Typical blogging behavior: You read a thousand things about the same subject, get flustered over the coverage, and then become part of the problem by complaining about it. This is foolish of me, but I can't help it. At this point it isn't even frustration but fascination... The entire Redskins universe is enthralled with the fact that Vinny Cerrato now has a radio show. This looks like the standard media announcement, in case you were unaware of the show:

New Cerrato In-Season Radio Show "Unprecedented" For NFL Exec

Cerrato To Host Twice-Weekly Radio Show Redskins Exec VP/Football Operations Vinny Cerrato will host a radio show on WTEM-AM, which is owned by Redskins Owner Daniel Snyder, that debuts tomorrow and runs "from 10-noon on Mondays and Fridays through the football season,"…

"unprecedented" huh? Well, NFL Exececutive of the Year 1988, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1999, and current Indy Colts Team President Bill Polian (they're an ok team I suppose, right?) has been hosting a radio show since at least December of 2007 so... this is precedented. Not to add fuel to any fire, but my personal take is: I don't think this is a good idea, but I don't think it's a horrible one, either. Our Executive Vice President of Stuff is going to have a radio show? I would think he has better things to do, but who cares? Half the criticism I've read of Cerrato as our de facto GM is with the things he does and thus at least half of the people must be pleased he'll have less time to do things -- from where I'm sitting, the most praised offseason in recent years has been this one, because the team has done fewer things. In any event, I've never measured the success of an NFL executive by the amount of radio shows they do, rather I'm focused on Ws and Ls. If the team bombs, Cerrato will have to answer for that. I think the show is ill-advised in that it allows the added criticism of "we didn't succeed 'cause you were busy, Vinny." But I doubt that show will itself be the reason we fail.

But don't take my word for it, because everyone else is talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, talking about Vinny Cerrato's new radio show, which I am 100% certain I will never hear a single word of in my entire life. Redskins Insider and ProFootballTalk lead the way on questioning the wisdom of doing a radio show with a bevy of other team responsibilities, through the voice other yet known NFL execs:

"I've never heard of anything like that before, and I've been in this business a long time," one NFL executive said after being convinced that this was in fact not a gag. "I can't imagine anyone else in the NFL doing this. How can you justify spending your time like that? What am I doing still in the office breaking down film (it was 9 pm at the time)?

(See: Bill Polian)

“I like Vinny,” the [unnamed other NFL exec] source said.  “He’s a great guy.  But that is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard.  You cannot possibly do the G.M. job adequately when you are holed up for two hours twice a week during the season doing radio. 

“Why not just change the time of the show from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and go on from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.?  To do it during the business day, and even worse, the morning after the game is irresponsible and unprecedented.   I can’t imagine this is really going to happen.”

You knew talk radio was going to be all over this, including Vinny's newest radio teammates. The Bog speaketh (also more from AOL Fanhouse):

Maybe you read Jason La Canfora's report last night that Vinny Cerrato will soon host a two-hour, twice-a-week radio show on ESPN 980? Well, some ESPN 980 hosts heard it, and, well, let's just say they weren't exactly rolling out the burgundy carpet for their newest colleague...

Pollin: He seems to have found the time in his busy day which includes all these duties to host a show on Mondays and Fridays from 10 to noon....Now I don't know anything about being the vice president of football operations but I do know something...

Czaban: ...About doing a radio show.

Pollin: Yes. And I've done one for about 30 years, and the general rule of thumb--as suggested by our boss, the CEO of Red Zebra, Bruce Gilbert--is one hour of preparation for every hour on the air, at least that.

So, by my count, that's a 12 hour a week job Vinny Cerrato just adopted per Andy Pollin. You can find details from the man's mouth directly via TORB, including Vinny's response to this critique:

Some of the online reaction feels that you taking time to do the show will take you away from your other responsibilities. Is that a concern to you at all?

No, none whatsoever. There’s plenty of time to have everything done. I just think it’s a silly question, because whoever has that concern doesn’t know my schedule.

