Worst 5 Moves of Snyder era?

[Paintrain]

The past month has been a tumultuous time for the Redskins faithful with the will he/won't he on the Cutler trade, the rumored infatuation with Mark Sanchez and the potential cost of that move and really just a general sense of uneasiness among us all. It was touched on in another thread that the Sanchez trade/draft could be one of the 5 worst moves in Snyder's ownership reign so it seemed like it could spawn 2 threads of their own- so in this one what are your worst 5 moves of the Dan Snyder era?

Worst 5 (in no particular order)
1. Firing Marty Schottenheimer. I will admit, I hated the Marty-ball era for most of his lone season with the team. It was bland, boring to watch, seemingly way out-dated and I thought he was just in it for the paycheck. What I missed was what his plan was. He wasn't trying to win a season, he was trying to build a team. He had to get buy in, had to get his players, had to get the organization on track and with his plan and Snyder's pockets it could have been amazing. His military style clashed with the defensive leaders, won him no favor in the locker room but given time likely would have produced results for most of this decade. Another coach that was initially hated but eventually saw the results of his program-Tom Coughlin.

2. Hiring Steve Spurrier. Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel, Jacquez Green, Reidel Anthony, just the whole damn Gator-Skins era was terrible. If there ever was a time that we needed Charley Casserly (or another GM) to pick the right pieces that was the time. Spurrier was overmatched on the NFL level and it was pretty evident early on. By the end of his 2nd year it was almost merciful for Spurrier to leave. He was tired of the NFL and God knows we were tired of him! The shame is he could have been a successful offensive coordinator with the right GM and right head coach.

3. The offseason championships. Since 2000 the Redskins have earned the reputation-sometimes legitimately, sometimes not-of being champs of the offseason. The worst was 2000 coming off the division title season and bringing in Smith, George, Carrier and Deion but not far behind was the Brandon Lloyd/Adam Archuleta offseason of '05. We can't really fault Snyder for big game hunting but we can clearly blame him for his aim!

4. Hiring Joe Gibbs. I know I am going to get killed for this because of who Gibbs is and what he represents. I also know that I included him in my best 5 list so it's contradictory for him to be in the worst 5 also but hear me out. When Gibbs arrived, we were a mess. We had no clear answer at QB, an OK offensive line, no legitimate depth in the WR corp and only two playmakers (Arrington & Pierce) on defense (not counting Champ because he was leaving). After 4 years of Gibbs, when he left we had no clear answer at QB, an older but still OK offensive line, no legitimate depth in the WR corp and only two playmakers (Landry & Fletcher) on defense. Gibbs had a 4 year plan and sacraficed much of our future to try to reach it. Once he left, we were left with an old, bloated, mediocre roster and not much to restock the cupboard with.

5. Vinny Cerrato. I don't think there is a team executive as reviled by his fan base (now that Millen was fired) as Vinny is with the Redskins. I don't think there is anything tangible that we can specifically point to him and say, 'you did this!' but the problem is his relationship to the owner and the perceived lap dog status it represents. With an owner like Snyder, we need a strong, accomplished GM that he will respect and defer to. Vinny just gives us the sense that even if it's the most moronic football decision, he will reply with-'Well if you think so, Dan.' Cerrato isn't helped by his portrayal in the media, but it's telling that after Marty fired him he didn't get a sniff in any other organization.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

1. Firing Marty Schottenheimer. I will admit, I hated the Marty-ball era for most of his lone season with the team. It was bland, boring to watch, seemingly way out-dated and I thought he was just in it for the paycheck. What I missed was what his plan was. He wasn't trying to win a season, he was trying to build a team. He had to get buy in, had to get his players, had to get the organization on track and with his plan and Snyder's pockets it could have been amazing. His military style clashed with the defensive leaders, won him no favor in the locker room but given time likely would have produced results for most of this decade. Another coach that was initially hated but eventually saw the results of his program-Tom Coughlin.

Mark Schlereth once said that playing against Marty Schottenheimer coached teams were absolute battles; that the next day, the bumps and bruises were harder to deal with than the bumps and bruises that you got from playing other teams.

