Arm Chair GM- What would you do.

Now it's your turn to be the decision maker in Ashburn. The rules to this game is that it must fit in reality, and please no short sided one word answers like "get a line" or "draft locker". In the real world doing one thing will not save our beloved franchise.

I want to know who would you resign, who would you let go, who are you going to trade, etc and why?

P.S. GTripp I really would like to hear what you have to say on this subject providing the great in-depth game day analysis. I’ll post mine after I actually give it some sound thought...

Here is what I posted on a thread back in December where a similar challenge was issued.

Since that time, there has been a significant increase in the "tensions" between Donovan McNabb and The Shanahans making acquisition of QB talent a bit more important than I thought it was back then. Nevertheless, I would still not take a QB in the first round in this year's draft.



OK, if I am the GM, I bring all of the Skins' scouts and pro personnel people and staffers who do stuff like that into a room and give them this briefing:

1. This Redskins' team will have to change over the next several years in dramatic ways. We will NOT be looking for a band-aid for a team that needs abdominal surgery. We will have to address problems via the draft and via free agency; there is no single solution; this is not going to be completely fixed in one year.

2. We have 5 draft picks this year. Under no circumstances will we think about trading up in the draft - - thereby reducing our picks this year or next. In fact, the only draft pick trades I will even listen to involve trading down if it brings us extra choices - - particularly in Rounds 2 - 4. THEREFORE, no one should put forth any ideas about drafitng the top player in the draft; we will not have the #1 pick and there is no point in anyone fantasizing about getting it.

3. Here is a critical thing to keep in mind going into the 2011 draft. We must be CERTAIN that everyone we draft and everyone we sign is committed to football excellence and to good citizenship. This is more important now than in other years because - - there is a possibility of a work stoppage that will reduce the Redskins' ability to hold off-season training programs and OTAs and maybe even minicamp. Training camp may be shortened too. We must not draft a lineman whose playing weight is 300 pounds and find him reporting to camp at 360 pounds. Remember, we might not be in a position to supervise his workouts for a long period of time. So, character and work ethic and all that stuff is not just boiler plate this year; it is crucial. Don't even bring up a name of a guy if there is a reason to believe he will be a problem child unless under supervision 24/7.

4. I am going through the team by position to give you an idea what we need to find. College scouts need to focus on our late round picks because we need to get three guys who make the team AND who contribute out of those three late round picks. In the past, the Redskins have kept draft picks on the squad just to make the drafting strategy look better than it was. That is not going to happen any more. If we don't find contributors in the 5th - 7th rounds - - and other teams do - - then we will find new scouts. Oh, and scouts who find us undrafted free agents who make contributions to the team will be getting bonuses. Just saying...

5. We will NOT be drafting a QB in 2011. We do not have the best tandem of QBs in the league, but we do have 3 QBs who have had starts in the league. That will suffice for the 2011 season while we work to fix other parts of the team.

6. We need an addition at running back. We need someone with speed out of the backfield who is a threat to break one any time he gets the ball. AND this RB has to be able to catch the football and then run with it. We need RBs who are coachable because most college RBs have no idea how to block in an NFL system - - and we saw the results of bad blocking in 2010. Find us speed, durability and coachability in the RB position. If you really think we have to spend our 2nd round pick to get this, you will have to make the case very strongly; our predilection would be to get this in Round 5 or 6.

7. We need help at WR. We will be looking to free agency to fill this need so this is a challenge for the pro personnel folks more than the college scouts. Don't just focus on the guys who get Pro Bowl votes; find us WRs who can get open, catch the ball when it hits them in the hands and block downfield. Look at the Pats' WRs; then look at the Bengals' WRs. Which team has more "publicity and notariety"? Which team has "better WRs"? College scouts, check out the really small schools for a guy we might bring in as an undrafted free agent here and put on the practice squad...

8. We do NOT need any tight ends. Please do not bring us any suggestions for acquiring any new tight ends - - unless and until we trade one of our current tight ends for a draft pick or two... Even then, we would probably wait until late to take a replacement.

