Washington Redskins Are Married To Medocrity

The Washington Redskins dreadful attempt of a season has graciously ended in typical fashion, losing to the Dallas Cowboys, 44-17. Unlike past seasons, there are no imminent organizational moves that would yield temporary hope for the team and fan-base. I’m sure some changes will eventually occur. But the moves that need to happen, won’t, and that’s unfortunate for the team. They’ll be back in the same position next season.

Washington, at this point, is delaying the inevitable with Head Coach Jay Gruden. I like Jay Gruden’s ability to be transparent and do believe he’s a solid coach. However, he was in over his head signing with this organization. It was a lazy hire by the team, in my opinion. He’s shown poor judgment from the moment he entered the building. Maybe a mulligan gives him an opportunity to evaluate his failures and do things differently. But I doubt it.

The guy who hired Gruden, GM/President Bruce Allen will also likely be retained in his current role. Allen is the epitome of what the Redskins are as an organization and because of his last name — the team is stuck with him — by choice. What they could do, to window-dress, is finally name AJ Smith Head of Player Personnel. But that would be nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig. You’d have to be pretty naive to believe AJ Smith hasn’t been leaned on for advise during his two years with Bruce Allen. Those two are good friends. Although AJ hasn’t been at Redskins Park much (until recently), he’s just a phone call away from Allen. So I don’t know what you’d expect to change if that actually happens. Together they’ve only won seven games in two seasons.

What may change is the Defensive Coordinator, but at this point, I don’t think that matters either. The coaching staff as a whole is not very good. Jim Haslett has not fielded a competent defense since being in Washington. I don’t know how he’s lasted this long. It hasn’t all been his fault. But the fact remains, he has never consistently produced good defenses.

The issue is, I don’t know who they’d bring in to replace Haslett. Or I should say, I don’t know who would want to come replace him. The only person I can think of is Wade Phillips. That would be an upgrade, but it probably won’t last long. So again, I don’t think it will matter.

To make matters worse, this upcoming free agency is not loaded with talent the team can afford. So contrary to popular belief, and Gruden alluded to this, I think the Redskins will retain a lot of their pending free agents. That includes players like Brian Orakpo, Jarvis Jenkins and Brandon Meriweather. There’s certainly players in free agency that they will likely sign, however, the overhaul will/should come via the draft.

Putting an emphasis on the draft sounds great, but it has been the downfall of this organization for years. Their inability to have successful drafts is attributed to the lack of talented football minds atop the organization. If you just look at the team’s history within the top-100 picks of past drafts (not including first rounders), you have to go all the way to 2004 to find a successful pick in Chris Cooley. You could also say Chad Rinehart in 2008, but none of his success came as a Redskin. Washington has to maximize their picks within the top-100. That’s where depth and a good core is created.

2015 could be a wasted year for the Washington Redskins. I just don’t envision much significant change that would put this team in the right direction.

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