You're Hired by Dan Snyder to Consult on what to do now - a Hypothetical Fixing the Skins Thread

[Veryoldschool]

1.  Since the obvious solution has to be having Dan sell the franchise is off the table than I say he needs to let his wife run it with strict orders that he is to have no say in the team whatsoever and their prenuptial agreement should be amended to ensure she has total control, she has to be at least a modest improvement.

 

2.  Mrs. Snyder should hire a board of directors to help her find a new president and GM who will have total control over the football operations.  Mrs. Synder should give the new management 5 years to prove competence.   The standard should be developing a new winning culture and new Redskin identity as a disciplined, low penalty, balanced and physical team by qualifying for the playoffs twice and winning at least 1 playoff game.  Much need investments in new facilities should be purchased by the sale of Snyder's huge yacht because giant yachts are for winners not for making losers feel like winners. 

 

3.  The president should be tasked with filling the stadium by decreasing the price of tickets by 50% across the board, attending a game is too expensive.  In addition, large sections of the stadium should be designated as family sections with an Adult and Kid ticket can be purchased for 50% of the cost of 1 seat.  The Skins don't need ticket revenue to stay in the black but they do need to fill the stadium and what better way to get a whole new generation interested in the team.

 

 

[volsmet]

Read ES posts by volsmet, follow closely, eat blue crabs.

 

 

[LetThePointsSoar]

1 hour ago, SkinsHokieFan said:

1) Fire Bruce

 

2) Give total control to Tony Dungy as President of Football Operations. Make it very clear in his contract and have a clause that terminates the deal with full payout of the entire contract if Dan interferes.

 

 

Hadn't had time in the workday to write my post, but SHF beat me to it. 

 

Pretty much fire Bruce and then send as many Brinks trucks as you need to bring Tony Dungy in to build this from the ground up. 

[Stadium-Armory]

The problem is that the team is his toy and his entire purpose for owning the toy is to play with it. He is not a winner and just being around the team rubs off. He would have to literally go far away not not show up at practice, not talk to players, not be in the building. Fat chance.

 

Add: I like Dungy but don't think he would touch it. Especially with the name being what it is.

[volsmet]

3 hours ago, London Kev said:

This has the makings of the most harmonious thread ever. Almost everyone with a brain can see what needs to be done.

 

Seems an unnecessary shot at @carex 

 

 

[megared]

1.  Eliminate the secondary market for tickets.  If there's a discount to be had on tickets, that should be going towards fans, not brokers.  If it means you have to reduce the price of season tickets, fine.  But focus on multi-game packages, and things to bring the casual fan back.  Maybe throw in concession discounts to make season tickets viable.   Price of parking needs to come down as well for this to work.  

 

2.  Do whatever it is you have to do, to have a new stadium, IN DC.  This stadium needs to be the opposite of Fed-Ex. Put it where people have access to restaurants, bars, and most importantly, the Metro.  Influence (or pay) the Metro to have later hours to accommodate night games.  Oh, and reduce the capacity if you ever want to be able to put on the illusion that tickets are hard to come by again.  

 

3.  Clean house, operationally.  Implement a organizational structure where everyone is focused on the tasks associated with their job (only).  This means, no more dual hats:  Team President playing GM, Head Coach being OC, Head Coach being GM, or empty suits and/or Redskins legends occupying positions.  Hire a firm to lead the search for a new team president, and strongly encourage him to do the same for all of the positions under his purview.  

[kingdaddy]

1). I want full control of all football decisions with no interference from Ownership.

2). I bring in my own coach and scouts

3). My next coach will come from the Andy Reid coaching tree who has been involved in the development of Patrick Mahones and the KC offense. The new coach hires his own staff and has say in personnel decisions throughout. 

4). Trent is traded for a 1st and 3rd to a team outside of the division.

5). Josh Norman, Colt McCoy, AP, Vernon Davis, Ryan Kerrigan and Chris Thompson are all shopped for trade.

6). Focus is on the the draft and free agency with the team being built around Haskins. The mentality is to build the offense as much as possible. 

7). Season ticket and parking prices are reduced. Concessions go back to 1991 season prices, same year as the last Super Bowl season.

8). Don Warren is next into the Redskins Ring of Honor.

9). The Hogettes and Chief get statues outside the stadium which is renamed Joe Gibbs Stadium

10). joe Theismann is moved to stadium greeter with no microphone rights.