I still have no doubt that whatever happens with regard to Mark Sanchez, Dan Snyder could trade away this year's entire draft, plus next year's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, and you'd still have the same old people eventually coming around to the defense of this front office no matter what they do.

[SFREDSKIN]

Stubblefield
Deion
Trotter
Spurrier
Pierce

By the way, how many SB's has Marty won and how many has JG? That's ridiculous that you have hiring Gibbs as one of the worst moves. Hiring Gibbs was the best move, it restored integrity.

[#56fanatic]

#1 - firing Norv in the middle of a possible play off run

#2 - letting Brian Mitchell go to Philly + the D. Sanders signing

#3 - Firing of Marty and re-hiring of My Cousin Vinny

#4 - Trading Champ for Portis - (I love Portis....but honesty someone of Champs ability doesn't come around every year, and really when you think about it, has Portis really put up superior #'s....NO, hasn't come close to rushing titles, doesn't have that break away speed anymore)

#5 - Allowing Antonio Pierce to walk. It took us how many years to get a good replacement, and he will be gone in a year due to age and decline in play. Pierce was a beast, true professional, and worked harder in the film room than anyone on that team and it showed on the field. He was a REDSKIN..

I guess # 5 could be a combination of things, but the overall statement would be " Letting Redskins go for the bigger name and overpaying"

[SmootSmack]

-not doing his research on Spurrier
-not coming to an agreement with Ron Wolf
-Duckett trade
-Letting Bruce Smith and D. Green run things
-Charging for practice

[celts32]

In my oppinion it all starts at the top so I see the bad personel decisions as the result of the bad front office/coaching decisions so I listed mostly front office moves and only one player move:

1. Firing Marty Schottenheimer- I would really like to list this as 1 through 5.
2. Vinny Cerrato
3. Firing Charley Casserly instead of Norv
4. Hiring Steve Spurrier
5. Trading Champ for Portis

[70Chip]

Removing press credentials from Joe Crisp.

[Zerohero]

Neon Freaking Deion

[skinsnut]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

-Charging for practice

I forgot about that one....good one Mr Smack

[htownskinfan]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

Removing press credentials from Joe Crisp.

good one,what happened to Joe?

[rypper11]

1. Deion Sanders - possibly the worst move in Redskins history. He would never be considered a Skin no matter what.
2. Firing Marty - I know he has no Super Bowls, but he was getting the team back on the right track.
3. Charging for practices - not only was it unfair to the fans, it allowed every other team to come and watch practices.
4. Firing Norv before the end of the season
5. Deion Sanders - I mean really, wtf?

[REDSKIN1]

I would have to disagree with the champ for portis trade as being one of the worst mistakes of the Snyder era. I think that trade was a good one even though Bailey was my favorite player on the team before the trade. Our corner play has not been bad since we let Champ go, we have had and still have good corners. Clinton has definetly improved this team on off. and he is the only reason that any team even fears us a little. When ever teams are planning for us who is the person that they always mention???? Clinton Portis..

[Schneed10]

5) Letting Antonio Pierce walk. The guy was the brain and spinal cord of our defense. And he's really hurt us in every game against the Giants since.

4) Hiring Spurrier. He clearly didn't take the NFL seriously.

3) Adam Archuleta - Nobody did their homework on this guy, he couldn't do what GW needed him to do.

2) Deion Sanders.

1) Jeff George - We had a pretty good thing going with Brad Johnson, we bring this bozo in and it disrupted our entire offense. Terrible fit, terrible leader.

[Counter-Tre]

Can I get clarification on something? I seem to remember that Champ Bailey was going to leave the Skins eventually anyway so instead of having him jump ship with nothing to show for it we traded him and got Portis. You guys would know for sure, can you help a brother out?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by SFREDSKIN

Stubblefield
Deion
Trotter
Spurrier
Pierce

By the way, how many SB's has Marty won and how many has JG? That's ridiculous that you have hiring Gibbs as one of the worst moves. Hiring Gibbs was the best move, it restored integrity.

Stubblefield was a terrible move but his signing happened in 1998, pre-Danny. Can't blame Danny for that one.

1) Pierce
2) Casserly
3) Gator-skins
4) Archuleta
5) Duckett