Strength Down The Middle: Off-The-Field

Ever since Bruce Allen's year-end presser, the term "off-the-field" has taken on a whole new meaning. Not in the same context, but the Redskins certainly need to start winning off-the-field. Harvest Fest and fundraisers are great and by no means should their contributions to the community be underappreciated, but the Redskins can do things off the field that can help them win on the field as well. That starts with a solid infrastructure which can set the culture for the franchise. When looking at the current alignment (Owner-GM-Head Coach-Quarterback), it certainly raises red flags.

In an ideal world, the Owner chooses the GM who chooses the Head Coach who chooses the Quarterback. It's not a set-in-stone blueprint and there isn't just one way to do things; just look at the Super Bowl for example. Robert Kraft hired Bill Belichick, who brought on Scott Pioli as Vice President of Player Personnel (Belichick was defacto GM but Pioli shared responsibilities) and they selected Tom Brady. In Seattle, owner Paul Allen hired Pete Carroll who hired John Schneider and they selected Russell Wilson. But in Washington, Owner Dan Snyder hired Scot McCloughan who inherited Jay Gruden who inherited Robert Griffin III. Like I said, there is no one specific way to do it, but if there was a diagram of how not to do it, this might be it.

The hiring of Scot McCloughan can not be underestimated but it's not a fool-proof plan. He tried to bring in help in the form of Alonzo Highsmith but that was blocked by the Packers (for now). It does make one wonder how long it'll be before Scot's fingerprints truely start to show on this team. Even with his proven track record, he's currently sandwiched between an owner who has a history of failure, a head coach who looked in over his head at times last year and a quarterback who has regressed each of the last two years. The aforementioned structure along with the hiring of Joe Barry over Wade Phillips and Vic Fangio have some already assuming that McCloughan is just going to clean house in 2015. I'm not the type to throw in the towel on a season before the off-season has even begun but can this current set-up succeed? Can Jay Gruden and Robert Griffin III win enough games this year to prevent the axe? Do you even want them to?