to people in the building and if something floats his boat he then runs with it himself to make the move when he can.  For example, if I recall it was Finlay and Sheehan said recently Jay had no idea about them acquiring Alex Smith.  Jay also didn't have the chance to evaluate QBs in the draft and do apples to apples comparisons to FAs that year or trade targets.  But looks like someone (maybe Bruce) assigned K. O'Connell to look at QBs and he recommended Alex so Bruce went ahead and made the deal.  So the analogy I used is its sort of like me watching CNBC and hearing different analysts talk about their favorite stocks and while I am no expert -- I  can still get jazzed about something I hear that gets me going so I make the move and buy the stock.

 

So Bruce would have power by making the moves albeit he's not creating the list of the targets.  But with the fractured set up over there the list of targets could come from anywhere -- Kyle one time, Santos another, some scout another time, etc, etc.  So while Bruce isn't scouting where he says lets go get this guy -- he is likely pooling info from people in that building and making at least some moves.

 

Here's Keim and he's no flame thrower:

http://www.espn.com/blog/washington-redskins/post/_/id/37930/redskins-need-to-decide-if-injuries-were-only-reason-for-more-mediocrity

Team president Bruce Allen has been in charge for nine years; in that time the Redskins have made the playoffs twice. He’s involved in every move and often trades get made without consulting coaches, even when it involves quarterbacks. But he’s tight with owner Dan Snyder and a key figure in getting a new stadium built. Allen has become public enemy No. 1 among the fan base. The organization is well aware of the fans' feelings toward Allen. There’s a chance he could be moved out of the football side, but would that be for optics to placate fans or real? 

[TK]

5 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

 

Here's Keim and he's no flame thrower:

http://www.espn.com/blog/washington-redskins/post/_/id/37930/redskins-need-to-decide-if-injuries-were-only-reason-for-more-mediocrity

Team president Bruce Allen has been in charge for nine years; in that time the Redskins have made the playoffs twice. He’s involved in every move and often trades get made without consulting coaches, even when it involves quarterbacks. But he’s tight with owner Dan Snyder and a key figure in getting a new stadium built. Allen has become public enemy No. 1 among the fan base. The organization is well aware of the fans' feelings toward Allen. There’s a chance he could be moved out of the football side, but would that be for optics to placate fans or real? 

Here's a nugget.

 

Remember the picks traded to the Rams to move up for RGme? Well Fischer refused to deal with Bruce on that trade. 

[Skinsinparadise]

47 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

 

Snyder sounds more and more like King Louis XVI of France while Bruce keeps telling us to eat cake.  Sometimes I wonder if this does end badly will it be with a whimper or a bang.

 

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

 

Feels to me like a less likable version of this when hearing about Dan-Bruce dynamic

 

 

[Skinsinparadise]

listening to Russell right now.  Same dude who this weekend said he heard rumblings of things but didn't feel confident yet about it being concrete so he didn't want to mention it.

 

Tonight out of the blue, he goes how would you feel if the Redskins hired an advisory committee of Redskins legends and recent players:  S. Moss, Portis, J. Jacoby, etc to weigh in on personnel but with Bruce staying where he is at.   How would that feel to you.  Seems bizarre bringing it up like that considering it was obvious Russell wasn't in love with the idea. 

 

I get the impression that some beat guys think Dan is throwing things behind the scenes against the wall and maybe that's one of those ideas?  If so, yuck. 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

Only in Washington is something like that even remotely believable.  If for whatever reason that’s true, it should produce some good memes.

[Csup]

21 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

listening to Russell right now.  Same dude who this weekend said he heard rumblings of things but didn't feel confident yet about it being concrete so he didn't want to mention it.

 

Tonight out of the blue, he goes how would you feel if the Redskins hired an advisory committee of Redskins legends and recent players:  S. Moss, Portis, J. Jacoby, etc to weigh in on personnel but with Bruce staying where he is at.   How would that feel to you.  Seems bizarre bringing it up like that considering it was obvious Russell wasn't in love with the idea. 

 

I get the impression that some beat guys think Dan is throwing things behind the scenes against the wall and maybe that's one of those ideas?  If so, yuck. 

Little Danny is a F’ing moron

[Andre The Giant]

25 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

listening to Russell right now.  Same dude who this weekend said he heard rumblings of things but didn't feel confident yet about it being concrete so he didn't want to mention it.

 

Tonight out of the blue, he goes how would you feel if the Redskins hired an advisory committee of Redskins legends and recent players:  S. Moss, Portis, J. Jacoby, etc to weigh in on personnel but with Bruce staying where he is at.   How would that feel to you.  Seems bizarre bringing it up like that considering it was obvious Russell wasn't in love with the idea. 

 

I get the impression that some beat guys think Dan is throwing things behind the scenes against the wall and maybe that's one of those ideas?  If so, yuck. 

 

Bill Polian won NFL Executive of the Year six times.  He was a proven winner in running NFL Personnel Departments.  His teams consistently won. 

 

The Redskins need to find a younger (or still active) Bill Polian, not get cute with gimmicks.  For all of Snyder’s marketing investments, he’s never (with the expection a previously-fired-twice-for-cause Scot McCloughan) invested heavily in a player personnel superstar / front office.  It’s beyond frustrating.  He needs to find the next young Bobby Beathard.  

 

To me, Gruden is a good enough coach. We need better players and a more consistent roster. Find the guy who can do it and not get taken to the cleaners by the Packers while trading for a non-factor like Clinton-Dix.