Originally Posted by Paintrain
So to give some insight into the 'pass' that I give Shanahan for the past two years it's based on a couple of major circumstances.
1. The final 2009 roster that he inherited was probably one of the worst in the entire NFL. Just for context our leading rusher that day was Quinton Ganther. Our leading receiver, Malcolm Kelly, our second leading tackler was Kareem Moore.. Our WR depth chart was Moss, Randle-El, Thomas, Kelly and former great Marko Mitchell. Our RB were Quinton Ganther and Marcus Mason. Our OL that day was Stephon Heyer, Dockery, Rabach, Edwin Williams and Levi Jones. Our DL featured Andre Carter, Phillip Daniels, Corneilus Griffin, Albert Haynesworth, Renaldo Wynn and Anthony Montgomery-ALL of which are now out of the league.
Matter of fact 33 of the 53 man roster on the final day of that season are no longer in the NFL. Hell, even 10 of the 12 on our injured reserve are out of the league! (only Doughty and Rinehart remain) There was not much to build on at all and only 2 top level players in Rak and Fletcher. A complete overhaul was needed. Gibbs left Zorn an old, mismatched roster that was built for a 2008 playoff run but no long term sustainability. That's why the comparisons to the Lions and 49ers are flawed, they had SOMETHING to build off of. This was a 3-4 year project to begin with.
Quick final note to add, from the 5 draft classes that preceded Shanahan there are a total of 4(!!!) players on the 2012 roster. Reed Doughty, Fred Davis, Rob Jackson and Brian Orakpo. 4 players from 5 classes and only 2 starters. By far the worst in the league.
2. This is the first fully functional offseason of his tenure. 2010 had stunted free agency because of the labor discord and 2011 of course had the lockout and no offseason program. For most teams it didn't have the same impact as it did with us but don't discount the time that was missed. Even this offseason was impacted by the cap penalties, but that was self inflicted.
Those are the major factors of why I give the coaching staff a 'pass' from the previous two years. No question mistakes were made. Campbell could have been retained to play out his contract rather than wasting time and picks/money on McNabb, Rex and Beck. They probably could have done a complete housecleaning in 2010 and not tried to 'go for it' with old retreads like Willie Parker, Larry Johnson and Joey Galloway. The Jammal Brown debacle could have been avoided. For the coaching side, I've got no issues with Kyle YET-but let's see what he does now that he has talent that can execute his scheme. Haslett has been fine, we improved in '11 and should do so again in '12.
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