Redskins agree to trade for No.2 overall pick in 2012 Draft

[30gut]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Given what we know now, that was a brutal waste of two years.

Better late than never, I suppose, and Griffin is about as good as pro prospects get at this position. But it's hard to see this as anything but a huge admission of poor planning by the Shanahans who feel it's totally cool to spend draft picks which they are contractually obligated to use to build this team, though they were/are unlikely to actually be around when the picks will actually be made.

I agree that this move was an admission of fault, but its also very shrewd from a darwinian standpoint.

Completely independent of the on the field play, landing Griffin is one of the few ways this staff increases the chances that they'll be around in 2-3 years.
Drafting a potential 'franchise' QB that the fanbase and city can get behind buys the staff some leeway they may have lost with their previous mistakes.

It affords them the kind of leeway that can look past whatever struggles may/may not occur this season and chalk them up to growing pains of grooming a 'franchise' QB.

I agree that this move was costly though.
It reeks of self inflicted desperation and it highlights the schizophrenic pitfals that occur when your HC is really your GM.
At first blush this draft seems like a complete departure from last year.
But in context of their tenure here its actually in keeping with their m/o and displays their willingness to give up high draft picks.


And at the end of the day although I wish the cost was less, I love Griffin.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by 30gut

I agree that this move was an admission of fault, but its also very shrewd from a darwinian standpoint.

Completely independent of the on the field play, landing Griffin is one of the few ways this staff increases the chances that they'll be around in 2-3 years.
Drafting a potential 'franchise' QB that the fanbase and city can get behind buys the staff some leeway they may have lost with their previous mistakes.

It affords them the kind of leeway that can look past whatever struggles may/may not occur this season and chalk them up to growing pains of grooming a 'franchise' QB.

I agree that this move was costly though.
It reeks of self inflicted desperation and it highlights the schizophrenic pitfals that occur when your HC is really your GM.
At first blush this draft seems like a complete departure from last year.
But in context of their tenure here its actually in keeping with their m/o and displays their willingness to give up high draft picks.


And at the end of the day although I wish the cost was less, I love Griffin.

I agree with everything you wrote here, including the bottom line.

This is precisely why we all needed to step back and take a wait and see approach to determine the context of the 2011 draft. Before you can claim that they've committed to a new way of doing things, it makes sense to wait around to see if, you know, they are actually committed to a new way of doing things.

Ultimately, the Shanahans fell lock-step in line with the Vinny Cerrato line of thinking of: I'm going to get fired unless I get a new quarterback (new, as opposed to better). Only difference was that Vinny poked around some really lackluster prospects and didn't do anything, and Shanahan waited as long as he could then overbet the market by about 30%.

[KI Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I agree with everything you wrote here, including the bottom line.

This is precisely why we all needed to step back and take a wait and see approach to determine the context of the 2011 draft. Before you can claim that they've committed to a new way of doing things, it makes sense to wait around to see if, you know, they are actually committed to a new way of doing things.

Ultimately, the Shanahans fell lock-step in line with the Vinny Cerrato line of thinking of: I'm going to get fired unless I get a new quarterback (new, as opposed to better). Only difference was that Vinny poked around some really lackluster prospects and didn't do anything, and Shanahan waited as long as he could then overbet the market by about 30%.

I strongly disagree with your assumption that Vinny Cerrato and Mike Shanahan had similar self-serving motivations to make acquisitions.

First of all, you have no idea of what may have motivated either one of these men to do a deal.

Secondly, the very thought that MS just wanted a new QB and not necessarily a better QB in order to save his own job is preposterous. A QB that is new and not necessarily better won't save his job.

The evidence that this was a football decision is that RGIII, who is a highly regarded prospect, has the ability to throw on the run and possesses extraordinary deep passing accuracy, which makes him a near perfect fit for the offense that MS wants to run.

You could have taken Shanahan's decision not to draft a QB last year at face value based on what he said about it, i.e, he didn't like any of them enough to draft one of them. Instead, you have decided to view the price Shanahan paid for RGIII as evidence that Shanahan stupidly painted himself into a corner by not drafting a QB last year, just as Vinny might have done. Is that right?

Perhaps Shanahan was just waiting for the right QB to become available and now he has acquired the draft position to get that QB. We need one, don't we?

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

I strongly disagree with your assumption that Vinny Cerrato and Mike Shanahan had similar self-serving motivations to make acquisitions.

First of all, you have no idea of what may have motivated either one of these men to do a deal.

Secondly, the very thought that MS just wanted a new QB and not necessarily a better QB in order to save his own job is preposterous. A QB that is new and not necessarily better won't save his job.

The evidence that this was a football decision is that RGIII, who is a highly regarded prospect, has the ability to throw on the run and possesses extraordinary deep passing accuracy, which makes him a near perfect fit for the offense that MS wants to run.

Perhaps Shanahan was just waiting for the right QB to become available and now he has acquired the draft position to get that QB. We need one, don't we?

Your point would be more valid if instead of giving as much as we did, if we had given a fair trade for the no. 2 pick. At such a level of compensation, I think you could defend the angle that the Redskins were just waiting for the right time to strike and found the right time after three years.

The compensation in the deal clearly suggests that this wasn't the right time so much as it was the only time.

You could have taken Shanahan's decision not to draft a QB last year at face value based on what he said about it, i.e, he didn't like any of them enough to draft one of them. Instead, you have decided to view the price Shanahan paid for RGIII as evidence that Shanahan stupidly painted himself into a corner by not drafting a QB last year, just as Vinny might have done. Is that right?

If it wasn't clear already, what Mike Shanahan thinks of quarterback prospects doesn't and shouldn't matter to us because it doesn't change the reality of the situation in terms of what was available and what we actually had. And if you took him at face value, then you would have to conclude that he thought Grossman and Beck were better than everyone in the draft last year.

He did paint himself into a tight corner, but I don't think the price for RG3 is evidence of that. I think the price of RG3 is more indicative of how much the heat had been turned up on him since last offseason when approaching the offense leisurely and focusing on the defensive front was a more acceptable way to approach things.

Shanahan has given himself a fighting chance to save his job. It's still an uphill battle, and Shanahan (not Griffin) will take the fall if the Redskins don't succeed in 2012, but he certainly has given himself more control over the team's success or failure this season with this move.