No one in the Redskins organization knows which player the team might eventually target. But the more pressing question for now: How will that decision be made?
While it’s not unheard of in today’s NFL for a successful head coach to wield authority over the team’s personnel, it’s important that he has the proper support around him and a relationship or two he especially trusts. When it comes to personnel, Shanahan, who has final say over all roster decisions, is largely working with people who preceded him in Washington.
The current 53-man roster features just 15 players who predate Shanahan. Since joining the Redskins, Shanahan, who also carries the title of executive vice president, has kept on his coaching staff only two Jim Zorn holdovers; he’s parted ways with 12 other assistants. And he completely overhauled the strength and conditioning staff.
Perhaps more surprising is that Shanahan and General Manager Bruce Allen have kept the personnel and scouting operations largely unchanged from the tumultuous days of Vinny Cerrato, the former executive vice president of football operations. When the Redskins sift through the fallout of what will likely be a second straight losing season under Shanahan, the franchise may choose to scrutinize the scouting and personnel ends of the operation more than the coaching staff.
Many around the league point to the Redskins’ personnel woes to explain their 4-8 record. Those same people say they expected Shanahan to put more of his own people in place when he took the job here in January 2010. Instead, though Shanahan has the final call on personnel moves, the scouting and personnel operations report directly to Allen and the changes have been minimal.
“They don’t have the infrastructure in place,” one NFC personnel executive said. “They don’t have a football man in place. . . . They don’t have anyone who has changed the tires.”
Said another longtime NFL executive: “Bruce Allen was hired, and he never restructured the personnel department. You see the results they had? And he comes in there and makes no changes. . . . It made no sense.”
To evaluate the Redskins’ personnel operations, several front-office officials, personnel executives and scouting directors from other NFL teams were granted anonymity so they could offer candid assessments. Many focused on the help Shanahan has in making key personnel decisions and ask whether he has too much on his plate to most effectively help the Redskins going forward.
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