Ken and I had the luxury of attending a NFLPA event last night sponsored by SB Nation hosted at the NFLPA headquarters in downtown DC. After listening to DeMaurice Smith recap all the negotiations with Roger Goodell, and winning his key points (pensions, legacy fund, proper revenue splits), several members of the media and Chris Cooley got up to talk about social media, specifically the use of Twitter among athletes. The media panel included SB Nation's Andrew Sharp, Shutdown Corner's Chris Chase, and Washinton Post The Early Lead Editor, Cindy Boren.

Right as the event was winding down we got to talk to Cooley and ask him the following 4 questions:

1. Who would win in a matchup, this current Redskins team or the best team in Gibbs second tenure?
2. If you're starting your own NFL franchise, who would you pick as a Head Coach, Jim Zorn or Steve Spurrier?
3. If Christy Cooley decided to leave you, would you rather it be with Jabar Gaffney or Tim Tebow?
4. Give us your best Mike Shanahan, Joe Gibbs, Joe Bugel impersonation.

About a month ago, the Sporting News approached us if they could use our community to help put together a solid list of questions for an interview with London Fletcher they scored. We were happy to help, and four of our questions made it to that article (good job guys and gals). That article will be published later this week, but Sporting News was gracious to pass along Fletcher's answers that didn't make the final article. Here you go:

London, if Chuck Norris was a running back, could you bring him down? (jornek)

FLETCHER: (laughs) I'd be Bruce Lee to Chuck Norris.

I can't remember the last time Fletch got a personal foul penalty. I would have liked some clarification there but ah well. Moving on.

What are the similarities of being a point guard and a NFL middle linebacker? In terms of responsibilities, leadership, play calling, etc... And how has that experience help you flourish as a linebacker and NFL player?
(Parks Smith)

FLETCHER: There's great similarities in being a point guard in basketball and a middle linebacker in football. Being a point guard for all those years has helped me from a leadership standpoint because I'm responsible for calling the plays, getting everybody lined up and making decisions. You have to make them in a short period of time, between the time you get the defensive signal and relaying it to your teammates and getting everybody lined up. Playing basketball all those years was no different. You have to organize the offense, call the plays, orchestrate the offense, get everybody in the right place. Those have great similarities.

Do you feel that the younger players have a committed work ethic today? It seems many younger players and younger people in general have a feeling of entitlement. Are the players you see today working hard on/off season and field? (werroln)

Continue reading this post »

As Jammal Brown was heading into Redskins facility after practice I was able to grab his attention for a quick second to discuss headshots. His aren't as good as O.J. Atogwe's one, but I digress.

Me: "Hey, Jammal. Fans want to know which headshot you're going to with...smiling or the bad ass look?"
Jammal: (he makes that grind face) "Which one they want?"
Me: "That one."

Figuring Jammal just got paid (five-year, $27.5 million, $8.25 million guaranteed), he'll probably me smiling.

Good Cop	Bad Cop

We're back! We know you know you missed it. Maybe you didn't miss it like you miss Rob Johnson scrambling around a Redskins backfield, but miss it in a T.J. Duckett kind of way...ie - mild effort with little production.

We have two solid guests tonight:

9:05 PM - Robert Henson - He's been inside Redskins Park watching game film with Haslett and Kerrigan. We'll try to get a feel of what's going on at Redskins Park as we've been approaching camp. 

9:30 PM - Davin Joseph - A Pro-Bowl Guard, (Free Agent might I add) that will talk to us about his future in 2011 and his past with Bruce Allen in Tampa. Multiple teams have contacted Joseph's agent, and he'll be calling in after he wraps up his dinner with the Bucs.

For those that missed our Pickled Hogs Radio show last night, Vonnie Holliday was our guest and was very candid in talking about Haynesworth and the CBA. Towards the end of the interview, I simply had to ask what is going on with the Nose Tackle position and how it's going to be remedied in 2011. (ps - follow Vonnie on Twitter @therealholliday). The key things I took away is that Anthony Bryant has been staying in shape and Jarvis Jenkins will be getting reps at Nose Tackle. 

Nose Tackle was a gaping problem last year. How are we going to fix it this year?

