Will Washington’s first round pick [fourth overall] Trent Williams, the rookie the team is counting on to hold down that critical left tackle position, be in camp on time? Beat reporter Rich Campbell tweets thusly:
Just heard from Trent Williams’ agent, Ben Dogra. Said he & Redskins “continue to work as hard as we can in an effort to reach a deal.”
Sounds like both sides are working to get Williams in camp when it begins. Thus, chances are good.
Former Redskins and Broncos guard and current ESPN football analyst Mark Schlereth spoke to Rich Campbell about training camp and practices under Mike Shanahan, comparing it to those under Joe Gibbs and Norv Turner. The word “snot” makes a frequent appearance.
He likened Shanahan’s approach to Gibbs’ in terms of intensity but not the amount of hitting.
“I think Joe Gibbs was short and sweet,” he said. “They were shorter practices and incredibly intense, a ton of contact. That was a different time, obviously. I think one of the things about Mike’s practices is the tempo. They move. Practice does not drag. That’s a good thing.
“Norv Turner’s practices were awful because we’d be out there for three hours plus. For me, there was a lot of standing around time. As a player, the more you have to stand around and think about it the worse off you are, right? Especially the down time gives you an opportunity to get stiff and all that kind of stuff.
“To me, the tempo of practice, you have to practice like you’re gonna play. If you’ve got a lot of standing around, that’s just not good. I think those two things really mimic each other from Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan. The difference is Mike took us out of pads a lot. For an aging veteran, I can’t tell you how important that was for me.”
One more thing about Shanny’s practices is that he takes it easy on the banged-up vets.
“In training camp, Mike takes care of the veteran guys,” he said. “He took great care of me. He added years on my career. Older guys like myself who had injury issues and whose bodies can’t do [it every day]. I just got to the point where I can’t be out there beating myself. I’ve got to save it for the game. And he was always really good about taking care of me and letting my offensive line coach go, ‘OK, I need him on these three plays, but these eight plays he can do in his sleep.’”
In other words, Phillip Daniels has earned a bit of leeway. Malcolm Kelly — not so much.
Speaking of Daniels, he’s been answering some fan questions. Here’s a sample. First, on who is benefiting the most from the switch to the 3-4 defense.
I would have to say our outside backers. They will get more opportunities to rush. With Andre and Orakpo on the outsides that is a good thing.
On the biggest difference between recent years and this year:
Biggest change and a much needed change is discipline. It can win you more games.
Daniels also picks CB Carlos Rogers to have a big year. Considering he’s playing for a contract and no one knows what the new CBA will be like, Rogers needs to have a big year.
The arrival of solid NFl pros like Shanny and GM Bruce Allen at Redskins Park has inspired some Redskins fans to predict a big improvement this year. That’s just fine with Shanny.
“You don’t have to temper that. That’s what you should expect and that’s what the fans should expect. If you don’t have that belief, if you don’t believe and the fans don’t believe, chances are the players aren’t going to believe. To go through a season 8-8 in Denver, I didn’t want to go out, I didn’t want to eat. You’re embarrassed because it’s your name on the football team. You represent the city and the football team and you don’t want to have those tough years.”
Big defensive linemen like Fred Smerlas and Ted Washington offer advice to disgruntled Albert Haynesworth on making the switch to nose tackle. It starts with this gem from Smerlas:
“Should I get a napkin to wipe his fat tears? . . . The public does not sympathize with someone making $100 million.”
Former Redskins QB Jason Campbell proves again what a class act he is answering questions from beat reporter Jason Reid. Campbell refuses to say whether or not he was treated fairly in Washington [he wasn't], but has this to say about Shanny v. Jim Zorn:
Well, you see now they’re trying to make improvements because [Shanahan] knows what it takes to win championships and the important things you have to do. It’s about building a core. You have to build that core. When you see them making all these moves this offseason, you know they now know what’s important. I just sit back and watch this and it’s just like … it would have been nice to have some of those same type of efforts and improvements made while I was there. But it is what it is. You move on. I still have friends on the team so I wish them the best. I wish them much success.
The smart guys at Football Outsiders predict 9.2 wins for the Redskins this season, owing to upgrades in the coaching staff, quarterback position, and elsewhere. However, the Redskins are an old team and the Outsiders see disaster lurking in the future. First, the good news:
“All of that veteran wallpapering comes with an upside. The Redskins should reach the playoffs this year: They are better than they were last season, and they weren’t as bad last season as their record suggests. … The switch from [Jim] Zorn- [Jason] Campbell to [Mike] Shanahan-[Donovan] McNabb will get the Redskins to snap back to that seven-win level, and then buy them an extra win or two. A schedule full of Rams, Buccaneers, and Lions gives them another boost. The NFC East will have a down season, and the Redskins get two meetings with the McNabb-less Eagles, who are actually rebuilding instead of signing 34-year-old backup linebackers.”
Now the bad news:
“There are two sad elements to the Redskins plight. The first is that some in the Redskins organization will feel vindicated when the team loses in the second round of the playoffs. … The second is that so many of the Redskins problems are obvious and avoidable. Anyone who looks carefully at the roster can see long-term disaster brewing, and it doesn’t take much imagination to find healthier alternatives to the path the Redskins chose.”
That sounds right to me. Some of this will depend on the collective bargaining agreement that emerges [when it emerges] some time in 2011 [hopefully], but the Redskins are going to have to rebuild this team sooner or later. The team is old at quarterback and running back and continues to need an infusion of talent at wide receiver, defensive back and offensive line. At least those decisions will not be made by Vinny Cerrato.
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