SB Nation - Taylor Jacobs

Is Washington Redskins' Vinny Cerrato a Watered-down Matt Millen? (Comparison Chart)

KevinE — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:53:02 -0000

I recently came across a Washington Post article from 2005, where Mike Wise spoke with Vinny Cerrato about his worst decisions and lessons learned:

"Biggest regret? Probably in 2000, signing all those older guys," Cerrato said. "I learned you can't put a lot of signing bonuses on veteran players cause they're not going to play out those years. That was a mistake I made and learned from. Bruce Smith, Deion and Mark Carrier were the big ones...Now, we try to avoid dead money, money that counts against your cap and doesn't go to anybody."

(The Redskins are among NFL leaders with $16 million of their 2005 salary cap devoted to players no longer on the roster).

This is pure comedy. Fast forward four years to today and the Redskins are almost exactly at $16 million in dead cap money (Brandon Lloyd leading the charge at $5mil+). In my opinion, Cerrato correctly fixed the problem with signing veterans past their prime, but we certainly have not fixed the problem of building through the draft. It's the blue-print every Super Bowl team has, yet the Redskins front office chooses to go the George Steinbrenner route. Assuming Washington doesn't lose a draft pick for the Haynesworth tampering, the Redskins will have all their 2010 draft picks (minus the 6^th round pick due to the Jason Taylor acquisition). Not bad! Let's just pray the Skins stay healthy so the trigger happy front office doesn't unload them for more free agents.

Even today, the distaste for Cerrato in DC is quite high, so that got me thinking (it is known to happen), how many similarities does Cerrato have with Matt Millen, arguably the worst GM of all time? Here's my findings:

Matt Millen		Vinny Cerrato
	loves to draft WRs in the first 2 rounds¹
	has drafted only bust QBs²
	passed on Demarcus Ware & Shawn Merriman in the 2005 draft³
	had/has a website lobbying to getting that person fired
	supported by the owner but none of the fans
	under .459 total win percentage in tenure
	less than 1 year as an ESPN analyst
	given extension/promotion despite not making the playoffs
	has a Super Bowl ring with the Redskins
	fired by potential future Hall of Fame coach⁴
	demoted draft day decision-making by Hall of Fame coach⁵
	had a losing record in his collegiate playing career
	has cool, Chuck Norris-esque mustache

1	Calvin Johnson, Mike Williams, Roy Williams, Charles Rogers <---> Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly, Fred Davis, Taylor Jacobs
2	Joey Harrington, Drew Stanton <---> Patrick Ramsey, Todd Husak, Sage Rosenfels, Jordan Palmer
3	Joe Gibbs was running the show this year so Cerrato cannot take all, if any, of the blame. We'll dole this one out to the Skins as a whole (although Cerrato did take some credit for the Sean Taylor pick, which I thought was all Gregg Williams).
4	Marty Schottenheimer
5	Joe Gibbs

I couldn't find much on Cerrato's times at Notre Dame when they won the championship, though Dan Steinberg uncovered a gem, which led the NCAA to add a rule named, the "Vinny Cerrato Rule."

Cerrato's resume included a stint as chief recruiter for Lou Holtz at Notre Dame, where he'd gained notoriety for impressing prospective recruits by standing on the Notre Dame sideline during televised games feeding them play calls in advance via cell phone--a tactic the NCAA later banned with a special "Vinny Cerrato rule."

I guess when it comes to tampering, the Redskins' front office know how to safely tip-toe around the boundaries!!

"They were all watching the game," Cerrato said. "I knew they would be. So I called their houses all over the country, and I said: 'This is Vinny Cerrato from Notre Dame. I'm on the sidelines at the Orange Bowl. You watching?' And then I'd tell them what the next play was going to be."

NFL Draft 2009 Review: WR Percy Harvin

Skeller — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:00:16 -0000

More photos » by Carlos Gonzalez - AP

Minnesota Vikings' first-round draft pick Percy Harvin speaks to the media on Sunday, April 26, 2009, at a news conference in Eden Prairie, Minn. (AP Photo/Star Tribune, Carlos Gonzalez)

Browse more photos »

So what do these NFL players all have in common?

