Redskins Reality Checks: An offseason report card and prescription

Evaluating the Redskins offseason so far

So with that backdrop, here are some Reality Checks on the Redskins moves thus far this offseason.

Redskins Offseason Reality Checks

• The Redskins shouldn’t have fired Brian LaFemina and his team. This group understood that a painful truth-telling about the erosion of the fan-base followed by an intentional reset of the entire fan experience was the most effective way to move forward as an organization. And they understood the value of the overall fan experience to the health of the organization as a whole. Don’t believe any version of that story other than that Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder didn’t like being told they’d messed up, and didn’t want to have their mistakes in relating to fans to be aired out honestly and humbly by people on their own staff.
• The Redskins absolutely should have cut D.J. Swearinger. Culture matters, and they did the right thing in drawing the line on his constant disrespect of teammates and coaches. Period.
• Washington should have broken the bank to get Todd Bowles as their defensive coordinator. I don’t hate the job Manusky has done completely, but he’s not flexible enough with his scheme and gameplans to maximize the skillsets of his players, and they should have just ripped off the band-aid and made the change.
• They should have extended Jamison Crowder and Preston Smith before last season, recognizing how much of a discount they could have gotten, rather than letting them hit the open market and get overpaid. Both were coming off down years, statistically, and would have jumped at salaries less than 75 percent of what they received from the Jets and Packers, respectively.
• They were right to let Maurice Harris and Rob Kelly go. Those guys were nice stories, but not worth paying for.
• They absolutely were right to trade for Case Keenum, so as to avoid counting on Colt to make it through the season and to safeguard against the desperation to reach in the first round of the draft.
• They were absolutely right to sign Landon Collins to a huge long-term deal. He’s a young, blue-chip player with upside and a chip on his shoulder. He’s a leader, a worker, productive, and will still be in his prime at the end of the contract. He’s a short-term boost and a long-term building block (Plus, the contract structure was a thing of beauty).
• They were right to re-sign Adrian Peterson to provide both production and leadership as Guice works his way back from injury.
• They should have shopped Zach Brown sooner, but assuming they still wouldn’t have gotten anything for him, they were right to cut him and his bloated salary along with Stacy McGee.