Why chemistry, fit are biggest keys to building the Redskins

Why wanting to win is so important

The thing that comes with high draft picks and big-dollar free agents is ego. Nothing loses games more than ego. Beathard built our Redskins dynasty with guys nobody really knew. Many of the guys on those great Redskins teams were mid to low round draft picks. Some were undrafted. Beathard pulled in free agents from the USFL.

Heck, the legendary Joe Jacoby was lined up at defensive tackle before they moved him to offensive tackle. Super Bowl 26 MVP Mark Rypien was a sixth round pick. Superstar defensive end, Dexter Manley, was a fifth-round pick. Super Bowl 22 MVP Doug Williams was a USFL castoff. The list goes on and on.

Jack Kent Cooke had about as much money as God back then, but that’s not the way the Redskins did business. Beathard seemed to understand the principle this great country was built on and was once penned by Emma Lazarus, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

Washington Commanders

That’s not saying there was anything wrong with them, because all that is about is perception to begin with, but it has a lot to do with understanding that those who are a lot less “esteemed,” are much more hungry and hungry wins.

The game of football is decided from the neck up and “want” has everything to do with winning. In the game of football that so many people like to describe as a “business,” (which I personally detest), but so many of them talk about how they are playing for their contract or they are in a contract year. In other words, “I wanna get paid.”

Unfortunately, once a lot of these guys get paid, the hunger goes away slowly but surely and we see it every Sunday. I mean how many guys who are set for life once the ink dries on their deal want to beat their brains in with everything we know about CTE?

I know a scouting director in the NFL really well and I asked him once, “Why don’t some of these guys play like they want to win?” He responded, “Danny, there are different definitions of winning and someone may have a different definition of winning than you do.” It was in that moment it dawned on me what he was talking about. Winning isn’t just about the wins and loss column for some of these guys, winning can also be about the dollars and cents in the checking account balance.

That same scouting director told me, “If you take the money out of the NFL, about 70 percent of the guys wouldn’t be doing this.”

What if the winning recipe for putting a championship team together is more about finding the other 30 percent who care more about winning?

What if it really doesn’t have anything to do with No. 1 draft picks and their huge egos or big-name free agents who break the bank? What if it has a lot more to do with an understanding of invisible core characteristics found within the prospects?

What if it’s about the intangibles much more than it’s about the measurables? What if it has much more to do with how dependable players are, how coach-able they are, how competitive they are, their level of belief and their passion for the game, than if he runs a 4.3 or a 4.7?

Guys like Bobby Beathard and Bill Belichick think it’s more about the intangibles. And so do I.