Let me start by saying that - I, unlike many so many - think Andrew Luck made the right decision to stay at Stanford for his Redshirt Junior season. It only benefits the Redskins' chances to draft a talented QB next year; this year's draft class is all smoke and mirrors. I don't think the Redskins should take a QB in the first couple of Rounds because all of these Quarterbacks are projects - I'm basing this off of what I've seen in College Football this year - They are all ready to start later, rather than sooner. Cam Newton has character concerns (Stolen Laptops, Cheating Scandal at Florida, and taking money to play College Football), Footwork problems, and only has one year of film along with running a pretty simple offense. Ryan Mallett has an obnoxious fratboy attitude that's bound to get him in trouble, is a statue in the pocket and very immobile, and has shoddy accuracy. Blaine Gabbert runs a very, very simple offense and has a lot of issues that make him unattractive to this offense. Jake Locker, ah Locker, he was once the projected to be no. 1 overall pick in this draft, has terrible accuracy issues, footwork problems, and trouble keeping poise in the pocket.

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Wow: Jon Wilner reports that Stanford is about to announce that Andrew Luck will STAY at school for 2011 season.

via Tim Kawakami on Twitter.

I'm really glad he's returning to school, on another note the Panthers just got a huge middle finger from Luck, but they don't have as much pressure on their shoulders. How does this affect the Redskins? Obviously the same amount of talent isn't going to get pushed back as we thought it would, but now you have an ugly situation where a LOT of teams need QBs before we do. What's our best option?

I say one of the following:

A) If Shanahan sees the QB that best fits our scheme slide in the first, I say take him.

B) Trade Down and Get a pair of guards. Stefen Wisniewski? Rodney Hudson? John Mofitt?

C) Take the best Defensive Player (OLB, 3-4 DE, etc)

D) Other. Suggest in the Comments section.

I honestly don't want to see shortened careers, part of the appeal of the NFL is the longetivity of players and building stars on your favorite teams. In all honesty, I don't see the point of an 18-Game season because it will water down the quality of the product. While I understand a transition is never an easy situation, switching from a 12-game to a 14-game season or a 14-game to a 16-game season is clearly not the same. The amount of risks become marginally higher than ever before considering the accumulated fatigue of the season coupled with nagging injuries.

Let me explain further...

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I just thought about this, but wouldn't a Lockout or shortened season actually help us? I know our players would be one year older, but wouldn't that actually help us get younger players into this roster at key positions like Linebacker, Safety, Wide Receiver, Offensive Line, Defensive Line, and Cornerback. If we take a Quarterback in the 1st round, Address our need for a stud Guard (Stefen Wisniewski), Draft a Nose Tackle (Phil Taylor), another Outside Linebacker who can pressure the hell out of opposing offenses (Dontay Moch), Another Guard, A Defensive End, and a Middle Linebacker (Casey Matthews aka Clay Matthews' brother). The next year we can have some continuity and consistency in this franchise for once, not to mention we'd be in a prime position to take our Team to the next level - in terms of talent - in the 2012 Draft. I'm just curious if this would be better for us in the long-run, just some food for thought. What are your thoughts?

Disclaimer to any idiot who thinks I want to draft a QB, it's not that I want to it's that we will draft a QB

Dan Snyder has long meddled in this franchise's personnel decision making and we have long payed a price for it. We have traded away draft picks year after year, overpaid aging veterans so they can go into the sunset with bags of money, and made terrible decisions with personnel period. Dan Snyder and his puppet Vinny Cerrato have set this franchise back behind anything that has been unfathomable and we have no talent left on our roster save Orakpo, Landry, and Cooley (Yes, that's literally all of the talent they have drafted). Snyder finally realized his ways clearly weren't working and decided to hire a General Manager and a Head Coach.