9. We need more help on the OL than we can fix in one off-season unless we get lucky and have an off-season like in the early 80s where we got Mark May, Russ Grimm and Joe Jacoby in one year. That never happened before and hasn't happened since, so I would not count on that. But we want to take an offensive lineman in Round 1. The preference is for a RT who can start next year OR a center who can start next year. Again, coachability and work ethic are critically important to this pick. This player CANNOT miss. We will add to the OL with free agency AND we could spend another draft pick on an offensive lineman if the value is there. A late round offensive lineman who can play in the next year or two would be manna from Heaven.

10. We need more help on the DL than we can fix in one off-season. Every position on the DL needs an upgrade. Our plan is to use the second round pick on the DL. College scouts, you have to find us a guy who can step in and play next year on the DL who will be available then. We don't care if he plays NT or DE; we need help everywhere. We could also consider taking another DL in those late rounds depending on the value picks you guys find for us.

11. Our linebacking situation is not perfect but it is not something that has the same level of immediate need as other parts of the team. More than likely, this is a pro personnel area for focus.

12. Our cornerbacks are OK. We will need to find a back-up but we can probably do that on the fly as other teams cut corner backs from their camps. We will need those scouting reports handy to make decisions on which guys to contact as cuts are announced.

13. We need help at safety. We have two of them and we need at least one more. We have two safeties who hit people; we need one who can cover someone down the middle of the field. Focus your attention on safeties who can cover and tackle reliably; we do not need another "big hitter" who sometimes misses and gives up a TD about 75% of the times that he misses.

14. We will NOT draft a punter or a placekicker but we want to have both in camp next year for evaluation and review.

15. Let me reiterate the importance of coachability and character and work ethic for this year. We may be facing a shortened preparation cycle for the season; we need guys who will show up in shape, ready to work and ready to learn our system. It does not matter how much physical talent the guy has if he is out of shape, grousing about something he doesn't like, facing criminal charges or is unable/unwilling to learn our system. Can anyone here spell Haynesworth?

Ka-beeesh?

key keepers:Moss,Buchanon,
let-go: Rocky, Kemo,Jamal Brown
re-sign only for a reasonable (cheap) deal: Carlos
move: Montgomery to Center
Target FA: NT, OT, OG e.g. Paul Soliai, Ryan Harris, Davin Joseph or a journeyman w/ some quality starts
Draft targets:
Rd 1: BPA- QB, DE, OLB (OT depending if their value has risen)
Rd 2: BPA- DE, OLB, DT, OT/OG, CB

Ka-beeesh?
.............Totally...........

ok, as the (possibly) only italian citizen on the board...lemme take a shot at this:

ka-beesh = capeesh = capisci (in english)= you got that?

right on man.

and excellent synopsis overall, i totally agree.

Capice?

-Re-sign Santana Moss, Jammal Brown, Rex Grossman, Will Montgomery, and Carlos Rogers (If priced correctly).

-Sign Barrett Ruud, Braylon Edwards, and Aubrayo Franklin. Also sign or replace several backups.

-Trade Donovan McNabb for a 5th round pick + a conditional depending on how he performs. Trade Albert Haynesworth for a 5/6th round pick to the Eagles/Titans. Attempt to trade Dockery, if not release him.

-Draft Blaine Gabbert or Jake Locker in the first round. Mason Foster or Greg Jones in the second round.

-Release all the guys who do nothing to help this team, such as Doughty, R. Williams, etc.

