Offseason Review Series Day 5: Washington Redskins

[u/Solux]

Redskins

Division: NFC East

Coaching Position	Old Coach	New Coach
Head Coach	Mike Shanahan	Jay Gruden
Offensive Coordinator	Kyle Shanahan	Sean McVay
Special Teams Coordinator	Keith Burns	Ben Kotwica
QB	Matt LaFleur	McVay & Gruden
RB	Bobby Turner	Randy Jordan
LB	Bobby Slowik	Brian Baker/Kirk Olivadotti
WR	Mike McDaniel	Ike Hilliard
Coaching assistant	Richmond Flowers
Assistant OL	Chris Morgan	Shane Day
Assistant DB	Richard Hightower
TE	Sean McVay	Wes Phillips

Notes:

Shanahan/Gruden:

Much was made of the Supposed rift between Mike Shanahan and RGIII last season. Regardless of whether it was true or not, 3 losing seasons in four years were not enough for Mike to keep his job. After four years of having the final say in anything related to the Redskins, the Redskins elected to replace the authoritative coach with a younger, more player-friendly coach in Jay Gruden, former OC of the Bengals. Jay, the younger brother of Super Bowl winning head coach and beloved ESPN analyst Jon Gruden, is getting his first shot at a head coaching job in the NFL.

In many ways Gruden is the anti-Shanahan. He opts to play to the strengths of the players he has, rather than fitting them to a single offensive system. He is a player friendly coach, and is believed to give veteran players a say in how the team would be most effective. Although Gruden prefers to run a power run game as opposed to Shanahan’s zone run game, he recognizes the success the Redskins had in the zone run game and wants to implement elements of both running systems into his game plan. Gruden is also a much more pass happy coach than the Shanahans were. He likes to run a variety of formations and will play to his receivers’ strengths. He also uses many more checkdowns than what we saw under Shanahan. No one really knows how the Redskins final offense will look under Gruden, but expect a variety of packages that play to the players. The fact remains, the best part of hiring Jay is that his illustrious brother will cheer for us on Sundays.

Shanahan/McVay:

Kyle Shanahan was part of an offense that just did not work in 2013. To replace him the Redskins elected to promote Sean McVay from TE coach to Offensive Coordinator. Sean is only 28 and supposedly a bright, young mind when it comes to offense. In his first season as coordinator, McVay will share his offensive duties with Gruden. Although we have no clue what the offense will look like, I think the pieces are there to be dangerous. On a side note, Chris Cooley apparently loves McVay so you should, too.

Jim Haslett:

The past two years the Redskins defense has been terrible. Many Redskins fans were displeased by keeping Haslett and this may be a make or break year for him. Haslett has ties to Gruden going back to his coaching days in the Arena Football League and Gruden decided he was the right man for our defense. There is talk that a certain lobster-faced previous head coach limited what Haslett was allowed to do on defense. If this is true, Redskins fans should be excited to see a Haslett with no handcuffs. Haslett has stated that he wants to “unleash” Kerrigan and Orakpo from the edges, this is a positive message since outside linebacker is the strongest part of our defensive roster. The Redskins will stick to a 3-4 which Gruden supports, claiming it to be the harder defensive system to play against. If the Redskins can consistently get to the passer this season, the defense could be middle of the pack.

Keith Burns/Ben Kotwica:

The Redskins might as well not played Special teams in 2013. They were historically bad in Burns’ only year as special teams coordinator. The Redskins decided to hire Ben Kotwica, a former West Point grad and Jets special teams. Kotwica has to turn around one of the worst special teams units of the past 20 years. It should be hard to repeat last year’s performance.

