Gibbs is back. But Casserley isn't. That's what's missing.

Man, isn't it obvious??? would we be paying ANY dead money right now, if Charlie Casserly was scouting for us? think about it, the ONE person who Gibbs would have listened to about NOT getting Brunell would have been ol' Charley. Deion, Jeff George, Barrow, Bruce Smith, none of these old timers would be embittering our lives as Redskins fans, and hurting our cap to this day. could we have kept Pierce? Smoot? no, we still gotta pay who??

What he's done with the Texans is pretty remarkable i'd say, considering the expansion, and we should never forget he handpicked Gibbs' heyday teams.

we've been lucky on defense, where our mad doctor Gregg Williams uses the player's anonymity as a weapon, but our air game has been nothing but question marks for years. I think Snyder's final lesson as an owner is to dump Cerrato and make Charlie Casserly the next big name aquisition.

Isn't this an offseason debate?

Why are we back on this GM thing?

well not just any GM, but Casserly in particular. the outcome of this season will have major repurcussions up top, to the coaching staff. and short of Gibbs himself, an established GM is the only thing Snyder hasn't tried.

right..it's PRE-season now, but so far, all we've been seeing is how uneven the passing game still is. whats left to do?

Are you saying we havten't been successful because of lack of talent? I don't know if I'd be that brazen. I think to this point its been more of a lack of chemistry between players and other players/ and players and coaching/management. Cerrato has been great in the drafts so far, and was the only reason we didnt completely ruin ourselves under spurrier. It was him that was standing up to Spurrier on keeping good DB's and paying them, instead of overpaying for college level offensive talent.

The amount of dead money on our cap right now is reflective of mistakes that happened in the past. The key thing is, these past GM decisions were made by Spurrier, Snyder, and Schottenheimer.

The person making the decisions now is Gibbs, and hence I think we can expect the dead money situation to improve in coming seasons. Sure, he has the occasional mistake of Mark Brunell - though after seeing his arm the other night, maybe he's still useful - but let's still consider Brunell a mistake just for the sake of argument:

Coach Gibbs Acquisitions:
Sean Taylor - Hit
Chris Cooley - Hit
Cornelius Griffin - Hit
Shawn Springs - Hit
Walt Harris - Hit
Joe Salavea'a - Hit
Philip Daniels - Neither hit or miss (has been hurt, but doesn't cost much)
Clinton Portis - Hit
Mark Brunell - Miss so far
Mike Barrow - Miss, but costs little

We'll See about:
Carlos Rogers
Jason Campbell
Casey Rabach
Santana Moss
David Patten

Guys Gibbs Traded Away or Let Go:
Champ Bailey - Denver sure didn't get their money's worth last year. Tatum Bell, the guy drafted with that 2nd pick we gave them, isn't even cracking the starting lineup. Mike Anderson has been named the starter.

Laveraneus Coles - we'll see, but I don't like his chances with the busted toe.

Fred Smoot - we'll see - considered inconsequential if Rogers and Harris pan out.

Antonio Pierce - we'll see, considered inconsequential if Lemar Marshall or any other MLB pans out.

If you're going to cry about the dead money we have on the cap now, then all you're doing is crying about the mistakes Spurrier and Snyder made in the past. I wouldn't change the Coach Gibbs system because of GM problems before he got here. Gibbs is the solution, not the problem.

Right on - then we would have .... Heath Schuler, Mike Westbrook or Tom Carter and at the same time get rid of we could get rid of Trent Green, Rich Gannon or Frank Wychek....that is real great GM stuff there

I think I will stand with what we have done over the last 3 years....take a look :) Draft History (http://www.redskins.com/team/history-draft.jsp)

Illdefined,
Great post, regardless of the timing. Anytime is fine to talk about our GM's.
It is not a coincidence that we have not had a winning team or season since Casserly left. I think Snyder wants to keep a hand in the GM-ship of the team because of his ego. He wants to be a major factor in the turn aorund of the team. I do not think he can take a back seat to a real GM. He has only taken a back seat to HOF Gibbs.
It would probably take a big nake like Casserly or Beathard to keep Snyder in the owners box quiet and signing checks. I am not sure Snyder can do it.

What he's done with the Texans is pretty remarkable i'd say, considering the expansion, and we should never forget he handpicked Gibbs' heyday teams.

Well, I'd say Casserley and Capers' time is running out in Houston this season. If they're not in the playoffs or at least making a serious run of it, don't be surprised if there's talk of a regime change next year.

If so, I'd like to see Dan Snyder on his hands and knees begging Charley to come back.

Actually it was Bobby Beathard picking the teams back in the heyday. Casserly didn't take over until around the '89 season.

I agree that talent is not our main problem right now.

What the main problems have been the last few years is the constant roster and coaching staff turnover.

It's nearly impossible to build any consistency when the roster is constantly being overhauled and a new staff and system is being put in place every other year.

Casserly put together the 92 super bowl team.