Mike Shanahan is not with out fault. There are a lot of things that I feel as though he could have done differently in his tenure here (the main blemish is bringing in McNabb - who most of us thought was a good deal at the time).
For one, this team is absolutely depleted as far as depth is concerned. It was only as of the past year or so that they finally had enough picks to start stockpiling "talent." Look at the trash that was selected in both 2008/2009.
2008
2 3 (34) Devin Thomas WR Michigan State
2 17 (4
Fred Davis TE USC
2 20 (51) Malcolm Kelly WR Oklahoma
3* 33 (96) Chad Rinehart G Northern Iowa
4 25 (124) Justin Tryon CB Arizona State
6 2 (16
Durant Brooks P Georgia Tech
6 14 (180) Kareem Moore DB Nicholls State
6 20 (186) Colt Brennan QB Hawaii
7* 35 (242) Rob Jackson DE Kansas State
7* 42 (249) Chris Horton S UCLA
2009
1 (13) Brian Orakpo DE Texas [Profile]
3 (80) Kevin Barnes DB Maryland [Profile]
5 (15
Cody Glenn OLB Nebraska (from Minnesota) [Profile]
6 (186) Robert Henson ILB TCU [Profile]
7 (221) Eddie Williams TE Idaho (from Minnesota) [Profile]
7 (243) Marko Mitchell WR Nevada (Compensatory pick) [Profile]
Out of the 2009 draft, only ONE player is currently in the NFL...ONE. How does that happen? 2008 - look at all the misses.
Between the 2 drafts, there are 3 out of 16 players not only with the ********, but on an NFL roster!!!
If you have 16 picks, more guys should be on this team and contributing. I mean, what the hell do you expect?
You have the lack of depth...now cap penalties which SEVERELY limited the ability of the front office to even put together a competitive team. I'm not even going to blame injuries for anything because all teams go through it. 32 million in cap penalities is CRIPPLING. When you can't go after the FAs that you want and have to settle for guys with shady records (T.Jackson) or retreads (Meriweather), it's going to be a trying year. I hope Adam Schefter is right in that cap relief is coming for this team in the 2013 offseason and they'll recoup some of their lost $. That would be HUGE.
Mike Shanahan is basically building this team from scratch. My expectations for this team this year was something like 7 or 8 wins. Going to be an uphill battle with 7 games left in the season but it can be done. I want to see Shanahan get his full 5 years with the team. Snyder, since Shanny came on board, has been hands off. That's exactly what eveyrone wanted. We need to stop with the knee-jerk reactions and over analyzation of everything surrounding this team. We know what the problems are and firing a coach mid-contract is what ******** regimes of old would have done. Let the man finish what he's trying to build here.
The problems:
1. The defense. It needs a COMPLETE overhaul starting with the coordinator. Haslett was Shanahan's guy. Cut him loose and bring in someone who can run the 3-4 with effectiveness. I maintain that if this team had even an average defense, we'd be over .500 at this point. The defense is that much of a problem.
2. Cut loose guys who are from the old regime (at seasons end). DeAngelo Hall/Chris Cooley. I understand why Cooley was brought back - familiarity with the system, but he still needs to go.
3. Cut loose dead weight - aka, guys who aren't contributing OR showing up ready to play. THis is what Shanahan meant by the "evaluation" process. Brandon Banks, Leonard Hankerson, Madoodoo Williams, etc.
Through all of this, I maintain that there is A LOT of reasons to be optimistic for the future of the ********. There's a reason why guys around the league and in the media feel as though this team will be headed in the right direction. I don't feel bad for RGIII. He's a dynamic player and one of MANY rookie QB's over the years who is playing for a sub-par team. Griffin, Morris, Trent Williams, Orakpo, Kerrigan...those are 5 good players to build around. We've been clamoring for a franchise QB - now we have one. The offense is not the problem with this team. It's the lack of skill that's on the field. Hopefully through smart drafting and playing the FA market effectively, the ******** can field a much better unit in 2013 (and beyond).
This is not the time to panic. If this was year 5 of having RGIII as the QB and the team's record was 3-6 going into the BYE, then yea...panic. Right now, it's not the case.
Chill.