Holliday: After the season last year I had an opportunity to talk with both Coach Haz and Mike and where we're going to go from here, if I was part of the plan, and what we need to fix to go forward. Nose Tackle was something that was big. At the end of the year you saw Anthony Bryant step in. Kemo never really got right during the year. The injury was definitely evident. He could just not get done what we needed to get done. Then Anythony Bryant steps in and really played big for us. He's a guy who's bounced around the League but stepped up those last several games and played well for us. There's some promise there at the Nose position but that we needed some more help....I think we made a good pick with Jenkins. He's a tough-nosed guy that can come in and help us right away. It also creates competition there. Now Anthony has to step it up.

What took so long to give Anthony Bryant that chance? Kemo stunk the whole year.

Continue reading this post »

First, much thanks to Cindy Boren for organizing the Washington Post Sports tweetup last night. Several Redskins media and NFLPA reps were in attendance. At one point, Cindy introduced Leigh Bodden on the mike and asked if anyone had any questions. Being 6 Coronas down, naturally I had two:

Kevin: What's harder...enduring this lockout or playing for Cleveland?

Bodden: (laughter) 

Kevin: Shawn Springs is a DC native having played High School ball at Springbrook. Did his "Blue" nickname carry up to Boston?

Bodden: (big smile) "OH YEA."

That made my day. He went on saying his Springs' stories were not appropriate for this kind of environment. I've seen Shawn Springs first hand at a charity event being a playa, so I let that go being a big  Springs fan myself. After the Q&A, I got to chat with Bodden off to the side.

Kevin: You grew up in Hyattsville, MD...are you still a Redskins fan?

Bodden: Hell no.

Kevin: So, if the Pats were knocked out of the playoffs and the Redskins were in the Super Bowl, you're telling me you wouldn't root for them?

Bodden: Nope.

Kevin: But you grew up a Redskins fan, right? I imagine Darrell Green was your idol?

Continue reading this post »

Doug Ramey of FatPickled.com and I had a fantastic 30 minutes of one-on-one time with the Redskins' NFLPA rep, Vonnie Holliday, on our weekly Pickled Hogs Radio show last night. I highly recommend listening to it in its' entirety. Ramey transcribed a good portion of it, which you can read here. In that post, Holliday answers our CBA and Haynesworth questions. Here's a tidbit on Haslett's recent comments about Haynesworth:

You know I did get a chance to see that and I was a little surprised by that. I know there's not alot of talk going on in football right now, but to have that candid of a conversation,by the defensive coordinator, I was a little surprised. I know we've had those conversations before. I was certainly surprised that he went on and was that frank about things. We all know what kind of guy Albert is. And problems that he's had with the Redskins. You know alot of stuff unfortunately that you hear is true, it is. Here's a guy Albert Hanesworth, the disappointing part of Albert is...this guy could be one of the most dominating defensive players to play the game. [FatPickled]

More....

Last night on Pickled Hogs Radio we welcomed call-in guests Adam Carriker, and Washington Times beat-writer, Rich Campbell. Both are comical, intelligent guys in their own right. Here's the meat of our conversation with the Redskins Defensive End, and former 1st round pick out of Nebraska last night:

Ken: Haslett's success in STL and first year with DC was under-performing. What about Haslett makes him the best coach to get this thing turned around and do you notice a  difference between his time in STL and DC?

Carriker: He's a high-energy type coach. Very vocal. He's still that way in DC, but the thing I noticed is he seemed more calm and relaxed than he ever did in St. Louis. I don't know why that it is, but my personal opinion...[in St. Louis] he was a 3-4 coach trying to play in a 4-3 scheme. And we couldn't go to a 3-4 because we did not have the personnel what so ever. I think he's in his comfort zone [in DC] and this is what he likes to do.

As far as him being the man, he's played in this defense, he's coached in it with the Steelers. He knows how to make it work.

How much is Shanahan involved in the defense?

He's an offensive coach. He would come over and watch for a little bit, but he let's the defensive coaches do their thing.

I would have liked to see the Redskins address the NT position higher in the draft. Kemo seemed to get manhandled and late in the season it was always someone new: Bryant, Vonnie, Daniels. How important is NT?

Continue reading this post »