[megared]

9 minutes ago, kingdaddy said:

9). The Hogettes and Chief get statues outside the stadium which is renamed Joe Gibbs Stadium

 

Not this stadium...and enough of the nostalgia.  The majority of fans that you're trying to get (or bring back) don't remember or care about the glory years if it means cheering for a team going nowhere.  

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

1 hour ago, SkinsHokieFan said:

 

 

2) Give total control to Tony Dungy as President of Football Operations. Make it very clear in his contract and have a clause that terminates the deal with full payout of the entire contract if Dan interferes.

 

 

Seriously? That's your idea? Is there no one under the age of 90 who can do this job?

[Peregrine]

1. First, I set his expectations, and I tell him hes got to rebuild, back out, and be patient for 2 seasons for it to happen.  He has to stay onboard with it and let someone else run the organization.

2. Fire Bruce Allen, hire a 3-4 person panel of top talent finders,NFL office execs etc to conduct a search for your new GM, and hire their recommendation.

3. Commit to spending a lot of money in extra resources, coaching tools, stat trackers, new technologies etc, to gain an edge the salary cap doesnt want you to have.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

This entire exercise is dumb. If I'm a consultant why do I know what needs to be done now?

 

The culture is bad. That part is obvious. I don't know why. He;;, Bruce may be the one keeping it from getting really toxic. Wouldn't that be a fun twist?

6 minutes ago, Peregrine said:

 

2. Fire Bruce Allen, hire a 3-4 person panel of top talent finders,NFL office execs etc to conduct a search for your new GM, and hire their recommendation.

 

You jags freakin' love committees. You know who you are going to get if you form a committee with a bunch of old NFL farts?

 

Marvin Lewis.

 

I can assure you that no business problem has ever been solved by someone uttering the words, "Let's form a committee."

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

29 minutes ago, kingdaddy said:

1). I want full control of all football decisions with no interference from Ownership.

 

 

I always hate this idea. An owner has to be involved. There is no worse way for a team to be run than via an absentee owner. At that point, you are the Pittsburgh Pirates.

 

 

3). My next coach will come from the Andy Reid coaching tree who has been involved in the development of Patrick Mahones and the KC offense. The new coach hires his own staff and has say in personnel decisions throughout. 

 

My great idea for a new hit tv show is copying THIS hit tv show.

 

4). Trent is traded for a 1st and 3rd to a team outside of the division.

 

Way to set the market to unreasonable levels.

 

5). Josh Norman, Colt McCoy, AP, Vernon Davis, Ryan Kerrigan and Chris Thompson are all shopped for trade.

 

Crippled career backup! I got your crippled career backup right here!!!

 

6). Focus is on the the draft and free agency with the team being built around Haskins. The mentality is to build the offense as much as possible. 

 

The way we will acquire talent is via the only two methods which exist to acquire talent. I like this plan.

 

7). Season ticket and parking prices are reduced. Concessions go back to 1991 season prices, same year as the last Super Bowl season.

 

You are literally stealing ideas from the movie Mr. Mom now.

 

[veteranskinsfan]

I think several ES members recently have cited the toxic work environment/culture at Redskins Park as the huge unaddressed elephant in the room that Skins upper management continues to ignore.   Outsiders not affiliated with the Skins can detect it quite easily like most fan and so do former Redskins who either went to other teams or whom are now retired Skins players.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

2 hours ago, veteranskinsfan said:

About five years ago there was a Green Bay Packers GM Ron Wolfe living in Annapolis MD that Snyder should have hired then to come in as a consultant to assess

what needed to be done.   I am sure with Joe Gibbs at the game on Sunday Snyder is still asking him for advice.  The Danny needs to pick up the phone on his yacht

and call Ron Wolfe now.   

 

Ron Wolfe is 80 years old and hasn't worked in football since 2000. I'm sure he'll give some really cutting edge advice like "You win in the trenches."

 

Again, this was literally every Michael Wilbon column from 2000 to 2004. Your idea is a questionable idea from 17 years ago.

 

3 minutes ago, veteranskinsfan said:

I think several ES members recently have cited the toxic work environment/culture at Redskins Park as the huge unaddressed elephant in the room that Skins upper management continues to ignore.   Outsiders not affiliated with the Skins can detect it quite easily like most fan and so do former Redskins who either went to other teams or whom are now retired Skins players.

