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Akh’s Thoughts: Offseason tracks
With the impending uncapped season and based on Bruce Allen’s comments to the Washington Post, it appears that barring some last minute change of mind, the skins are going to purge the roster of a lot of their big contracts to effect a change of culture at Redskins Park. With the ability to purge vets and sign basically whomever he wants, this gives the skins great flexibility to bring in more specialized veterans for some roles to team with younger players still developing. And with the union saying publicly that if the cap goes away, its never coming back, expect three things:
1-A lot of trading, especially of bigger contract players
2-A general purging of inflated deals
3-Then a run on talented players cut or unrestricted free agents.
My guess at what Shanahan is going to do in terms of rebuilding the roster might be more conceptual than factual, while they might not trade Campbell to Buffalo, they probably are going to deal him to any number of teams who pick in the first half of the draft for roughly a 2nd round pick(and so on). However, I do think that there are some players that look like obvious targets for Shanahan to go after and we’ll see if they’re available to him. If McDaniels is serious about purging the Shanny Olinemen, we’re obviously their first stop in free agency. Any 3-4 rush LB vet would have his agent call the skins to be teamed with Orakpo on the edge. And so on. Obviously Shanahan has 3 areas on the team that he has to improve dramatically: Qb, Oline and defensive back 7 and fortunately he has the resources in money/draft picks to get that done.
Redskins Add Special Teams Assistant
The Washington Redskins announced that they have added Richard Hightower as assistant special teams coach to Danny Smith.
From the Washington Post Redskins Insider:
“During the 2007-08 season, Hightower was a special teams assistant for the Houston Texans. He joined the Texans’ staff during the 2005-06 season as a coaching administrative coordinator, working primarily with the secondary and special teams coaches.
Initially a walk-on at the University of Texas, Hightower was awarded a scholarship during his senior season. For the Longhorns, Hightower played defensive back, wide receiver and contributed on special teams.
Welcome aboard Richard.
There’s a Hog In The Hall
It has taken too long but there’s now a hog in the Hall. Russ Grimm was voted into the NFL Hall of Fame today. hailRedskins.com congratulates Russ on his induction. Time to start planning that trip.
The New Coaching Staff
UPDATE: Well, it looks like Keenan McCardell rounds out the staff as the wide receivers coach. Interesting choice by Shanahan.
Here is a list of the new coaching staff. As you can see, there is no wide receivers coach yet. The links will take you to their Bio’s at Redskins.com
Mike Shanahan - Executive Vice President/Head Coach
Kyle Shanahan - Offensive Coordinator
Jim Haslett - Defensive Coordinator
Chris Foerster - Offensive Line
Bobby Turner - Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs
Matt LaFleur - Quarterbacks
Keenan McCardell - Wide Receivers
Jon Embree - Tight Ends
Sean McVay - Offensive Assistant
Jacob Burney - Defensive Line
Bob Slowik - Defensive Backs
Lou Spanos - Linebackers
Kirk Olivadotti - Defensive Assistant
Danny Smith - Special Teams
Steve Jackson - Safeties
Bill Khayat - Quality Control Offense
Also, the Redskins Insider is reporting that the Redskins quietly fired their strength and conditioning staff.
Coaching Staff Update
According to some reports, Bobby Turner has accepted the Redskins offer as Associate Head Coach and will be joining the organization. It is expect that Turner will be working the running backs. It’s also being reported that the Shanahan his hired Lou Spanos as the Linebacker’s coach. Lou has been with the Steelers for 15 years and is familiar with the 3-4 defense.
