Maybe Vinny Cerrato isn't the Anti-Christ

[TenandSix:Unacceptable]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

I brought this up a few months ago but I really think we need to take a closer look at the actual scouts. Here's why. It's the scouts that are going to all the college and pro games, doing the research on these guys and compiling the information for the upper management to make their decisions; a lot of it based on the data the scouts have provided. It's like jobs a lot of us have. I mean my bosses make company decisions based on the information I and my peers provide them. When my boss, for example, goes to NASCAR to negotiate a new tv contract he goes there with the ammo I've provided him.

Now that's not to say that he, or in this case Vinny blind use the information the scouts provide. That's clearly not the case. But I think it has a bigger say in the decision making process than we may believe.

I'm not one to pimp other fan sites but this is the best thing they have ever posted

EXTREMESKINS.com - Final transcript of the Vinny Cerrato Chat.

Thanks for the link, that was indeed very informative. Obviously they are not half-assing the evaluation process. The system as a whole seems sound. Actually, I quite like the set-up, it seems hands on and fair for everyone involved. The results have obviously been lacking so there's clearly room for improvement.

Also, it looks like Vinny's job is mainly as an organizer and administrator between the scouts and the coaches. From looking at that and considering what is wrong with the team, on the surface some of the changes that should probably be made seem pretty simple.

1: We need a similar organizational method of determining the value of draft picks. We give them away, and it hurts us. Who is responsible for this and are they going to change it like I assume they are?

2: How do we establish the players "value" commiserate with his ranking? A guy might be the top rated free agent, and better than anyone we have, but there seems to be a breakdown in how much to pay those guys. Also, the fact that we are maxed out at the cap every year seems to make it impossible to cut players like AA and B Lloyd who are busts, or re-sign players like Smoot or Pierce who everyone likes. We would really have an advantage over people if we had the "cash" advantage Vinny notes, and we were well under the cap. We could absorb the cap hit of cutting players, and outbid other teams by simply "outcashing" them. We could essentially duplicate market value offers just throw in more guaranteed cash. We seem to go above market value AND outcash which helps put us in the cap bind.

I don't know if we can do this while signing expensive players every year. To me it seems like an effective method would be to do something similar to farming techniques when they let the land lie fallow every few years. Sign players you see as upgrades for two years, and then every third year you cut dead weight and sign next to no one. Or simply be more patient. Maybe you can get a better upgrade if you wait a year. In any case, the "upgrades" we make seem to not match up in terms of how much we pay the replacement against the guy he is replacing. It looks like no drastic moves will be made capwise while Gibbs is here. Let's face it, we are in "win now" mode. But if I'm Snyder, the first thing I address when Gibbs leaves is the cap. His best move might be to fire himself as chief negotiator or have more strict guidelines in place so he can't overspend needlessly.

If the cap problems we have were taken care of and a better system of putting a "value" on players was established, we would be in position to pick players based on their value and Redskins ranking combined. Which leads me to the Redskins ranking.

You have to take a long, hard look at VC and the pro and college scouts. Are we coming up with bad scouting reports? They say they are talking to everyone and their momma about these guys, watching all the tapes, etc. Why is the team seemingly lacking in depth and talent? Why do we pick so many players who bust? Don't get me wrong, we've got some horses but some of the age, lack of depth and holes that we can't fill because we have no draft picks and cap space are striking. It would seem that our team has a good deal of character and heart, but lacks talent. In our system it seems a bit hard to place blame because everyone is involved. Perhaps you should have a GM type "overseer" on these scouts who carries extra weight in the evaluation process both with the scouts and the players they are scouting. I imagine that VC is that guy. If so you would have to consider replacing him or keeping him on at an organizational capacity if you really think he has that much to offer. Either he is making bad judgements, or the scouts are. In either case, heads must roll if they can't fix it, starting with him. However, Vinny is obviously not to blame in large part for the overspending and the draft pick fiasco, but at the same time, I wonder if a stronger personality could have made a stand in some of these egregious cases and gotten better results.

Sorry this post is so damn long, but to wrap up...

I think if we take better care of our picks and spend a little more wisely, all we would have to do is make the right Redskins reports and get our guys. If that system is in place and the Vinny and the scouts don't succeed: Fire the living shit out of them!