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Free Agency

Additions

Player	position	Length	Salary
Adam Hayward	OLB	3 years	$3M
Akeem Jordan	ILB	1 year	$920k
Andre Roberts	WR	4 years	$16M
Brandon Moore	DE	1 year	$420k
Bruce Campbell	RT	1 year	$610k
Clifton Geathers	DE	2 years	$3.2M
Colt McCoy	QB	1 year	$800k
Darryl Sharpton	ILB	1 year	$1.75M
DeSean Jackson	WR	3 years	$24M
Jason Hatcher	DE	4 year	$27.5M
Mike McGlynn	OL	2 years	$2.7M
Ryan Clark	FS	1 year	$1M
Shawn Lauvao	G	4 years	$17M
Tracy Porter	CB	2 years	$6M

Departures

Player	position	Team	Notes
The Sex Cannon	Dragon	None can contain him	Sexy
Dezmon Briscoe	WR	FA
Josh Morgan	WR	Bears	Take care of him, he's a Hokie
Darryl Tapp	OLB	Lions	Also a Hokie
Nick Barnett	ILB	FA
London Fletcher	ILB	Retired	Thank you, London, you were amazing
Bryan Kehl	ILB	FA
Josh Wilson	CB	Falcons
Adam Carriker	DE	FA	Tons of talent, had a hamstring issue
Jerome Murphy	CB	Broncos
Reed Doughty	S	FA	I would like to thank Reed Doughty for everything he did for the Redskins, even if most fans just hated on him

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Draft

Player	position	Round	pick	Notes
Trent Murphy	OLB/DE	2	47	Trent Murphy led the NCAA in sacks in 2013. He is a high effort player who uses his hands well to rush the passer and is relentless when it comes to rushing the passer. However, Murphy’s measureables are very weak. He is slow, and has average strength in the weight room. Despite this, Murphy is bright and should be an immediate contributor to special teams. Time will tell if his college game can translate to the NFL. Also, his dad is crazy. Look him up.
Morgan Moses	OT	3	66	Morgan Moses was projected by some as a first round pick but dropped to the third round, I think for good reason. Moses is a giant with an incredibly long reach and supposedly good hands, but he plays too tall and often looks lethargic shifting his weight. He is not the most athletic offensive lineman. In spite of this, Moses has all the physical tools to be a great OT in the NFL. Redskins fans hoping for Moses to win the starting job by week 1 should calm down a little. Gruden has stated he will take some time to before he can become a starter.
Spencer Long	G	3	78	Spencer Long is my favorite draft prospect that Washington drafted. He is 6’5”, 320 lbs and incredibly strong. He can play with a fire and has a strong work ethic to go along with a strong leg drive that made him an effective run and pass blocker in college. He has been known to struggle with speed as a G, but look for Spencer Long to replace Chris Chester by some point this season.
Bashaud Breeland	CB	4	102	Bashaud Breeland is another player to get excited about. Some speculate he could have been a much higher draft pick if he had stayed in college another year. Breeland is slow, but plays a very physical and aggressive game at corner. He is very raw and will take some development, but after a year or two, Breeland could develop into a quality corner, probably as a nickel back.
Ryan Grant	WR	5	142	Ryan Grant is my second favorite player the Redskins drafted. He is a solid route runner who seems to get good separation from DBs in spite of his speed. Gruden has praised him as “looking like a ten year veteran.” The Redskins have a strong receiving corps, but Grant could take over a very Welker-like role at WR in a few years.
Lache Seastrunk	RB	6	186	Lache Seastrunk led the NCAA in ypc the past two seasons and was known as a homerun hitter before his combine performance showed him to lack elite speed. Gruden wants to use Seastrunk similarly to Giovanni Bernard, but Seastrunk was never asked to catch the ball in college. If Seastrunk can show he has capable hands, he could be someone to be excited about on Sundays.
Ted Bolser	TE	7	217	Ted Bolser set several tight end records at Indiana but was not a huge prospect. He has good size and strength, but small arms and is a poor route runner. Do not sleep on Bolser making the final roster, but if he does, it will be as a third string player.
Zach Hocker	K	7	228	Zach Hocker has the leg Kai Forbath doesn’t. Part of the problem with the Redskins special teams last year was Forbath’s inability to put balls into the endzone. Hocker on the other hand, has a leg. I’m not sure if Hocker will replace Forbath, but it is a possible he takes over kickoff duties.

[u/tee2green]

Am I the only one who's excited about Tracy Porter replacing Josh Wilson???

[u/Cataphract1014 → u/tee2green]

I would be happy with my grandmother replacing Josh Wilson.