Interesting ideas. I tend to agree with most of them. I think saying that Cerrato is worse than Matt Millen is a bit harsh, but I do think he’s average to below average.  

I think your comment on Casserly was very valid and I think people like to forget that.  He used to drive me crazy every year because our first round picks were ALWAYAS busts.  People want to remember that era as roses and goodness, but not everything was perfect and this is a perfect example.

I’m with you on Zorn. However, I’m not convinced that the team can actually get real value for Clinton Portis.  He’s getting older and is known to be outspoken, and (most importantly) most teams view the running back position as the most easily replaced position in the game.  I just don’t see us getting that many offers for him.  And if we go shopping him and don’t get a good deal, then we’re going to have a very disgruntled Portis. 

I sort of agree with Jason Campbell. Certainly he’s on the end of his rope. But if we dump him this year, we’re basically admitting that we’re rebuilding this year.  Brennan may get good some day but he won’t be good NEXT YEAR.   Campbell may be our best option for next year while we let Brennan develop.

I’m totally with you on building the team.  Offensive and defensive lines are so important and the Redskins so regularly seem to ignore it or to address it as an afterthought. This needs to change.

Great ideas. Keep them coming!

The Dan Snyder era has been a disaster for one main reason: Vinny Cerrato. He is the single worst player-personnel exec in the league (ok, Matt Millen is close). But starting with his mentor, Charlie Casserly, who after a championship season with a high number one draft pick, took Desmond Howard, a small receiver, when the ‘Skins had two terrific small receivers, Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders, Cerrato has continued that tradition of ineptitude that fly in the face of basic team building philosophies. So the first thing to do would be to fire Cerrato.

Here are my feelings on some other basic questions.

1. Keep Jim Zorn. Yes, he was inept at play calling and time management but that can be improved. I think he can restore a sense of discipline to a team that is lacking in it.

2. Trade Clinton Portis for real value. I love Clinton but he dominates the team’s psyche too much, he’s taken too much physical abuse and yet he can still garner high value if he’s dealt now. One more year and he won’t. There are many other terrific backs ready to step in and give you a running game (Michael Turner is a perfect example of a player moving from the shadows to  the spotlight–there are others).

3. End the Jason Campbell experiment. I liked that pick when we made it. But I was seduced by the fact that Campbell had done well in college with the support of not one but two great backs in Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams. If Jason doesn’t have a great team around him he won’t be good. He is not a true playmaker, which you eventually need to win a championship, Trent Dilfer being the one exception to that rule. Colt Brennan is a true playmaker. Yes, he could be another Jake Plummer but I think he’s got something that Zorn could really work with.

3. Build a team the Madden way: quarterback, offensive line, defensive line. Our o-line is old and we haven’t had a pass rush since Dexter Manley. (Another Casserly/Cerrato blunder: we could’ve had Simeon Rice not once, but twice in his career). Quit drafting safeties and get some big bodies to handle the trenches. You can always get good recievers and tight ends.

4. Once you do that, get some speed at linebacker. Our guys are not bad, but they aren’[t quick enough for the demands of today’s NFL.

That’s it for now. I look forward to more conversation in  a few months.