Ron Rivera is exactly what the Redskins needed after Bruce Allen

The Redskins don’t need a gimmick filled offense to make Dwayne Haskins succeed.

They don’t need a young, inexperienced coach with a potential upside to revamp an entirely new system. The Redskins can’t afford to take a risk at a position of leadership. They need more than just a leader of a football team. They need a leader of men. That’s exactly how Josh Norman characterized Ron Rivera; a leader of men.

The franchise has been a rudderless ship for several years, mainly because this team has lacked an identity. Changing a culture requires knowing what your team identifies itself to be. Washington is beginning that process of creating that identity.

Del Rio said on twitter, regarding his future defense, he wants his unit to be tough, focused, and hungry. Rivera, during his introductory press conference, said, “You’re not going to play for this team, you’re not going to work for this team, if you don’t have the discipline to give us everything you have. No exceptions, no excuses.” Coach talk? Maybe. But this is the identity by which the Redskins wish to be known. Tough, disciplined and all 53 men pulling the rope in the same direction.

The biggest question hanging over everyone’s head remains if this will be the time that Dan Snyder steps aside and allows Rivera to lead this team. Or is this another link in the chain of failed coaches that have come and gone over the years?

But the speed at which Dan Snyder named Ron Rivera head coach is a direct reflection on his desire to make a change. Whether the changes work out or not are yet to be seen. But this is the perfect first step in creating change that Redskins fans have so desperately been begging for.