While I am not the least bit distressed by news that Vinny Cerrato has a radio show, I also don't think it's a silly question. The followup would be: Ok, I'll bite, what is your schedule like? And if reader(s) are interested, you are now capable of having that answered, assuming you make your way on to the show.

A few positives (or at least indifference, which is where I'm at), one: via Homer McFanboy:

Honestly, I don’t get the big deal. ESPN columnist Bill Simmons completed a fantasy football trade on his podcast this week. How great would it be to hear Cerrato on the horn with the New York Jets or the Denver Broncos chatting about possible trade scenarios? If people are willing to listen to Clinton Portis and Brian Mitchell bicker on air, then they’d definitely tune in to hear Cerrato on the phone with player agents working out when would be best to fly in clients for the suddenly vacant punter position. There’s no real way I see this show not being a hit.

(Couple quick points, that's not really fair to the criticsm. I don't think many are suggesting that the show will be a ratings-bomb, rather the concern is that Cerrato has better things to do. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. Second, yea fans would love to listen in on the wheelings and dealings of the team. Should they get to, though? Is this business, which involves deeply personal and apparently aggravating professional and financial consequences, in need of more potentially embarrassing transparency? Even if it is, are the Broncos or Jets likely to acquiesce just because Vinny Cerrato can best be reached at the studio, on air?)

Two: Michael David Smith at Fanhouse thinks this indicates just how little control Snyder has over ESPN 980, which he owns:

"What frustrates Clinton is that Brian Mitchell is always on Clinton," Cerrato said. "I am totally on Clinton's side on this one."

And then the most interesting comment came from co-host George Michael: "That's living proof that Dan Snyder doesn't control 980," Michael said.

Snyder, of course, does control 980, but he's apparently willing to allow opposing viewpoints to be heard, including critical comments about his players and his team executives.

The point being that many were critical when Snyder purchased 980 for fear that it would become Redskins cheerleading. Whether it has or has not I haven't the foggiest; I'm not a listener.

But I don't have to be! Ryan O'Halloran at Redskins 360 is live blogging the mega epic debut of Cerrato's show today. He's got updates:

10:14 AM

10:24 AM

10:40 AM

11:22 AM

11:40 AM

11:56 AM

My favorite moment from the show I didn't listen to:

George: How many nightmares have you had about signing for Brandon Lloyd? Vinny: Quite a few.

(Dan Steinberg also just put quotes up, it sounds pretty meh, but I'm not a talk radio guy anyways. Whatever blows your hair back, reader(s), makes no difference to me.)

You can go snoop around here to see if you can't find the show. Not my problem anymore, as I'm washing my hands of this.

In closing, I'm young but consider myself old-school in that I have this ideal of football whereby the hardest working coaches and players will defeat the lazy guys on the other sideline. The coach who perhaps neglects family a few long nights of the year by sleeping in the office (Joe Gibbs) will beat that slacker who scoffs at the idea of overtime (Steve Spurrier). But the sport is too rife with instances of hard working players (PETE SCHMITT) who don't get a chance and absolutely great ones who might have been drunk half the time (John Riggins). Football is a complicated sport, all things aren't equal, and while 'tis best to work hard, 'tis bester to simply be good at what you do. That point was driven home by Dan Steinberg writing on Joe Theismann and Art Monk (ok, and John Riggins) under Joe Gibbs I. No slacking under those circumstances, right?

"Joe Gibbs let Mark Moseley, Art Monk, John Riggins and myself sit inside on a cold, cold day of practice while the defense was working." Joe Theismann told me yesterday. "We were treated special. One day we said, 'Jeez, it'd be great to go inside,' so we go inside and have hot chocolate. We were winning, Joe never said anything. We sat watching soap operas and drinking hot chocolate while the defense was out practicing."

Those guys won a lot of football games. While no one doubts that Monk was about as hard a worker as the NFL can have, does it surprise anyone that Riggins and Moseley were drinking hot chocolate while the rest of the team was working hard? Do you think it bothers any Redskins fans, given how many games those guys won?

