Offseason Retrospective – June

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June 8, 2021

By Noonefromtampa

According to Washington’s coaching staff, offseason training activities were well attended and very productive. As a reward, Ron Rivera moved the mandatory minicamp to June 8-10 and eliminated a week of the offseason program. The team looked sharp in shorts and shells, raising optimism about the team’s chances this season. Even the national media has shown the team some love in their power rankings, something that has not happened in previous years. The team has a very difficult schedule this year and will need to play well every week to be successful, but most experts feel that Rivera has the team headed in the right direction with the offseason player moves.

Dan Snyder and Jason Wright are on a “buddy movie” tour of stadiums around the US and Europe. It appears the focus on the business side is now planning for the new stadium. Where is it going to be located is a major question mark at this point.

On a sad note, one of the 70 Greatest Redskins, guard Vince Promuto, passed away on June 2nd. Promuto, whose birthday is June 8th, played guard for the team for 10 years from 1960 to 1970. Although undersized for the day, he played in 130 games for some truly unremarkable teams during the 1960’s. A little known fact about him was that he had a college record for most fumble recoveries in a game with eight.  He wore jersey #65, which is the same number as another player on the June birthday list. Promuto was a Pro Bowl selection in 1963 and 1964, is in the Washington Football Ring of Fame, and was named one of the 70 Greatest Redskins in 2002.

Vince is one of the former players I met as a young person, along with Pat Fischer and Chris Hanburger. Pat and Vince were probably two of the smartest players on the team from back in the day.

Another former player no longer with us is Bobby Mitchell, whose birthday is June 6th.  Mitchell is one the franchise’s Hall of Fame players and the player who broke the color line on the segregated Redskins team of the early 60’s. During his first three years with the team, he was selected First Team All-Pro. He led the league in receptions and yardage in 1962. He is also one of the players holding the longest receiving touchdown record at 99 yards. His jersey #49 is one of two officially retired numbers, is in the Washington Football Ring of Fame and was named one of the 70 Greatest Redskins in 2002.

Current players with June birthdays:

Super Bowl era players with June birthdays:

Butz was probably the best interior defensive lineman this franchise has ever had. He anchored the defensive line during the Super Bowl era, allowing Charles Mann and Dexter Manley to get after the quarterback. Butz’s accolades include playing for two time Super Bowl champion teams (XVII, XXII), the trifecta of Pro Bowl, All-Pro and NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1983, NFL 1980s All Decade Team, the Washington Football Ring of Fame, and being named as one of the 70 Greatest Redskins in 2002.  Who remembers the somewhat controversial trade where George Allen traded two first round picks and one second round pick to the St. Louis Cardinals for Butz? What seemed outrageous at the time turned out to be a great trade for Washington.

June birthdays for other notable players:

Who can forget Moss and his role in the Monday night miracle game against the Cowboys in 2005? In the last five minutes of the game, he caught touchdown passes of 39 and 70 yards to take the team from a 13-0 deficit to a 14-13 victory. Moss was probably the best wide receiver during the Dan Snyder ownership era, with 581 receptions for 7,867 yards ad 47 touchdowns.

Matt Turk, a punter, was the last First Team All-Pro player the team had before Brandon Scherff this past season. The strange story around Matt is that his brother,  long snapper Dan Turk, represented him in contract negotiations. Dan played for the Redskins in 1997-1999, so the Dan to Matt combination was the first center to punter brother combination in NFL history. Sadly, Dan is mostly remembered for the botched snap to Brad Johnson on what would have been a 51 yard game winning field in the 1999 playoff game against Tampa Bay. He also missed the team flight back home (or was left behind depending on who is telling the story). He passed away in 2000 from cancer at age 38.