The Bruce Allen/GM Thread

[Burgold]

Don't look now, but at first sniff Bruce and co seem to have had two really solid drafts in a row... mainly by being patient and letting the draft come to them, but also by having a plan and executing it. Still need to find out if the potential can be translated into production, but the FO deserves a tip of the cap for the first two days.

 

And yes, the Front Office wretchedly screwed up the Kirk Cousins thing so bad three years ago that there apparently was never a way to salvage it and the team still isn't where it ought to be, but this is a glass half full post so... so there.

[Wyvern]

Following the rumors, it seemed that Allen had already settled on Payne, over Vea, and (obviously) over Guice.  The real question was whether it would still be Payne over NFL consenus talents like Fitzpatrick, James, or Edmunds.  

 

The Skins went Allen's way, committing to Payne, even though 2 of the other 3 were still available.

 

(Ironically, I'm sure that the Skins FO will find a way to market a DT named 'Payne'.)

[Thinking Skins]

5 hours ago, TK said:

Interesting that Bruce hasn't spoke at any press conferences or anything in quite some time.

 

The Alex Smith intro presser - Doug started that one. In fact, I just went back 25 pages in press conferences & not a single one of them mentioned his name.

Does the interview with JP Finlay count? 

[Wyvern]

30 minutes ago, Burgold said:

Don't look now, but at first sniff Bruce and co seem to have had two really solid drafts in a row... mainly by being patient and letting the draft come to them, but also by having a plan and executing it. Still need to find out if the potential can be translated into production, but the FO deserves a tip of the cap for the first two days.

 

And yes, the Front Office wretchedly screwed up the Kirk Cousins thing so bad three years ago that there apparently was never a way to salvage it and the team still isn't where it ought to be, but this is a glass half full post so... so there.

The Skins still have so many needs,  that they can almost back into a BPA that will fill a need.

 

Skins FO has caught a few lucky breaks in recent drafts, (including the Atlanta trade offer they turned down, and the second round trade offer they accepted), with players falling unexpectedly to them.  I'll concede that the Skins correctly gauged the extent of Guice's tumble when they decided to gamble and accept the trade offer, rather than picking Guice right away.  

 

But Allen's draft strategy seems to be geared around mitigating the damage caused by his off-season decisions, indecisions, and short-sightedness. Luckily, it seems like others around him (Gruden, Smith, Williams) are able to pursuade him on some good technical measures, when he's more receptive to input on who the Skins should draft.

[Burgold]

55 minutes ago, Wyvern said:

The Skins still have so many needs,  that they can almost back into a BPA that will fill a need.

I don't disagree with this either.

 

Bruce's problem is that while he has seemed to pull together 2 good drafts in a row (not mindblowing, but very good) he's been here nine years. I'd argue that we've had 3 good drafts under his tenure.  Now, who knows how much of the first 4 years you put on Shanny or what you put on Scotty, but even if we look only at the Gruden part of his tenure... the team he has assembled for his coach after four years looks far from a finished product or a smoothly operating machine. We lack dynamic skill players on offense (hopefully Guice reverses that and both Reed and Crowder bounce back) and we are limited on both special teams and defense. If we compare Bruce's ability to assemble talent to how the Eagles turned their entire team around two years after Chip Kelly... Bruce has a lot of explaining to do. It's not all on him, but A LOT of it is.

 

That said, I'm pleased that we seemed to have done well in the past two drafts.

[Warhead36]

We've had a good draft but in years past we've felt like we had good drafts and it didn't pan out. Lets take a wait and see approach. But yesterday was a good day indeed for the Allen regime.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

1 hour ago, pjfootballer said:

Looks like Scot taught them well after all.

 

 

 

Great...so this means Payne will be homesick and go on IR his rookie season after one game and Guice will retire next year lol...

[TK]

2 hours ago, Thinking Skins said:

Does the interview with JP Finlay count? 

Yes & no.  

 

That was at the last Owner's Meeting, not a press conference.

 

 

Seems like there's something to Dan being tired of the public embarrassments every time Bruce opens his mouths so they've been having Doug do the public thing. 

[JSSkinz]

The way we announced the Payne pick it looked like we were trying to make a statement, I think everyone is tired of hearing Bruce's name attached to everything we do.

 

 

 

 

[Skinsinparadise]

6 hours ago, Burgold said:

Don't look now, but at first sniff Bruce and co seem to have had two really solid drafts in a row... mainly by being patient and letting the draft come to them, but also by having a plan and executing it. Still need to find out if the potential can be translated into production, but the FO deserves a tip of the cap for the first two days.

 

And yes, the Front Office wretchedly screwed up the Kirk Cousins thing so bad three years ago that there apparently was never a way to salvage it and the team still isn't where it ought to be, but this is a glass half full post so... so there.

 

I like how the draft is unfolding but at least when the roles of the FO are defined -- it doesn't come off like Bruce has much to do with the draft.  He seems involved mostly with FA, contracts, cap.

 

I've said before I think the college scouting might be the FO's strength.  Not sure about the rest.  

 

Back to the draft, my favorite draft in theory was the 2011 draft.  We all loved it.  It didn't end up that good, though.  I like how this draft is unfolding but tough to put an exclamation point on a job well done until these guys actually play. 

[Thinking Skins]

16 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

Back to the draft, my favorite draft in theory was the 2011 draft.  We all loved it.  It didn't end up that good, though.  I like how this draft is unfolding but tough to put an exclamation point on a job well done until these guys actually play. 

