Trouble in Redskins Park?

[Chico23231]

Read this article now:

Redskins drama: What went wrong in Washington | The MMQB with Peter King

The then-GM met for five hours one night that summer to try and convince owner Dan Snyder and president Bruce Allen that the time had come, and the team needed to move from Robert Griffin III to Kirk Cousins. Soon thereafter, with Cousins installed as starter, and believing he was in for a big year, McCloughan made a second appeal to the team’s top brass.

Let’s extend Cousins now, he told them, so we’re not stuck holding the bag later.


The Cousins negotiation. At the close of training camp in 2015, McCloughan wanted to try and extend Cousins, but there was concern over how that’d go over with Griffin, because some felt the team would still need him at some point. (Whether a fair figure could have been reached with Cousins is open for debate, considering the quarterback’s inconsistent résumé and lack of success at that point.) Finally, that December, McCloughan was given the green light. By then, Cousins’ camp wanted to wait till after the year.

After Cousins’ hot finish, the Skins knew they’d have to franchise Cousins at a $20 million number, which framed negotiations in a place where the team wasn’t willing to go. Talks on a long-term deal got off to a rough start, and then control shifted from McCloughan to team negotiator Eric Schaffer. By the time 2016 was winding down, the GM had been removed completely from decision-making on Cousins.



disturbing tidbit with Cravens:

Su’a Cravens injury. The rookie safety/linebacker injured his biceps on Dec. 11 against the Eagles. Initially, the team believed it was a tear. It wound up being a bruise, the kind players often play through. Cravens missed the following Monday’s game against Carolina, and then the next game in Chicago on Christmas Eve.



By then, his teammates, some of whom had seen him playing ping-pong at the facility, were openly wondering why he wasn’t pushing through the injury. After he missed two games, the team wanted him to get the arm drained in an effort to play in Week 17. Cravens responded by not showing up to the facility for treatment that day, at which point McCloughan decided to call Cravens.

That didn’t go over well with Allen. Some veterans felt like McCloughan was simply trying to uphold the culture that he and Gruden had worked to build, which is seen as a “Seattle” thing (McCloughan worked for the Seahawks from 2011-13) to do—If you see something, say something. But certainly, there’d be some debate in the football world over whether it’s a GM’s place to handle those things. (Cravens sat out the finale.)


Bashaud Breeland’s outburst. At another point in December, the third-year corner—who’d been seen internally as moody following the Josh Norman signing—blew an assignment, and was called by a coach on it. He argued. The coach argued back. Then, Breeland blew another assignment, took his helmet off and sat on a cooler on the sideline. From the perspective of the coaching staff, these sorts of squabbles with players were not uncommon.

But after practice, in the locker room, McCloughan saw Breeland coming out of the shower and bluntly told the third-year corner to come to his office after he was dressed. Word of the confrontation got around, and it led to another squabble in the front office over boundaries.

As was the case with Cravens, some players believed Breeland needed to be shaken and didn’t mind McCloughan doing it. Clearly, others within the organization didn’t think it was his place.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

Read this article now:

Redskins drama: What went wrong in Washington | The MMQB with Peter King

The then-GM met for five hours one night that summer to try and convince owner Dan Snyder and president Bruce Allen that the time had come, and the team needed to move from Robert Griffin III to Kirk Cousins. Soon thereafter, with Cousins installed as starter, and believing he was in for a big year, McCloughan made a second appeal to the team’s top brass.

Let’s extend Cousins now, he told them, so we’re not stuck holding the bag later.


The Cousins negotiation. At the close of training camp in 2015, McCloughan wanted to try and extend Cousins, but there was concern over how that’d go over with Griffin, because some felt the team would still need him at some point. (Whether a fair figure could have been reached with Cousins is open for debate, considering the quarterback’s inconsistent résumé and lack of success at that point.) Finally, that December, McCloughan was given the green light. By then, Cousins’ camp wanted to wait till after the year.

After Cousins’ hot finish, the Skins knew they’d have to franchise Cousins at a $20 million number, which framed negotiations in a place where the team wasn’t willing to go. Talks on a long-term deal got off to a rough start, and then control shifted from McCloughan to team negotiator Eric Schaffer. By the time 2016 was winding down, the GM had been removed completely from decision-making on Cousins.



disturbing tidbit with Cravens:

Su’a Cravens injury. The rookie safety/linebacker injured his biceps on Dec. 11 against the Eagles. Initially, the team believed it was a tear. It wound up being a bruise, the kind players often play through. Cravens missed the following Monday’s game against Carolina, and then the next game in Chicago on Christmas Eve.



By then, his teammates, some of whom had seen him playing ping-pong at the facility, were openly wondering why he wasn’t pushing through the injury. After he missed two games, the team wanted him to get the arm drained in an effort to play in Week 17. Cravens responded by not showing up to the facility for treatment that day, at which point McCloughan decided to call Cravens.

That didn’t go over well with Allen. Some veterans felt like McCloughan was simply trying to uphold the culture that he and Gruden had worked to build, which is seen as a “Seattle” thing (McCloughan worked for the Seahawks from 2011-13) to do—If you see something, say something. But certainly, there’d be some debate in the football world over whether it’s a GM’s place to handle those things. (Cravens sat out the finale.)


