Build the Wall…For Now
March 6, 2019
By Jay Evans
The Washington Redskins didn’t press the red button and they made the right decision. The future is now? Who put a question mark at the end of that sentence? The Redskins future is 1999…2001…2003…2005…2009…2012… The future is exhausted. The present is prudency and anything else is a damning grim fate, in the immediate wake of a promising season, which turned on itself amidst a cataclysmic multitude of strife, injuries, deceit and lack of gumption. The state of affairs prompted Washington fans looking for the Nuclear Football as opposed to the NFL approved Wilson. To the dismay of a passionate, albeit absent, fanbase the heads of state remain intact and should…at least temporarily.
Snyder isn’t going anywhere. Gruden is back. The majority of Jay’s staff remains in their respective seats around the conference table. The President, V.P. of player personnel, the capologist, the stadium; all back. The Redskins will look like the Redskins and (takes deep breath) that is not the worst possible thing for 2019.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana.
The Spanish philosopher quite possibly never watched a single Redskins game (Santayana passed away in 1952, just 20 years after the inception of the franchise), but the philosopher’s words should be inscribed on every masthead in Ashburn. The masses can hate the approach of management. Fans are in every sense of the word fanatical. Picket the palatial Potomac estate of Dan Snyder and burn the effigies. Plead for change and times of yore. Mount social media campaigns and boycott. Do it all, but do not destroy the team. Blowing up the roster would have been the absolute wrong move entering this offseason and if a tear down had been executed the Redskins would have been doomed to return to the basement of the league for the foreseeable future.
What were the possible alternatives this offseason that would have drastically altered the outlook of 2019? “We have to remove this tainted infrastructure and the team is weak throughout.” Maybe, but then what? Draft a quarterback and start anew? Been there and seen those results with these administrators. Tweak? Sure, but where do the Redskins begin? There’s no guru to promote to head coach. Trading for a veteran quarterback, for the second year in a row, isn’t feasible. The base has been laid and the Redskins have to continue the assembly of the current walls because they have no choice.
Remember, 2018 was an ephemeral plant with a lifespan slightly longer than that of an avocado. Remember that most preseason predictions for the 2018 Washington Redskins fell somewhere between 7-9 to 9-7. Remember the team, with 4 sturdy legs on the roster behind center, was 6-3. Superficial, no doubt. Yet, Washington, a mediocre franchise for this entire millennium, has steadied themselves in recent seasons. The cracks in the foundation showed early and often, yet are not unfixable and nothing that necessitates annihilation, not at this time. A 33 year old running back ran for an inspired 1,000 yards. A young defensive line is blossoming into an upper echelon unit in the league. Some of the walls showed striation and the young secondary got exposed without veterans able to stay on the field. Yes, a few beams broke and the damage is still being audited. One thing is true: you can’t build a great home without good bones. (Pun absolutely intended)
November 18th, “A day that will live in infamy,” for all Washington fans is a day of prayer. My birthday. I was in Richmond, a mile from the Bonsecours field, where the season began with such optimism. Having a local brew, I watched in disbelief with every Redskin fanatic as the 2018 season essentially ended. The Skins were leading the division and staring at meaningful December football until that tragic injury to the most important position, arguably in all of sports, occurred. Transcending a terrible injury was the inevitable sunken opportunity for a potential playoff run. The season was over and fractured.
2018 took another 7 games and 3 quarterbacks to officially finalize, but the Houston Texans game was the death knell that rang loud enough to be heard around the beltway. All in all, 25 players and 246 games were lost to the injured reserve. An astounding number. Even more astounding, the 2018 season was worse than the previous, which lost 24 players and 238 games respectively. The bones of the house broke, yet again.
16 of the players who ended on Injured Reserve in 2017 were not retained with the team for 2018 and at least 1/3 of the wounded from 2018 will not return. A glaring sign, yes. Is the training equipment to blame? The staff? Working too hard? Notably, all should be evaluated and considered. All are not relevant. Injuries are a guarantee but the strength in all great buildings is the foundation. The weakest of the panels will be purged from the site and the panels with dents will be smoothed. Despite all the devastation, the Redskins were able to go 7-9 and that itself reveals a sound structure worthy of recognition.
