What do you think is different?

[Sportster 72]

I am not a personnel expert. I applaud all of you who spend countless hours reading websites etc. to learn about the players available in the draft. I think back to when I was a kid and college football had minimal coverage and draft coverage was the list of 15-20 draftees the day after the draft in the newspaper. We had no clue what we had and waited until the next year to find out.

I believe I heard today that during the most successful period in Redskin history the team only had 3 number 1 picks: Monk, Green May.

Anyhow here is my question. The Shanahans are gone and Gruden is here, the rest of the people making decisions are largely the same Allen, Haslett and McVay. Don't forget a good part of scouting/personnel department has been there before the Shanahan/Allen regime. What if anything do you think is different?

 

[j_y19]

I'll take a shot. It appears that Gruden will allow players more freedom to play. Shanahan was a true system guy. The success of which depended on everyone doing their part as scripted, no freelancing. Gruden, it seems, believes that you have to be flexible and let players use their instincts on the field to make plays. I come to this conclusion not only by listening to Gruden talk, but by the mental make up of some of his drafted players. The are maulers and brawlers. They have a nasty streak. They are aggressive. Shanahan, while of course he wanted his players aggressive, it was more controlled aggression. I think with Gruden we will see some players turned loose at times, specifically on defense.

The other difference I see is just the size of the OL that he is going after. I think we are going to see our running game go back to more of a power running scheme. Smash mouth football.

I am not drawing yet any conclusion as to if this will be better or not, but it will be different, especially on defense.

 

[Sportster 72]

I agree that it seems we are moving to a larger OL. I was a little surprised early on that G ruden said he was staying with a similar zone running attack. I think I didn't understand what he said, he meant he might continue to use the zone running game but with guys who had a little more junk in the trunk for pass protection.

It has been fashionable for some to say I think Shanahan was the problem. I don't buy into that. While he was here he got rid of a lot of dead weight and brought in a number of good players. Allen's history in personnel is not good, his strength has been contracts and administration. A number of people at Redskin park have indicated that Shanahan was the problem. That's fine if the team improves over last year, if not they'll have to answer up fairly quickly.

As I said in earlier posts I am not smart enough to know if they drafted well and I guess in my opinion drafting well is hitting about 50%. The only guy I see as a potential starter is Moses. That isn't a negative comment. Murphy will probably be looked at as a way to not have to pay almost $20 million for OLBs next year. Right now the team is looking at having almost $40 million in 3 WRs and 2 OLBs for 2015. That's about 1/3 of the cap room.

It will be interesting to see how things play out. So much will depend on how Griffin develops.

 

[j_y19]

I agree that it seems we are moving to a larger OL. I was a little surprised early on that G ruden said he was staying with a similar zone running attack. I think I didn't understand what he said, he meant he might continue to use the zone running game but with guys who had a little more junk in the trunk for pass protection.

It has been fashionable for some to say I think Shanahan was the problem. I don't buy into that. While he was here he got rid of a lot of dead weight and brought in a number of good players. Allen's history in personnel is not good, his strength has been contracts and administration. A number of people at Redskin park have indicated that Shanahan was the problem. That's fine if the team improves over last year, if not they'll have to answer up fairly quickly.

As I said in earlier posts I am not smart enough to know if they drafted well and I guess in my opinion drafting well is hitting about 50%. The only guy I see as a potential starter is Moses. That isn't a negative comment. Murphy will probably be looked at as a way to not have to pay almost $20 million for OLBs next year. Right now the team is looking at having almost $40 million in 3 WRs and 2 OLBs for 2015. That's about 1/3 of the cap room.

It will be interesting to see how things play out. So much will depend on how Griffin develops.

You are absolutely right. Our success depends on one player, RG3. All the rest is just dressing. If he returns to form from his rookie year and can stay healthy, I actually am pretty bullish on our chances. There is no reason why we can't compete for the division title. But if he falters, it doesn't make much difference who we draft or sign as a FA. We will still be looking for our franchise QB and will probably finish in the cellar again.

As far as shanahan is concerned, I don't fault him exclusively, but I don't absolve him from fault, either. He did do some good things. He re-established a professional framework (at least for 3 years) and he did bring us a division title. But, at the end of the day, he was a head case. He was such a control freak that he couldn't correctly handle the RG3 situation when we started to lose control. Its way to involved to go into here, but he ultimately lost control and didn't know how to handle it. Just my opinion.

 

[Sportster 72]

You are absolutely right. Our success depends on one player, RG3. All the rest is just dressing. If he returns to form from his rookie year and can stay healthy, I actually am pretty bullish on our chances. There is no reason why we can't compete for the division title. But if he falters, it doesn't make much difference who we draft or sign as a FA. We will still be looking for our franchise QB and will probably finish in the cellar again.

As far as shanahan is concerned, I don't fault him exclusively, but I don't absolve him from fault, either. He did do some good things. He re-established a professional framework (at least for 3 years) and he did bring us a division title. But, at the end of the day, he was a head case. He was such a control freak that he couldn't correctly handle the RG3 situation when we started to lose control. Its way to involved to go into here, but he ultimately lost control and didn't know how to handle it. Just my opinion.

No way Shanahan can be obsolved of some guilt. I don't know if we'll ever know what happened and at this point it doesn't make a difference. It is all about this coming year at this point.

 

[TCB]

I think both of you hit on the true difference in philosophy about the oline. RG3 is the franchise. He must be protected. The smaller, get to the second level guys are great for zone schemes but, are not conducive for RG3's long term health.
As Gruden said in his presser, there comes a time when you have to pass the ball. Uh, yeah.