QB: Grossman, *Gabbert/Locker
RB: Torain, Keilland, scrub
FB: Sellers, scrub
TE: Cooley, Davis, Paulsen/scrub
WR: Moss, Edwards, Armstrong, Kelly/scrub
LT: Williams, scrub
LG: Lichtenblahblah, scrub
C: Rabach, Montgomery
RG: Hicks, scrub
RT: Brown, scrub
DE's: Carriker, Golston, Jarmon, Daniels
DT's: Franklin, Kemo, Bryant
OLB's: Orakpo, *Foster/*Jones, Alexander, scrub
MLB's: Fletcher, Ruud, Riley, Blades
CB: Hall, Rogers, Barnes, scrub
FS: Moore, scrub
SS: Landry, scrub

*Rookies

It's not much, but building a team shouldn't see such devastating changes as we saw last year. This year needs to mark the start of a new era. Work on our biggest needs this year and focus on center/defensive end/tackle depth the following year.

I trade McNabb and Haynesworth, i shot for 3rd and 4th round pick a piece, then I cut all the RB, keep non i keep moss, cause he go to the slot, no more #1 receiver on the team, I pick up a good big Receiver in the off season, like Floyd or even Vincent or B. Edwards. Then I assure up or line, by starting with the Center, cause ours right now is horrible, too man blitzs up the middle...... in the draft I take Newton, for RB i take one out of free agency Deangelo Williams or Ronnie Brown, maybe Benson, sproles as a 3rd down back and speacial teams. I release Rocky Mintosh, C. Rogers, R. Doughty, p. daniels, I go young. drafting to build what I let go, though it seem better to draft a RB, I see these guys not costing a arm and a leg and still giving out production. I say we let the current QB run the team one more year, and build Newton, to be it.

Use every pick on a QB until you find a guy who can develop into one of the league's top 5 QBs. The best QBs in the league usually go to the playoffs every year. Start that guy for the next 15 years and win a few championships. They may miss the playoffs every now and again, like Phillip Rivers this year, but they'll be in the playoffs more often than not.

Yes, they need Receivers, but did you see the guy who caught that bomb from Big Ben on 3rd and 19? Some no-name rookie. Who are the Patriots wide-outs? The Bears?

Yes, they need better pass protection, but Cutler was sacked a ton and Big Ben and Aaron Rodgers are proof that elite QBs can overcome poor pass protection.

Yes, Defense is important (see Patriots and their #25 Defense), but you can build that over time.

There are exceptions to the rule (Jets), but the Super Bowl Champs almost always have a top flight QB (Brees, Manning, Brady, Big Ben).

It's a QB-driven league. QB is the #1 ingredient to consistent winning.

-Re-sign Santana Moss, Jammal Brown, Rex Grossman, Will Montgomery, and Carlos Rogers (If priced correctly).

-Sign Barrett Ruud, Braylon Edwards, and Aubrayo Franklin. Also sign or replace several backups.

-Trade Donovan McNabb for a 5th round pick + a conditional depending on how he performs. Trade Albert Haynesworth for a 5/6th round pick to the Eagles/Titans. Attempt to trade Dockery, if not release him.

-Draft Blaine Gabbert or Jake Locker in the first round. Mason Foster or Greg Jones in the second round.

-Release all the guys who do nothing to help this team, such as Doughty, R. Williams, etc.

QB: Grossman, *Gabbert/Locker
RB: Torain, Keilland, scrub
FB: Sellers, scrub
TE: Cooley, Davis, Paulsen/scrub
WR: Moss, Edwards, Armstrong, Kelly/scrub
LT: Williams, scrub
LG: Lichtenblahblah, scrub
C: Rabach, Montgomery
RG: Hicks, scrub
RT: Brown, scrub
DE's: Carriker, Golston, Jarmon, Daniels
DT's: Franklin, Kemo, Bryant
OLB's: Orakpo, *Foster/*Jones, Alexander, scrub
MLB's: Fletcher, Ruud, Riley, Blades
CB: Hall, Rogers, Barnes, scrub
FS: Moore, scrub
SS: Landry, scrub

*Rookies

It's not much, but building a team shouldn't see such devastating changes as we saw last year. This year needs to mark the start of a new era. Work on our biggest needs this year and focus on center/defensive end/tackle depth the following year.

Looks promising. Re-signing Moss looks a lot better with a bonafied #1 along side of him.