Redskins: 5 practices that have allowed them to stay bad in recent years

Be indecisive on player evaluations

Winning teams lock up their promising players before they sniff free agency. Don’t do that. Let them prove themselves and build such a market for themselves that you can’t afford them.

Winning teams cut bait on bad contracts by trading players before everyone else realizes the contract looks bad. Don’t do that. Hold onto them and complain about their lack of production publicly.

Winning teams find players their coaches have a vision for using – that fit their scheme –  rather than overpaying for skillsets their coaches don’t value. Don’t do that. Make your personnel decisions in a vacuum and let your coaches figure out what do do with the guys you give them.

Winning teams never use the franchise tag on premium positions. They use it when it’s likely the franchise tag doesn’t give the player much leverage. Don’t do that. Put the franchise tag on your quarterback. Twice. Give him all the leverage you can and don’t worry about getting anything of value back for him if he walks in free agency. It’s not worth the hassle, and it’s not what losers do.