Mike Shanahan signs a 5 Year deal as Head Coach and EVP of Football Operations of the Washington Redskins. He becomes the seventh head coach for Washington in the last ten years. Adam Schefter, of ESPN, reports that Shanahan will have ultimate authority on football operations.
The recent signings of GM Bruce Allen and Head Coach/EVP Football Operations Mike Shanahan signal a change in the front office roles and responsibilities and thereby limiting some of the influence Snyder may have in personnel decisions. How much Dan Snyder relinquishes influence in personnel decisions remains to be seen and will not fully be known until April's NFL Draft and the ensuing free agency period.
The Redskins had complied with the Rooney rule by interviewing Secondary Coach Gray while Zorn was still head coach of the team. It appears that Allen and Snyder had a plan in place as the team pursued Shanahan quickly rather than waiting game and what other coaches would be available.
Now Shanahan must help rebuild a front office and team with only a handful of young talent. Shanahan's best years in Denver coincided with Hall of Famer John Elway. Handing over final say of personnel decisions to a head coach with a track record of choosing Brian Griese and then clamoring for Jake "the snake" Plummer at QB leave much to be desired. The years following Elway's retirement weren't as fruitful even with Shanahan's choice at QB. It's difficult to replace a HOF and Shanahan found duplicating the early success quite the challenge while HOF Coach Gibbs was able to lead four Redskins teams to the Super Bowl with three distinctly different quarterbacks.
Most head coaches rebuilding a team seem poised to stamp the team their own with a young face of the organization most notably a quarterback. With Shanahan's propensity to filling the role a top priority will he, Allen, and Snyder be able to assess the draft properly with the #4 overall pick in the draft and defer taking a QB until the 2nd Round and another QB next year while rebuilding this year? Will the Skins look to improve in other areas during the draft in what's considered a weak year for OL and potentially a better group of franchise QB's declaring for the draft next year? Both QB and OL are positions of need for the team. Do the Redskins choose to rebuild from stockpiling the best talent available or force a pick out of need from a position that could be stronger in next year's draft?
There's plenty evaluating between now and the end of the NFL Draft for the Skins and by fans. What the change in the front office structure and coaching staff boils down to is how the group works together to make sound rational decisions that pan out. Shanahan has proven he can coach, but much like other head coaches that have assumed some of the role as a part GM it doesn't always work out successfully. Fans will have to wait until April to see how much this administration in Washington differs from past ones and how this five year plan differs from any of the previous plans.
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When Vinny Cerrato "resigned" and Bruce Allen was brought in, I had hope. Now I'm concerned. Yes, we knew that Allen was a business type GM, for numbers and all that. But giving final say to Shanahan is questionable. Shanahan probably wanted that. Bill Parcells, the current President of the Miami Dolphins once famously said, "If I'm going to cook, I'd like to purchase the groceries" or something to that effect. While it's a good idea, in practice, it's unlikely to work. Let's hope at least he'll listen to Allen when it comes to some players/contracts. One person control could be disaster.
I really like the idea of Shanahan coming to the Redskins, but we have had One person control since Dan Snyder bought the team. Granted that Mike Shanahan is better than Dan Snyder at making personnel decisions, it still makes me a little concerned. Everything I have read was the reason Shanahan was fired from Denver was because he was in charge of everything. Hopefully Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan can work together and bring the Redskins back to glory.