Is anyone going to care whether Cerrato has the time to do the plethora of tasks assigned an Executive Vice President of Football Operations if we make the playoffs? I won't.

This post cannot promise to answer that question as it's really a who knows, but Redskins 360 did the math on at least one recent snapshot in time relevant to the above inquiry. He explains:

A question posed on a recent Redskins message board wondered what Seattle ran offensively against the Redskins in the teams' January playoff game, won by the Seahawks 35-14. This is obviously asked to start predicting what kind of formations Jim Zorn will use as the Redskins' coach.

He did the actual math, provided below, but let's quickly point out that a) Jim Zorn wasn't calling the plays in that game and b) I am sure his overall offensive philosophy is subject to change given varying circumstances, including his own and opponent's personnel, down and distance, scoreboard, etc. Redskins 360 counts:

54 total snaps of which the breakdown is as follows:

14 WR and 1RB set (~26%)

10 3WR and 2RB sets (~18%)

17 3WR and 1 RB sets (~31%)

8 2WR and 2 RB sets (~15%)

4 1WR and 2RB sets (~7%)

1 5WR set (~2%)

As I stated above, this is a tiny snapshot -- one game -- of a different team's offensive sets, with different players, under a particular set of circumstances. As Ryan O'Halloran points out, the presence of at least one great TE in Cooley plus another high potential guy in Fred Davis would alter the above substantially, since 3WR and 2RB sets, for instance, wouldn't provide any space for a TE (unless Cooley or Davis is lined up wide). Only the 1WR 2RB set provides for dual TEs, and the article notes that Seattle fell on that only after they managed a solid lead.

But I don't want to wait for a solid lead to see my potent two TE, Cooley and Davis and Moss and Portis and Sellers set, I want to run it noooooooooooow.

Here's the problem for the other poor bastard... Davis and Cooley and Sellers and Portis together makes for a fearsome running group that cannot be ignored. Cooley and Davis in that set, though, along with Moss, also makes for a fearsome passing group that cannot be ignored (pretty good pass protection, too, ignoring whatever nonsense [hat tip to Fanhouse] Mike Lombardi is talking about Clinton Portis in pass protection -- name me a RB that's better). And so that guy gets to make a business decision about who and how he's going to deal with a multi-threat formation.

Then again... With both Kelly and Thomas on the team now, I kind of like a 4 WR set, which would've been hazardous when it was just Moss and ARE and then James Thrash + whoever? Brandon Lloyd?

Do I know that Kelly and Thomas are necessarily better than Thrash and Lloyd? Not really. I know they're taller at least. And when it comes to WR combos, I'll take the unknown duo with potential over the known meh group. (Note: I like James Thrash.)

And while we're on the subject of our newest Redskin WRs, and Mike Lombardi, he makes an inadvertent point about the future of another Redskin:

Zorn will try change the "Redskin Joe Gibbs" offense into his version of the west coast offense. That will be a slight challenge and there will be some adjustment time for the players as well as the coaches. Some of the assets he has on offense, like Santana Moss and Clinton Portis are not best highlighted in the west coast offense. Moss is an explosive player, who is best running over routes and deep comebacks, not slants and snags. When the Jets ran the west coast with Paul Hackett, Moss was the change of pace wide receiver he was used for specific routes as Laveranues Coles was the number one wide receiver.

I don't want to give too much credence to all this; I think Santana Moss is at least capable of exceeding in whatever system he plays under, since he can be and has been a special kind of player. There is no offensive system that is not,at least on occasion, better off with a guy who can outrun the entire opponent's secondary with unrivaled adjustment-to-the-ball-while-it-is-in-the-air. I think Moss is fine, will have a place in this offense.

What about Antwaan Randle El, though? He's very nearly the same build as Santana Moss, is a great YAC guy with good speed. Whatever criticisms can be leveled towards Moss relating to his place in a WC system apply equally to ARE. I hate to say this because ARE is a special kind of player in his own right, but, isn't he just a Moss-lite? They aren't indistinguishable, but share a skill set and Moss is simply the more productive WR over the course of their careers. I wouldn't want Moss returning punts necessarily, or throwing WR passes, but if I had to choose just one starting WR I'd take Santana over Antwaan. Am I wrong about that?

