Cerrato's Radio Show Lacks Insight

Later, when Michael posed the very same question at the start of the second hour, Cerrato said, "I want to be the voice the fans can call and hear it directly from me."

That day, I particularly enjoyed Michael constantly pounding on Cerrato to stop with the "we're taking it one game at a time" clichés and to quit dancing around some of the questions Michael and some call-in listeners tossed his way. But for the most part, Cerrato clearly hasn't been taking that advice to heart.

When he was asked by a caller this past Monday whether frequently erratic rookie punter Durant Brooks should be concerned about his job security, Cerrato said, "We need more consistency. He had a great game against the Cowboys. It's consistency. He's doing a good job holding (for placekicks)."

The very next questioner wondered if the NFL has ever considered hiring full-time officials. Cerrato said, "I don't know that."

Oh please. It's a discussion that has frequently come up at NFL owner and competition committee meetings over the years. The answer was, "Yes, of course it's been discussed, but never instituted" -- for a variety of reasons the executive vice president for football operations ought to be able to rattle off in a heartbeat.

The bottom line on the show is that while there are occasional interesting nuggets Cerrato has thrown out -- Dan Snyder lending Andre Carter his plane to fly to California last week to take care of a personal problem, for example -- this is hardly must-listen radio. That is, unless you like to listen to one exuberant fan insist that Cerrato yell out "Hail to the Redskins" four different times on Monday. (He did.)

This is a show Cerrato would be wise to ditch sooner rather than later, particularly during the regular season, and especially if his team starts losing football games. If he wants to do radio, then debut the show the week after the NFL draft and run it until a few weeks before training camp starts, something of a down period around the league, save for the mini-camps. But even that would be a stretch, for one reason and one reason only.

Cerrato has a day job, and a night job and a seven-day-a-week job, and radio host should not be included in the job description. Any general manager worth his weight in draft choices will tell you that the position demands an all-consuming existence, virtually a 24/7 whirl from the start of training camp in July through the April draft. In Washington, maybe you take a little time out for some racquetball with The Danny, but that's about it.

I've been around the NFL since the early 1970s, and I can't think of a single general manager charged with the same responsibilities Cerrato has been handed who spent that much time on the radio -- four hours a week, twice a week, including the day after a game. Maybe they had a regular segment for five or 10 minutes once a week on radio or television. But four hours? In prime business hours, including the day after a game?

Over the last couple of weeks, I've called several people I respect around the league and asked what they thought about Cerrato's new gig.

To a man, they literally laughed out loud.

"Monday mornings are pretty busy," said one veteran personnel man. "Say your kicker misses two short field goals the day before, you'll get calls from 40 agents the minute you walk in the door. You need to be there."