Rumors: Redskins tied to three potential GM candidates

The Washington Redskins are rumored to be interested in a few potential GM candidates, though they won’t be making a move there until after the draft.

The Washington Redskins have made a lot of changes to their team this offseason. They added Ron Rivera as head coach, are overhauling their coaching staff, and removed Bruce Allen from their front office.

But the changes won’t stop there. The Redskins still have some important decisions to make. They need to officially decide on an offensive coordinator. Kevin O’Connell has been considered the favorite there, but nothing is guaranteed.

The other big decision they have will be about the front office. While the Redskins aren’t likely to hire a new GM until May, they are going to be evaluating their front office and could hire an external candidate to serve in a GM or president role.

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Reportedly, they were considering bringing in Rick Smith before they hired Rivera. But now, they’re being tied to a few different candidates.

According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, the Redskins have an interest in Indianapolis Colts executive Morocco Brown and Minnesota Vikings president Rick Spielman. NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay is reporting that the team may have interest in Buffalo Bills executive Joe Schoen.

Brown once worked as a personnel executive for the Redskins. And as La Canfora notes, that could help him land a job back in Washington.

"Brown is very well regarded in Indianapolis, where he helped Chris Ballard quickly upgrade one of the worst rosters in the NFL, and Brown was a favorite of Skins owner Dan Snyder during his lengthy stint in Washington’s personnel department. He also is well regarded by Ron Rivera from their time together in Chicago, and by Joe Gibbs, a close confidant of Snyder’s and someone who Rivera has reached out to for counsel."

If the team wants to keep around some of their current executives like Eric Schaffer, Doug Williams, and/or Kyle Smith, bringing in Brown could make sense, as Brown would have some level of familiarity with them. So, that could be a sensible consideration.

As for Spielman, the Vikings issued a statement saying that Spielman and Mike Zimmer would remain employed by the team no matter what happens in the playoffs. So he doesn’t look like a realistic option barring a change of heart from the Minnesota ownership.

Schoen would be another outside option for the Redskins and his familiarity with Rivera would be the reason he could get consideration, per JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington.

"One league source said to keep an eye on Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen. Rivera has close ties to Buffalo GM Brandon Beane, and Schoen has been his top lieutenant since 2017. Schoen has scouting experience and ties to Carolina as well. He worked in Miami before he made the move to Buffalo."

Beane has done an excellent job helping to reshape the Buffalo roster, so perhaps Schoen would be able to identify talent and strengthen weaknesses as Beane has done in Buffalo.

Either way, it seems that the Redskins are targeting executives that will be comfortable with Rivera. And that is a smart approach to take given how much they have invested in Rivera.

Next. Simulating the entire Redskins offseason. dark

We won’t know much about the team’s potential front office changes until after the offseason. But these names should certainly be watched in the coming weeks, as the Redskins could at least start doing their homework.

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