And if it's the case that Moss (and by comparison ARE) have skill sets and size disadvantages that don't lend themselves to the West Coast offense, is it possible that Randle El may not finish the year at the #2 WR?

That's the new poll question, enjoy.

Psssst: I voted for 3rd WR behind either Kelly or Thomas but not both.

[Note by Skin Patrol, 05/20/08 11:03 AM EDT ] Update per my amigo WCG at Windy City Gridiron. He has his own post up right now on the move, that probably deserves attention. Here's what he told me in an email:

He worked for Bobby DePaul who is well thought of around here. The Bears scouting department, homer status aside, is one of the best in the league.  They get more from late round draft picks then a ton of of teams do with their 1st rounders.   I know the Bears did not want to lose him, I've seen a few blurbs talking about the Bears trying to up his money, but you can't keep a guy from a promotion and DePaul wasn't going anywhere.

I can't recall if I told you this or not, but the Redskins released their pro personnel director Louis Riddick a couple weeks ago. Per the Insider his contract was up this summer, and the team did not intend to extend it, so bon voyage. This created a void in the football operations heirarchy that the team will apparently soon fill with Morocco Brown, formerly of the Chicago Bears.This marks Brown's second stint in Washington:

Brown did not play professionally but worked for the Indianapolis Colts after graduation and joined the Redskins as an intern in 2000...

Brown left an impression in Washington, however, and in a 2001 interview with WolfpackChicago.com (a Web site devoted to N.C. State grads in that area), he said that owner Daniel Snyder mentioned him by name during an organizational meeting following the firing of head coach Norv Turner during the 2000 season.

"The Redskins called a meeting and Mr. Snyder came to address the entire organization," Brown told WolfpackChicago.com. "They said there were two people doing an excellent job . . . Morocco and the janitor."

A lot of people talk about "chemistry" or distinguish certain draft strategies or emphasize the need for a General Manager, but really, and this is just one man thinking aloud here, winning is all about your custodial staff. You clean up the toilets, you clean up on the field. That's always been my attitude; it starts and ends with the janitor. (The janitor? One janitor for all of Redskins park? This man deserves more print, whoever he is.)

Or at least that's what Dan Snyder must hope when he says something like that. Yes, everyone in the entire organization sans the year old intern and the janitor deserve denigration. Followup question: Who was responsible for hiring all those people?

I don't know much about Mr. Brown though the word, at least from Jason at the Post, is mostly positive:

Brown had been assistant director of pro personnel for the Chicago Bears since 2001, earning a reputation as a bright prospect, league sources said, and was someone the franchise did not want to lose.

I've already contacted our Bears blogger to see if he has much insight, though I wouldn't blame him if he didn't. Honestly, I barely knew who Louis Riddick was before we released him, and could only grade him on the pro scouting I was aware of, both the good (London Fletcher) and the bad (Brandon Lloyd). I don't know enough about the Bears' pro personnel transaction history over the past seven years to really judge Brown's tenure in Chicago, though he was the assistant pro scout guy so temper praise/blame accordingly. They did sign Adam Archuleta while he was in Chicago. To their credit, they also cut him. (But they also signed Brandon Lloyd! But then they released him this week; musical chairs.)

Welcome to the Redskins Mr. Brown and best wishes to you and the team.

The Post article had a not-insigificant note at the bottom about increasingly overworked director of player personnel Scott Campbell:

The Redskins are unlikely to hire a new college scouting director following Campbell's promotion, with Campbell slated to continue traveling to college games and overseeing the college scouts. . . .

I suppose it is good that the team has so much faith in Scott Campbell that they'd permit him to do two jobs, much as we did with Cyborg Workaholic Team President slash Head Coach Joe Gibbs, or our apparent one man custodial staff responsible for every urinal deodorizer block for the Redskins. If Scott Campbell is just half the one man show that either Gibbs or Janitor X were, he's going to do just fine.