Here is a "hidden problem" we haven't addressed yet...

[sportscurmudgeon]

Let me post this now - - before Jim Zorn is fired early next week and we all begin to fantasize about how wonderful things will be under the new regime starting with free agent signings and going all the way through the Super Bowl in Feb 2011 where the Redskins will surely be favored by at least 2 TDs. I don’t want anyone complaining that all I want to do is rain on a parade.

The Redskins need an extreme makeover. This roster is insufficient when it comes to talent and depth. This coaching staff is insufficient when it comes to creativity and motivational skills. This front office - - or at least the one under the now departed EVP - - was insufficient. The likelihood that all of those insufficiencies will be corrected and that all of the new folks brought in here will blossom immediately into huge success figures is remote. This is gonna take time folks; gird yourself for it; this team is significantly worse than the one at the end of the “Spurrier Era”.

What I would like for folks to focus on is an area of the football operation here that seems not to have come under sufficient scrutiny in the past year or so. That would be the scouting department.

Look, I think Vinny Cerrato is a football goofball; I shed nary a tear when he left town and I sincerely hope that he will NOT get a “consulting contract” with the Redskins or any kind of “advisory position” with Danny Boy. But don’t rule that out…

Having said that I think Cerrato is a football goofball, I am sure that he is not the only person in the organization who worked at evaluating college and pro players who ought to be brought to the team for evaluation on the practice/playing field. Even if Cerrato was the guy who made the final call on draft day the last few years, he did not pull the list of potential players out of his own head without the input of others. When he went around to sign free agents or scour other teams “culls” to bring someone in for an evaluation to fill a roster hole, he had to have input from someone else.

So, who was it in the scouting department who created the input that led to some of these decisions:

1. Chad Rinehart could play OG well enough that the Skins should spend a 3rd round pick on him. I’ve seen him play in about 3 games and have seen no sparks of brilliance from him. Which scout saw what games in college that led to Rinehart being on the list as a potential third-rounder?

2. Wil Montgomery was an NFL-caliber offensive lineman. Two words jump to mind here - - can't play.

3. Devin Thomas was a better football player than Desean Jackson. I know there were “character issues” around Jackson on draft day; and if that is why the Skins took Thomas over Jackson, that’s fine with me. But if any of the scouts made notes saying that Jackson was the inferior player, I’d want to consider finding a new scout for that region of the country.

4. D’Anthony Batiste was an NFL-caliber offensive lineman. Have you seen enough of this guy? I have.

5. C.J. Brooks, Paul Fanaika, William Robinson - - you get the picture.

6. DeAngelo Hall was worth $20M+ guaranteed as a cornerback. Remember, he was jettisoned by the Raiders in mid-season because he was too big a pain in the ass there to keep around. How spectacular were the Raiders in 2008 that they could just throw away a stud cornerback? I seem to recall that the Raiders stunk in 2008...

7. Kevin Huntley was going to be a quality DE in the NFL - - it’s been 3 years now…

The point is that the new GM or President of Football Operations or Grand Wizard of Football who comes in here has to depend on his scouting staff to a large degree because there are not enough hours in a year for that person to evaluate all of the players that need evaluating. And if the scouting staff is missing good players and identifying stiffs, then maybe part of the housecleaning has to be in that wing of the building.

I promise you will hear nothing from the podium when Danny Boy introduces his next victim - - I mean head coach - - about how the failures of the personnel department in the past led to the situation that the new guy is here to fix. But, that is potentially a HUGE part of the problem and we will have to take it as an article of faith that Danny Boy and the new guy have figured that out. For the record, I don’t think Danny Boy has that figured out at all…

Why did I call the next head coach a victim? Consider this:

Since Danny Boy bought the team and inherited Norv Truner as his coach, he has had one interim coach and four permanent head coaches since firing Norv. Not a single one of them has ever coached another NFL game once Danny Boy fired them.