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Redskins Reality Checks: Pre-draft roadmap for team to follow

By Tim Payne

CHARLOTTE, NC - OCTOBER 23: Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera waits on the sideline during their game against the Washington Redskins at Bank of America Stadium on October 23, 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NC - OCTOBER 23: Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera waits on the sideline during their game against the Washington Redskins at Bank of America Stadium on October 23, 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /
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LANDOVER, MD – DECEMBER 22: A fan holds a sign for Washington Redskins team president Bruce Allen in the first half during a game against the New York Giants at FedExField on December 22, 2019 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD – DECEMBER 22: A fan holds a sign for Washington Redskins team president Bruce Allen in the first half during a game against the New York Giants at FedExField on December 22, 2019 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) /

What the team has already done

1. Get rid of Bruce Allen.

There was no chance of real organizational transformation without moving on from Bruce Allen. The #FireBruceAllen movement finally broke through. Good first step.

2. Hire a competent head coach and give him autonomy.

As I wrote about shortly before Bruce Allen was fired, the organizational structure with the most momentum and track record recently in the NFL is the one where the head coach is the primary decision-maker on the football side of the operation. Snyder went and got a respected and competent leader in Ron Rivera and made him the “one voice” over the team. Good second step.

3. Promote Kyle Smith.

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Kyle Smith has done extremely well in leading the team’s draft the past few years even in spite of Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder’s meddling. He deserved a chance to oversee the entire personnel operation. Importantly, Rivera is the one who promoted him…so that’s validation that Smith wasn’t just good by comparison to Bruce…he’s just good.

4. Move Doug Williams out of personnel.

Doug Williams is a legend. I’m glad they keep him around. And I’m glad they’ve moved him to a more natural position for him….essentially as lead mentor to the players. That’s what he’s best as – developing the players as men. He’s not a proven talent evaluator, so the team got him out of that role, and that’s a good thing.

5. Replace Larry Hess and hire new training and medical leadership.

There were other front office moves, too, but this was the last one that I expect to have a major impact in the immediate future. I know nothing about Hess other than that he was here for a long time and had developed a reputation (fairly or not) that wasn’t going to be an asset to the organization. Starting fresh with the training and medical staff is massive for this organizational reboot.

6. Cut Josh Norman, Paul Richardson, and Jordan Reed.

These three were dramatically over-paid based on their recent and expected future production. the team saved over $22M in cap space for 2020 by making these cuts.

Jordan Reed is the only one that I’m sad about. I hope he retires, for his kids’ sake. If he doesn’t, I hope he goes on to a few more years of healthy production. He’s a good dude who’s been super unlucky with injuries.

Norman and Richardson were bad signings by a bad football mind in Bruce Allen. They were officially dead weight. The team was right to cut all three.

All of these have been good steps so far. What should be next?

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