How much have we improved player personnel?

Run defense:

I was saying earlier that I think the run defense has improved. I never thought the DL was the weak spot in terms of run defense. Its not what I saw with my eyes and its not what the stats suggest. And the only loss in terms of run defense along the DL was Knighton. And its questionable how much we lost based on the number of healthy snaps he actually played.

My view of the weakspots in run defense were both Safety spots and all ILBs not named Mason Foster. The bulk of the S snaps were taken by Goldson who was not good against the run. Maybe surprising or not but the best run support S last year was.................drum roll..........DeAngelo Hall. Yup.
So moving Hall to FS is a huge improvement from Dashon. Then we have the addition of David Bruton, a stud in the run game and Su'a another stud in the run game. A starting Safety tandem of Hall/Bruton/S'ua is a HUGE upgrade in run support from last year.

The other weakspot in my view from watching and from the available stats was the ILB group. It wasn't until Mason Foster entered the line-up did that an ILB graded out positively against the run. Perry Riley historically has been a solid run defender but through scheme change and injury his play dipped drastically in this area. I think there will be real competition from rookie Stephen Daniels. Daniels is a tackling machine.

TLDR: I think they addressed/improved the run D through moving D.Hall to FS and at SS w/ David Bruton/rookie Su'a Craven AND at ILB Mason Foster + healthy Riley/or rookie Stephen Daniels


Good analysis 30gut -- and consistent with what I've read & what Joe Barry was saying. We seemed to do decent on short runs but got gashed for long runs ---> and those long runs are more the LB and safety play on the second level.

Here's a great film breakdown / videos to demonstrate this, ie. comparison between possible run defense w Su'a Cravens vs. Trent Robinson (http://nflbreakdowns.com/sua-cravens-strong-safety-defense/).

We'll see in September - I trust Scott knows what he's doing.

This team goes as far as Cousins takes us. period. If he plays as well this year as he did last then its not unrealistic to believe we will be at least as good if not better with the new players..but That is the BIG IF.. I do believe the D will be improved which takes the pressure off Cousins.. I really think the Norman signing was the biggest upgrade and will help right off the bat.. one thing that bugs me is I read articles that have players we drafted like Daniels not even making the team because of the depth ..why not take a player of equal value in a position that is thin..stuff like that makes me scratch my head..

... one thing that bugs me is I read articles that have players we drafted like Daniels not even making the team because of the depth ..why not take a player of equal value in a position that is thin..stuff like that makes me scratch my head..

When the guys writing "the articles" are accomplished GM's intimately familiar with our talent & scheme and have spent hours/days reviewing film of the guys we have drafted compared to other we might have drafted, I might worry we have drafted poorly.

Not everyone will hit, but it's clear Scot goes by and sticks with BPA even at the back end of the roster.

Look, the late round guys are already odds-against making the roster. At that point, the best way to improve your roster is to pick the guys you think have the best chance of being an NFL player. If he can play, they will find him a spot on the 53. Not like the back end of our roster (at any position) is littered with all-pro's waiting to make the team.

Say it with me, BPA.

Nice article by Keim on the Skins' young talent:

Redskins' young talent looks much better than it did a year ago - Washington Redskins Blog- ESPN (http://espn.go.com/blog/washington-redskins/post/_/id/24997/redskins-under-25-talent-looks-much-better-than-a-year-ago)

In the 25 and under crowd we have: Scherf, Reed, D. Hopkins, Spencer Long, Bashaud Breeland, Quinton Dunbar, Morgan Moses, Trent Murphy, Ryan Grant, Arie Kounandjio, Kyshoen Jarrett (if he recovers), Jamison Crowder, Matt Jones, Preston Smith, and Chris Thompson.

Not all of these guys may end up starters as they grow (Thompson, Long, Dunbar) and some may not make the roster this year (Ryan Grant I am looking at you), but there is lots of young solid talent for depth at lots of positions ... and this is not even including this year's rookies.

In particular, I really like the young O-Line guys. Scherf/Moses could be the right side for the next 5-10 years. Long and Arie K. may be our depth and rotational starters for that same period. Heck, if Long wins the starter spot at Center and Arie makes enough progress to start at LG, we could end up with an O-Line that plays together for years which would be HUGE in terms of effectiveness.

Dunbar, Crowder, Thompson - all great depth for the next several years.

In addition, we have 12 players that are 26 or 27 including Trent Williams, Kirk Cousins, Kerrigan, Will Compton and Tress Way.

There are some solid players here.

I am happy with the draft and the future. Scott has had 2 drafts with us and I don't think the 1st draft was bpa. I am disappointed we got 1 potential starter for 2016 in Cravens. We have a playoff caliber offense. The defense was not playoff caliber. It almost feels as if they are building for 2017 and beyond. I was hoping for an upgrade at C,DT, S. We got it in Cravens at safety. Someone needs to step up in training camps a la like Moses did last year at RT. Since Scott picked him I got faith in the 5th rounder will make some contributions.

I am happy with the draft and the future. Scott has had 2 drafts with us and I don't think the 1st draft was bpa. I am disappointed we got 1 potential starter for 2016 in Cravens. We have a playoff caliber offense. The defense was not playoff caliber. It almost feels as if they are building for 2017 and beyond. I was hoping for an upgrade at C,DT, S. We got it in Cravens at safety. Someone needs to step up in training camps a la like Moses did last year at RT. Since Scott picked him I got faith in the 5th rounder will make some contributions.

You don't think we upgraded ar Corner with an all-star in Norman and a high draft pick in Fuller? And we surely did at safety, both through draft and free agency. DT remains a question mark, but Ioannides (sp) addresses that somewhat and how about Gallete coming back after injury? He was a total npbeast the last two seasons he actually played, with 22 sacks...

Scott has had 2 drafts with us and I don't think the 1st draft was bpa.

Why not?

Scherff is a very good player and I like the pick and him. No way was he pure bpa at #5. Also he was drafted to be the RT and was beat out by Moses. Our biggest need was o-line and we drafted 3 offensive lineman last year and 0 this year. Maybe the biggest strength on the team. We maybe selecting bpa. But a factor into that grade to make them bpa is team need.

Don't get me wrong. I love Scott Mc. I'll even buy into him saying he is drafting bpa. But team need effects each players grade. They said before the draft they were going to draft a qb to groom and they did so. How did they know a qb would ever be bpa when they drafted?

You don't think we upgraded ar Corner with an all-star in Norman and a high draft pick in Fuller? And we surely did at safety, both through draft and free agency. DT remains a question mark, but Ioannides (sp) addresses that somewhat and how about Gallete coming back after injury? He was a total npbeast the last two seasons he actually played, with 22 sacks...

Overall I am excited about the roster yes. It is definitely an improvement from last year. My original post was more towards the draft.