 

I honestly think this is the fundamental problem, and I'm not sure it's fixable. Snyder is like one of those old kings who wants everyone in his court fighting with each other for favor. He's 54 year old man who has owned this team for 20 years. It's almost impossible to imagine him changing this fundamental piece of his personality at this point.

 

I mean, I honestly think the big idea would be "Dan Snyder gets three years of intensive inpatient psychiatric treatment."

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

59 minutes ago, LetThePointsSoar said:

 

Hadn't had time in the workday to write my post, but SHF beat me to it. 

 

Pretty much fire Bruce and then send as many Brinks trucks as you need to bring Tony Dungy in to build this from the ground up. 

 

Tony Dungy has not coached in a dozen years and has NEVER done the job you are asking him to do. His first move could literally be signing Bob Sanders to play safety.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I liked Kevin's actually...

 

1) Publicly admit you were wrong and take accountability for the depths to which this franchise has sunk

2) Remove Bruce Allen

3) Hire a team president who is recommended by either the league or a group of owners and write into his/her contract that no meddling will be allowed

3 minutes ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

 

Tony Dungy has not coached in a dozen years and has NEVER done the job you are asking him to do. His first move could literally be signing Bob Sanders to play safety.

 

Yeah I think a group of fans throwing darts at names they know is missing the point entirely...Ron Wolfe? Tony Dungy? One of Snyder's biggest issues is that he's hired people that the general fan is aware of. 

 

I think for him to do this properly he needs to have SMARTER people make recommendations and then follow said recommendations. I'll likely know we are on the right track when the person running our front office is someone I've never heard of and the GM and coaches being hired by that nobody are also unknown to me. 

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

What does "no meddling mean?"

 

"Dan, we are signing a punter for $25 million a year!"

 

"That seems kinda high."

 

"No meddling!!!"

 

I mean, that's dumb.

 

Also, when was the last time we had stories of Dan "meddiling?" 2000? At this point, it seems like it's entirely the Bruce Show. Meddling would be welcomed, I think.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

2 minutes ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

What does "no meddling mean?"

 

"Dan, we are signing a punter for $25 million a year!"

 

"That seems kinda high."

 

"No meddling!!!"

 

I mean, that's dumb.

 

Also, when was the last time we had stories of Dan "meddiling?" 2000? At this point, it seems like it's entirely the Bruce Show. Meddling would be welcomed, I think.

I just have always like the term since my youth...

 

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

4 minutes ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:

 

Yeah I think a group of fans throwing darts at names they know is missing the point entirely...Ron Wolfe? Tony Dungy? One of Snyder's biggest issues is that he's hired people that the general fan is aware of. 

 

I think for him to do this properly he needs to have SMARTER people make recommendations and then follow said recommendations. I'll likely know we are on the right track when the person running our front office is someone I've never heard of and the GM and coaches being hired by that nobody are also unknown to me. 

 

I think part of the issue here is that the Skins are extremely insular and incestuous. Marty and Shanahan are really the only hires by Dan that weren't "Redskins names." And both of them were pretty insular in their own right - hiring only family and close, long-term confidants. It doesn't feel like we know who the "hot young exec" is in, I dunno, Detroit. At this point, if you don't have a historical connection to the Skins are some Tampa connection to Bruce, you don't work here. Period.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I'd just fire everyone and hire LKB since he knows everything.

[megared]

35 minutes ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

Also, when was the last time we had stories of Dan "meddiling?" 2000? At this point, it seems like it's entirely the Bruce Show. Meddling would be welcomed, I think.

 

I think Bruce Allen is getting significant input from Snyder.  We heard Snyder was all over the RG3 trade, reports just this draft that he took over the first round...at this point, I think the best we can hope for is someone that can manage the team, as well as Snyder's worst impulses.  If Bruce wasn't executing Snyder's will, he probably would've been fired, based upon results.  

 

I also think there's a significant difference between our negotiation tactics when we're trying to acquire shiny new targets (Jackson, Norman, Collins) versus doing mundane GM duties (re-signing guys already here).  It really does seem like a Snyder move to give those guys whatever it is they want (to not leave Redskins Park without a deal).  We know for a fact Bruce isn't doing that for guys already on the team, nor in many cases is he even offering them market value.  