It has been 5 years since the Redskins finished in last place in the division. It has been 5 years since the Redskins were picking in the top 10. In the previous 9 seasons before 2015, The Washington Redskins finished in 4th place of the division 7 times! Only the 2012 season was better than a 3rd place finish in the division. “The Trade” and “The Sanctions” came and went. This is not news. That was “the future” then and as it is now, the Redskins will be hit with a $20 million penalty in the form of a contract guarantee to a broken stilt. It is easy to be indifferent. It truly is understandable. The indifference in the fanbase is palpable but there should be a reasonable deference regarding the players, the staff, and the precarious situation the Redskins are preparing to face.
With a little over 20 million in salary cap and 10 draft picks, including 4 in the top 96, there is not a lot of flexibility to drastically improve the quarterback outlook for 2019. Eric Shaffer and the contractual side of the organization has kept roster in a “responsible” status compared to the rest of the league. That’s a measured improvement over the previous regime, which handed out free agent contracts and renegotiated existing contracts into cap constricting hell. As difficult as sitting out on the market for new coaches and shiny toys may be, it is imperative the Redskins remain prudent and stay in the lane that has gotten them to just below average.
It has been 4 years of competitive balance and fans should be grateful. That is correct. Fans should be happy. A reasonable, myopic view of the team reveals they won a division and should have made the playoffs the following year. Barring a made field goal in London or showing a pulse in a week 17 game that would be one more playoff game than the previous 6 seasons combined. Then two consecutive injury plagued seasons ruined whatever chances the Redskins had and they still wound up in the 7-9 win range. You can be mad at how the executives treat employees and don’t care about their constituents. However, an honest analysis into the ossification of the Redskins’ skeletal structure reveals progress is further along than the armchair doctors would conclude.
Three of the past four first round picks have been on the offensive and defensive lines. I can hear “you win in the trenches” people from the party decks. In the second round, if you are a sturdy built edge, start looking at real estate in the DMV because Redskin One is coming for you. Alabama might as well be the team’s minor league affiliate. The Skins have been critiqued for misses in middle rounds and reaches in later rounds, but they have targeted players with a certain savoir faire. The Redskins are focused on players from either good stock or with elite measurables. Early rounds are dominated by the SEC and later rounds are trait measured talents who sometimes carry an injury risk. Shaun Dion Hamilton, Fabian Moreau, Troy Apke, Geron Christian, Jr., Robert Davis: they all exemplify the big school or elite trait philosophy and all taken after the start of round 3. The SEC dominates the talent pool every year. Include a few dominant programs from around the country and you have the majority of the NFL. It is worth a mention, taking players based upon traits places a high reliance on coaching. Is the coaching staff upper tier? No. But are coaches bottom 3rd of the league? No. The prospect bushes won’t always produce but the vision is tangible. Will every coach unearth rare gems and allow players to exceed their potential? No, however the approach is sound.
The days where the Redskins expected a mature splintered oak tree to anchor an entire wing of the house are currently obsolete and all for the better. Resources are tight but the Redskins’ current structure reveals a solid base that needs improvement, but not a whole refurbishment. Are the pieces strong enough to support an acorn at the quarterback position? No and to place a young oak under center with a coaching staff not locked into the future is irresponsible. A tear down, at this point, will inevitably return the Redskins to the bottom of the league. The president and general manager positions need more than a new coat of paint. A long-term solution could be in “house” already with Kyle Smith. The coach is a structural issue in need of a rehab resembling that of a new isolated footing. Cringe at the missed opportunity of Sean McVay, but he was hardened steel and another team needed him before Washington could set him in place. Kevin O’Connell could be the Portland cement needed for the foundation, spooling and forming concrete, yet is not mature enough to be set in the ground. Jay Gruden is not the foreman the Redskins need, though he can keep the building erect for one more winter until the cement dries following next year. Acquiring a left guard is akin to greasing a squeaky hinge on your home’s shutters. Some of the tasks are going to be more intensive. Other work is more superficial. The anatomy of the Redskin home reveals it is no longer going to be scattered across Loudon County after the first storm of the hurricane season. No structure is going to withstand two tsunamis back to back, but no longer will this house collapse if a squirrel sneezes on the unfinished sun room. Redskin fans should agree to “Make D.C. ‘Great Again” and build “those walls” as they have been…for now.