A Clarification on whether the Redskins are Re-Building

Perry Riley, Roy Helu, Leonard Hankerson, Jarvins Jenkins, and Evan Royster are all players acquired after the first round in the past two seasons that have the potential to be starters. While it is terrible that we don't have our first rounders in 2013 and 2014, I don't see why we can't acquire a starter in the mid rounds during those two years.If you add up the probabilities of finding a starter in rounds 3-6, you come to the expectation of getting one starter of the middle rounds every year.

Or phrased a bit differently, if you had the 15th pick in every round from 3-6, and you put all your scouting resources to trying to find the best pick available at a position where the player wasn't blocked in every round, you would expect to be successful one of those picks, and unsuccessful with three of those picks.

So while the Redskins are not guaranteed any starters in this draft not named Robert Griffin, they can reasonably expect to find at least one guy later on who can move into the starting lineup.

My opinion on the subject is that this isn't the NFL of a couple decades ago. I think MOST teams in today's NFL are forced to sort of rebuild every year or at least every couple-few years. Some teams and front offices do a better job at it than others. Unfortunately for many years we have had a pretty bad front office, inconsistency with coaches and offensive/defensive schemes, and an owner who liked to meddle too much...(not to mention subpar QB play) so we are perhaps further behind in the process of fielding a quality team year-in and year-out than a program like the Redskins should be.

I hear the word parity used a lot with regard to the NFL these days, and I do think there is more parity now than ever before due to the constant turnover of personnel amongst the teams. Not just players either; there is turnover with coaches, assistants, FO personnel, GMs, etc. This turnover causes every team to sort of "rebuild" or "build" constantly. The task of taking all the new pieces, schemes, personalities, etc. and putting it together to field a competitive organization each year is a challenge. Programs with great program managers, and stability in the coaching staff (i.e. Patriots, Steelers, Packers, etc.) and key positions (i.e. QB) are obviously better at this than programs that just seem to fumble through each year (i.e. Redskins).

Everyone with common sense knew that after bringing on board the new front office, GM, Coaching staff, philosophy, etc. it would take a few years to right the ship. I would say that the Redskins are in a much better position now than they were three years ago. I think this time next year I will say this team is in a much better position than they were a year ago... Have there been mistakes? Sure they happen. Will there be more mistakes? Yes. However, we are moving in the right direction. I think the future is now and I think we will continue to build this thing.

And for the record, Idon't think we have "mortgaged our future" for RGIII. I think that was a move that had to be made. Guys like RGIII and Luck don't come along very often. I commend them for getting that done.

I for one am looking forward to the next several years...

I'm not really getting caught up in it because their moves don't indicate a clear path in one direction, but I think they decided trading up for the #2 was the best option because they didn't want to go into next season with a combo of 2nd rate talents. I think they briefly flirted with the idea of bringing Manning in, but that was out once Manning decided he didn't want to come here.

So they realized the qb options were drying up quickly, and they also realized if they didn't get an elite prospect in here this season and we had another bad season, patience probably would've ran out and Snyder would've let them go. So they gambled big and now are hedging their bets on whichever rookie qb we pick (prob. Griffin). I think they have an idea of the direction they want to go in, but they aren't strictly abiding by the rules of that plan. It's more just a loose direction they want to go in.I think you're probably right on every point here. But without trying to get you caught up in it, where would you predict their next move is, if you had to guess: towards 2012, or towards 2013-2016?

If RGIII lives up to the number 2 pick? This team won't rebuild for long

If RGIII lives up to the number 2 pick? This team won't rebuild for longSo they aren't rebuilding? Or you don't expect RG3 to live up to the no. 2 pick (at least right away)?

I'm just trying to get someone on record saying that, unequivocally, the Redskins are not rebuilding/are no longer rebuilding/never were rebuilding.

I'm just trying to get someone on record saying that, unequivocally, the Redskins are not rebuilding/are no longer rebuilding/never were rebuilding.


Why?

We need to look on our roster & see how many other team 1st rd picks we have. What did we give up to get them next to nothing most of the time. 2013-14 picks are gone IMO we need to stop crying about it. We have our QB now so we are rebuilding officially. Hopefully we trade back a few times and find a few Diamonds in the rough in the 5th thru 7th round. We have 5 or 6 picks hopefully we can turn them into 8 to 10. Last year spoiled me.

I think you're probably right on every point here. But without trying to get you caught up in it, where would you predict their next move is, if you had to guess: towards 2012, or towards 2013-2016?

I would say towards 2013-2016. The free agents we've brought in that are expected to make significant contributions (i.e. not Cedric Griffin) are mostly in their mid 20's with room for improvement. With Griffin/Luck in the fold I think as of now they are setting themselves up for an average season this year, with the hope that maybe they'll exceed expectations, and then in 2013 we should have solidified the roster enough that we will expect to contend for the playoffs.

I think when Shanny originally came on board, he didn't expect it to take this long and be as troublesome as it has (which he has already admitted). This is probably his revised plan of action (as far as how many revisions this plan has had, I have no idea lol.). But I don't mind it, because I do believe that if Griffin pans out like we expect him to, nobody, other than the serial naysayers, will be complaining about the price we paid to get him. I've never had the opportunity to witness this team with a bona fide stud qb under center before, and I'm excited to see how much better that will make our team.

I think the Redskins are finally rebuilding on offense (two years too late if you ask me). Last year to me, seemed like a rebuilding year for the defense. We have a lot of young players that hopefully can develop into starters (though some of them got starts last year due to injury), and hopefully we can pick up 6 more rookies (in addition to RG3) that can contribute to the team. I think we have done a good job at bringing in free agents under 30 years old for the most part this offseason and last offseason.

So far, it seems to me that the team has gone away from the win-now attitude. Although who knows what would have happened if we had not had the cap penalty. Still, I think we have a young team who won't be expected to do much this season, but has the potential to overachieve. I get the feeling that Snyder has given Shanahan and Bruce Allen a mulligan for the past two seasons. And that is a good thing, because we will definitely have a lot of growing pains this upcoming season.

I'm definitely in this camp. To answer GTripp's question literally, are we rebuilding, yes. By rebuilding the inference is that we are not a Super Bowl contender at this point which I don't really think is up for debate. However, I expect to see the most talented and most balanced Redskin team since 2007 on the field next year and a much improved product than in recent seasons.

I'm not really of the belief that the RGIII trade has crippled our chances to improve over the next 3 off seasons. That mentality is rooted in the belief that we will still be a 4-7 win team and picking in the upper 1/3 of the draft. I'm not discounting the value of first round picks but they are not a guarantee of success. We still have plenty of picks over the next three years to build a legitimate contender, assuming RGIII is what he appears to be. It's been so long since we've had quality at that position, we forget how much an elite QB can raise the performance of the overall team.

To answer the final question, yes, I think there is a plan and has been since 2010. 2010 evaluate the roster and start the 3-4 transition, try to win with core players plus a couple of additions. 2011 focus on building a playoff defense through the draft and free agency. 2012 focus on building a playoff offense, focusing on skill positions (that's why I don't think an early pick on a RB is out of the question) and specify areas of need. The cap penalties probably derailed our full plan this offseason but we targeted players to address one of our major shortcomings in recent years, team speed and explosive players.

I've been saying since late 2011 and into the early offseason, my evaluation of Shanahan starts this season. He was playing with Zorn's roster in 2010 and was hindered by a lockout in 2011. Now he's built his defense and his offense, let's see what he does with them.