 

Do you really think Allen's throwing $84 M at a safety without Snyder's buy in?  Or $75 M at a CB?  

[D’Pablo]

It’s really quite simple, to be truthful. Take all ticket returns and give them out for free or nearly free in nearby communities. Make fans by being magnanimous and showing some serious love for the community. Once upon a time, the Redskins played a charity basketball game at my high school and the school adopted burgundy and gold as its colors.

 

Winning will follow the fan base.

[tmandoug1]

Trade William's and Norman to JAX for Ramsey, a 2nd in 20 and a 3rd in 21. Draft the best oline you can draft next year. Have a long conversation about team name... perception vs. reality. I don't want the name changed but society dictates what shall be. 

[CPAllTheWay012]

Good Thread. 

 

I'll give this a go.  I'm going to skip talking about the front-office and coaching personnel because lately it's just been a lot of "Fire this guy! Fire that guy!" blah blah.  Hopefully they all are able to adjust and move forward with success.  Here's what I would recommend: 

 

1. Improvements for where we play: 

 

Our lease at Fed Ex expires in 2027.  Right now, I would be shopping for a new location for a multi-use stadium in Washington DC.  Bring the team back home to the District.  Landover is a far commute for Virginia folks.  It's not even that great for Marylander's.  Put the team downtown.  Construct a facility that can serve multiple uses so there's added value for the venue and District.  Keep it close to transit (metro and buses).  Protect the field.  Fed-Ex field has seen some rough days from outside events.  We can still create diverse uses for the venue, but in the construction specifications, utilize a retractable field or other technology to protect the playing conditions for the Skins.  No brainer.  Worth the cost to protect our players.  

 

Other notes:

Make it a LEED certified building.  Sustainable, state of the art.  Something worthy of the nation's capital.  If they find a suitable location that has good access for people, they could probably add a tail-gating green space as opposed to just parking lots.  We have monuments in DC that people come all over the world to visit.  Make it a building worth visiting.  

 

Improvements to Fed Ex in the short term: 

 

Cut food and drink prices by 20% across the board.  Look for opportunities to add popular outside chains (Chipotle, Chick Fe Le, etc.) into the equation. 

Immediately, we should be looking to upgrade our playing field conditions at Fed Ex.  It is obvious the field receives too much abuse every season.  NFL players have been polled and they prefer grass.  We have to reevaluate how to protect the surface at Fed Ex during events and minimize its use during the season.  I would want to hire experts to evaluate all of the practice field conditions too. 

 

2. Offensive Strategy Adjustments

I think a lot of our problems stem from play-calling and the base packages we go with on offense.  I don't believe they utilize our player's strengths.  I would recommend making the split-backs formation a staple of our offense.  Our running backs are a strength to our team.  At some point, hopefully we will have Peterson, Guice, Thompson, and Love all healthy.  Are we just going to go with 2 active backs in this scenario? I hope not.  They all are players defenses are forced to account for.  Put two running backs on the field at the same time.  Active 4 backs.  Dress one less wide receiver.  TE rotates with WR at times.  Shotgun.  We could do a lot with two backs.  Throw the T formation in there too.  Paul Richardson and Terry McLaurin are fast shifty guys.  Our tight ends can separate too.  Run N' Go.   

 

 

 

 

Trent Williams - I would want to know if the situation is reconcilable 

 

3. Defensive Strategy

If Eric Berry passed a physical and workout, I would immediately sign him to our team.  Our defense needs a leader to step up in our secondary.  I hope its Landon Collins but I'm confident Berry would be that guy.  You would have a fan favorite almost right away.  It's a good value decision for our current situation.  

 

Corner press coverage.  I really don't understand our strategy to back off corners in many situations.  We are still getting burned time and time again.  I think our players are better in press. 

 

Pass rush.  Our secondary is getting a lot of criticism but the pass rush hasn't been too helpful either.  I feel like we have the player personnel to get the job done here.  Keeping a fresh rotation going in the middle of the D is really important.  I would favor a slightly more aggressive blitz packages.  

 

All of this being said, I think most of our problems stem from our offense's inability to control the game flow.  Our defense benefits if we are able to control the flow.  Run the ball.

 

 

 

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Did that ****ing consultant just suggest we run the goddamn T formation??!?!?!