- WR Chad Jackson
- WR Taylor Jacobs
- WR Andre Caldwell
- RB Ciatrick Fason
- TE Ben Troupe
- QB Rex Grossman
- WR Jabar Gaffney
- K Jeff Chandler
- WR Reche Caldwell
- QB Jesse Palmer

If you answered "They're all guys I'm never drafting on my fantasy team" you're actually close. They are all (not some, all) the fantasy position players drafted in the first four rounds out of the University of Florida since 2000. And also you're never drafting them on your fantasy team.

It's not a smart fantasy move to discount every player out of a certain school just because of past history, but everybody who follows college football realizes that some programs are hyped and some are not. Florida is one of those schools that are hyped a lot. While their college success may justify the hype, the NFL production of their alumni does not. Percy Harvin went from "a mid-level RB" to "Not good enough to play RB in the NFL so he'll play WR" to "Percy Harvin will be very good NFL WR" to "Percy Harvin is the ultimate weapon!" to first-round NFL draft pick over the course of four months. I'm not sure how that happened. You should think about how that happened before you draft him too.

Harvin is small and fast and has great hands in a Maurice Jones-Drew / Brian Westbrook sort of way. The problem is that the Vikings aren't going to give Harvin the number of carries that Jones-Drew and Westbrook get (the Vikes have a pretty good RB already) so that reduces Harvin's fantasy value quite a bit.

He's too small to catch the ball over the middle. He may be the deep receiver the Vikings have lacked, but he only had two games with 4+ catches last year at Florida. I don't see exactly how Minnesota is going to integrate him into the offense. Have him return kicks? Run eight reverses every game? How many times can they direct-snap to him?

I'm not criticizing Harvin's ability, he seems to be quite the athlete. With the QB situation in Minnesota being iffy, the WR1 slot being iffy and the offense revolving around Adrian Peterson, I simply don't see how he provides enough fantasy value for your team. He's worth a shot, but don't count on him as anything more than a risky flier.

Hold On a Second

Jim Vance — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:03:06 -0000

What do Anthony Fasano, Dwayne Goodrich, Quincy Carter, Tony Dixon, Antonio Bryant, Al Johnson, Julius Jones and Jacob Rogers have in common? All were second round draft picks of the Cowboys this decade and none are still with the club. Since the Cowboys first selection in this draft is in the second round I wanted to see how successful the team has been at choosing players in that round.

Martellus Bennett, Andre Gurode and Kevin Burnett are the only second rounders still wearing the star, and that may change this week if Burnett decides to leave. A second round pick should be a contributing player after a couple of years - 3 out of 11 (27%) in nine drafts is a poor average when you consider one of the 3 was selected last year and another may be gone soon, dropping the Cowboys to (18%). This doesn't bode well for the Boys in this draft.

The Giants second rounders for this decade are - Cornelius Griffin, Tim Carter, Osi Umenyiora, Chris Snee, Corey Webster, Sinorice Moss, Steve Smith and Terrell Thomas. All but Griffin and Carter are still listed on the team roster giving the Giants 6 out of 8 second rounders for a (75%) success rate in the that round.

The Redskins Taylor Jacobs and Fred Davis are the only second round selections not still on their roster out of the following - Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly, Rocky McIntosh, LaDell Betts and Fred Smoot. Having 5 out of 7 second round picks still playing for the ‘Skins makes their draft success for that round at (71% ).

Listed on the current Eagles roster from this decades second round draft selections are - Trevor Laws, Desean Jackson, Kevin Kolb, Victor Abiamiri, Winston Justice, Reggie Brown , L.J. Smith and Sheldon Brown. The following were drafted by the Redskins in the second but are no longer with the club - Matt McCoy, Michael Lewis, Quinton Caver, Todd Pinkston, Bobbie Williams. 8 out of 13 second round keepers gives the Eagles a (62%) success rate.

I understand this is not exactly apples to apples and is far from scientific but take a look at the keeper rate. A high percentage of second round players who stay on the roster would indicate better draft research and a better selection process. This should translate into fewer needs at future drafts and an opportunity for the team to draft players for development and not be in a do or die scenario when your QB injures his throwing hand.

Could ranking dead last in your division in this category have anything to do with failing in the playoffs? You bet it does. Is the Cowboys poor history of drafting second round players a cause for concern this year? It is for me. Our top pick is currently in the second round at #51.