I remember that draft and loving it. I knew less about the players selected but we had so many picks, invested in the lines drafted some wrs and some rbs. 

 

But unlike 2008,i thought that draft was one where we picked a bunch of guys with low ceilings. Gomes, Paul, Robinson, Helu were all decent guys who at their best would be spot contributors. Looking back now I can't even be too mad because it was a mostly late round pick draft. I love late round picks but it's not easy to find superstars there

[bobandweave]

The team had clear needs going into the draft and have addressed many of them. I grade this draft an A and for once don’t feel like we have idiots running the team a feeling I haven’t had in a long time

[Skinsinparadise]

7 minutes ago, Thinking Skins said:

I remember that draft and loving it. I knew less about the players selected but we had so many picks, invested in the lines drafted some wrs and some rbs. 

 

But unlike 2008,i thought that draft was one where we picked a bunch of guys with low ceilings. Gomes, Paul, Robinson, Helu were all decent guys who at their best would be spot contributors. Looking back now I can't even be too mad because it was a mostly late round pick draft. I love late round picks but it's not easy to find superstars there

 

Hankerson was the senior bowl stud.  Jenkins was supposedly this run stopping beast -- I recall Doc Walker raving about him.  Shanny doing his magic with the RBs, speedy Helu and the productive Royster.  N. Paul was a good receiver in Nebraska.  in theory, it felt good.

 

So does this draft.  I like it a lot.  I just learn not to celebrate things too much until it plays out.  Ditto looking at any team's draft.

[Burgold]

Based on potential, I think the Front Office can take a bow for a job very nicely done. Quite a few really nice picks (even steals). Plus, I can't remember the last time I was excited about the potential of our D Line (was it Stubby/Wilkerson?)

[SkinsHokieFan]

They did mostly common sense things in this draft. You do that and have a bunch of picks and you will do alright 

 

The mistakes in the last were when the team tried to get too cute. Accumulating picks and taking a solid well coached player will get you a bunch of solid well coached players. Do that 2-3 drafts ina row and suddenly you have a core of solid young players.  You can build off that 

[Dissident2]

I thought it was interesting when Guice said at his presser, "Thanks to Dan, the GM and to Bruce Allen." 

 

So who's the damn GM? Was he referring to Doug Williams? Sounded nice either way, lol. 

[Califan007 The Constipated]

5 minutes ago, Dissident2 said:

I thought it was interesting when Guice said at his presser, "Thanks to Dan, the GM and to Bruce Allen." 

 

So who's the damn GM? Was he referring to Doug Williams? Sounded nice either way, lol. 

 

Nobody knows anymore lol...

 

Would have been hilarious if he said 'Thanks to Dan, whoever the GM is and to Bruce Allen.'

[William Barbour]

Front Office isnt a traditional setup. Not the only team to do it like this. People rrally nees to let go of the "GM is the guy running the show" mentality. 

[dyst]

44 minutes ago, Dissident2 said:

I thought it was interesting when Guice said at his presser, "Thanks to Dan, the GM and to Bruce Allen." 

 

So who's the damn GM? Was he referring to Doug Williams? Sounded nice either way, lol. 

He meant Dan “the GM” and Bruce Allen.

[joeken24]

Good job Bruce! 

[Warhead36]

I think more credit goes to guys like Campbell, Santos, and Smith in the FO. The real personnel people.

[Peregrine]

2 hours ago, William Barbour said:

Front Office isnt a traditional setup. Not the only team to do it like this. People rrally nees to let go of the "GM is the guy running the show" mentality. 

How many other teams do it like this?

[TK]

Just now, Peregrine said:

How many other teams do it like this?

Philly, for one.

[JSSkinz]

17 hours ago, joeken24 said:

Good job Bruce! 

I think the move down to get the DT we wanted, recoupe the 3rd we lost and get Guice was Kevin Costner like(LOL).

 

But I'm not giving Bruce too much credit on this draft, gotta give it to the guys in the trenches and young Kyle Smith, we may have a talented young mind in the FO and we're just starting to take notice.

 

I think Kyle took as much as he could from Scott and is probably mixing old-school tactics (Whatever his dad taught him) with new school analytics to create the board.

 

Great job to the FO and an attaboy to Bruce for the trade down.

 

 

[joeken24]

8 minutes ago, JSSkinz said:

I think the move down to get the DT we wanted, recoupe the 3rd we lost and get Guice was Kevin Costner like(LOL).

 

But I'm not giving Bruce too much credit on this draft, gotta give it to the guys in the trenches and young Kyle Smith, we may have a talented young mind in the FO and we're just starting to take notice.

 

I think Kyle took as much as he could from Scott and is probably mixing old-school tactics (Whatever his dad taught him) with new school analytics to create the board.

 

Great job to the FO and an attaboy to Bruce for the trade down.

 

 

Hilarious! And it worked..... 

 

I said good job Bruce for this very reply. The fact is, this organization has said on a number of occasions that its a collaboration between Bruce, Williams, Kyle, Scott, the coaches and the guys in the trenches as JSSkins put it.

But had this draft gone to ****.....you best damn believe this thread would've blown the **** up....in a ****ed up way I might add.

 

So again, good job Bruce for apparently making one move in this entire draft. You're the catalyst for all things bad, so to alleviate **** ups, you were told to shut up and color for the rest of the moves.