Bashaud Breeland’s outburst. At another point in December, the third-year corner—who’d been seen internally as moody following the Josh Norman signing—blew an assignment, and was called by a coach on it. He argued. The coach argued back. Then, Breeland blew another assignment, took his helmet off and sat on a cooler on the sideline. From the perspective of the coaching staff, these sorts of squabbles with players were not uncommon.

But after practice, in the locker room, McCloughan saw Breeland coming out of the shower and bluntly told the third-year corner to come to his office after he was dressed. Word of the confrontation got around, and it led to another squabble in the front office over boundaries.

As was the case with Cravens, some players believed Breeland needed to be shaken and didn’t mind McCloughan doing it. Clearly, others within the organization didn’t think it was his place.

My only take away from the article: It is weird McC is confronting naked players.

[Chico23231]

Originally Posted by mredskins

My only take away from the article: It is weird McC is confronting naked players.

Not that McC wanted to pay Cousins and others didn't? didn't notice that?

How about instilling a culture? nothing there.

[skinsfan69]

Every GM has his own style. I'm sure there are other GM's that do this as well. I believe that if your hire a guy in a powerful position you have to let him do things his way and let the chips fall where they may. Allen was uncomfortable with this. He needs a guy that he can control.

[Schneed10]

I definitely don't like the idea of the GM confronting players about on-field behavior - that is definitively 100% the Head Coach's realm and the GM needs to stay the fuck out. It is up to Gruden and his staff to manage the day to day emotions of the players.

Pick the players Scot. Let the coaches coach.

This to me is a very legitimate reason to fire him.

[Schneed10]

I want Gruden to be the one to handle players, to motivate them, to pat them on the back when they need it. McC is not a fucking coach.

God this makes me angry.

[Chico23231]

Why would the narrative be 'scott's drinking' vs McC didn't fit our culture? If we didn't like the way McC did business...that's fine...fire him. But the drinking angle seems convenient. Major red flags across the league about how Dan/Bruce do things. Also, we didn't research how McC how conducted the teams? They didn't know about this before, his relationship and the need to call out Players poor attitude and behavior??? This gets me fucking mad...why didn't we know? Why is this surprising to Bruce, Dan and Gruden? Im lost.

To me this is slanderous...if people were getting their lil feelings hurt because Scott has a relationship with the players....then fire him based on that, not for cause.


Oh Scott wanted to clearly sign Cousins too...thoughts?

[Ruhskins]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I definitely don't like the idea of the GM confronting players about on-field behavior - that is definitively 100% the Head Coach's realm and the GM needs to stay the fuck out. It is up to Gruden and his staff to manage the day to day emotions of the players.

Pick the players Scot. Let the coaches coach.

This to me is a very legitimate reason to fire him.

I don't understand why people can't take off their I-hate-Bruce-Allen-no-matter-what blinders and see that this was an issue.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

I don't understand why people can't take off their I-hate-Bruce-Allen-no-matter-what blinders and see that this was an issue.

Nobody's intellectually honest anymore. Too willing to take a position and refuse to revisit it based on new information.

The truth is never simple. There's no way that Allen is 100% at fault, and there's no way McCloughan is 100% at fault. They both fucked up in various ways, if you're being fair about it.

[SirLK26]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I definitely don't like the idea of the GM confronting players about on-field behavior - that is definitively 100% the Head Coach's realm and the GM needs to stay the fuck out. It is up to Gruden and his staff to manage the day to day emotions of the players.

Pick the players Scot. Let the coaches coach.

This to me is a very legitimate reason to fire him.

Its worked for Seattle, good enough for me. Why shouldn't the GM be able to handle issues with the players who he decides to keep on his team?

[SFREDSKIN]

I bet the player that spoke to Albert Breer was RJF, that's why he was cut. RJF has ties with McC going back to their days in SF.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

Oh Scott wanted to clearly sign Cousins too...thoughts?

On this point, he was the football mind they hired. They should have trusted him. He had it nailed early on, and now we're paying for Snyder and Allen's failure to trust him.

They say they're turning over control - until they're confronted with something that doesn't make sense to them. Then they need to be convinced to sign off.

I'm not saying something we don't all believe: Allen should be fired for this. But the problem is no matter who Snyder hires, Snyder will still be resistant to trust his people on the biggest of decisions. He'll always need to be convinced, and that's the shame of it all for us.

[MTK]

RJF was likely going to be cut for his cap space regardless

[mooby]

I disagree with you Schneed. Every team has their own culture and their own way of doing things. Whose to say McC wasn't calling players out because the coaches weren't, or the coaches were and weren't having the effect they should've had? When any FO personnel gets hired they go through lengthy ass interviews, sometimes the entire day for a position as important as GM. Surely when he came in they asked about his style in Seattle. And if his style was calling out players up there too and Allen knew about it and still agreed to hire him, then I'm putting it on Allen. Jay Gruden is a first time head coach, who obviously had his hands full his first year in the league, and if he didn't mind McC getting involved with the players I don't either. I don't care who handles what responsibilities as long as we are winning, and we were doing that.

[rocnrik]

There were lots of issues at play here..So its safe to say that no one single things got Scott fired ..it seems to me that yea there was a power struggle between Scott and Bruce but that alone did not do it. It was everything combined .. Head coaches get fired all the time for stuff they had no control over..they are handed a horrible roster and when they don't win somebody has to get blamed..when did you ever see a owner fire himself?? Its the nature of this business..you get hired so you can be fired! Nothing new here at all..guess what somebody else is going to get fired that deserved to keep his job..