Note: The following is all Speculation

During this offseason the situation in Philadelphia changed and Andy Reid realized that it was either him or Donovan McNabb who had to go, thus the trade talks started to heat up. Andy Reid realized that McNabb was on the decline and at 34 years old he couldn't live up to the way he has played for the past decade, but because he realizes he has a lot of leverage asked for a 2nd round pick and a 3rd/4th. Dan Snyder jumped when he saw that Philadelphia was in his mind "giving" away Donovan McNabb and he realized that the team would finally have a "Franchise Quarterback", but more importantly he would fill the seats at Fedex Field.

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The Washington Redskins' upcoming draft is going to be extremely crucial because it will establish Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen's influence on the franchise for the next couple of years. The team is Riddled with older players basically on their way out of the league and multiple holes along many positions on the team. Moving forward, the draft isn't a magic bullet if you will, but it will play a major role in setting the tone and direction of Shan-Allen's current plan.

The following analysis will hold everything else equal these include:

• Free Agency Players
  
• Players at our disposal in the Draft.
• Anything Specific.

Again I'm only going to look strictly at what positions are highest in priority and how many draft picks will be at our disposal in April.

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via media.washtimes.com

The Redskins are an interesting team right now. The 'Skins have found their identity through the air, thus far and are seeking to build off on a couple of more goals going into Sunday afternoon against a Rams team that is in a rebuilding year. Here are a couple of things I would like to see:

1. A Solid Run Game: The past two weeks we have barely caught a glimpse of the ground game, we have averaged about 53.3 yards per game which is dead last in the NFL. The ground game is not a strong part of our offense right now and it could really help us in the Red Zone rather than having us kick field goals.. A vital part of Shanahan's offense is being able to run the ball a) it keeps the other team's offense off the field b) tires out the opposing defense and c) it melts the clock away. It's safe to say that had we had a decent game on the ground we may have won last week's game.
2. Continue the Strong Passing Game: I'm not saying that we should run Andy Reid's offense here, but a solid game through the air can open our offense up for big plays and we can continue to leave points on the board not on the field. All I want to see is passing game continue to perform consistently and at a high level without having to air it out ever other play. We can't ride McNabb's arm forever which goes back to our Run Game.
3. Clinton Portis Improve his balance: Ever since Portis came to Washington his style has slowly changed from a speedy, elusive Running Back to a downhill runner. Joe Gibbs 2.0 didn't help at all because Gibbs used him primarily as a power back which never really fit Portis' physical abilities. Portis' intangibles have diminished and he seems to be more Top Heavy or at least he still thinks he is. I want to see CP run a little more upright without falling every time he passes the Line of Scrimmage.
4. A Strong 'Redskins' Defense: Last week our Offense played very, very well and we had so many chances to put the game away. The defense took a huge step back after a solid performance against the Dallas Cowboys. The Redskins failed to read those Boot Legs the Texans ran and it came back to bite them in the ass. The Secondary got shredded to say the least; the defense made one too many mistakes, often you would see guys out of their assignments and they failed to properly contain Andre Johnson. The Texans scored on a TD bomb on a 4th and 10, you just don't want to see that. Kareem Moore should instantly make and impact due to his athleticism and ability to work well with Landry.
5. More Turnovers: I want them to reap the rewards from the mistakes our opponents make. Turnovers are a priority in this defense and we have already had two in two games which is ok for now, but down the road when we're facing the likes of the Colts and the Packers we have got to be able to capitalize on interceptions. As the defense begins to Gel we will see more and more of these, last week one thing stood out to me: we were actively trying to strip the ball before the tackle. Don't be surprised if we get 2 or more turnovers against the Rams, but don't be surprised if we only come away with 1.
6. Better Blocking Period: Last week our Run blocking was ,in the words of Sir Charles Barkley, "Turrble". I want us to be able to open up some bigger lanes for the Running Backs because winning the ground game starts in the trenches. Part of this has to do with the lack of personnel available to the coaching staff, Shanahan's scheme generally requires more athletic blockers and Offensive Linemen. Special Teams is a another place where we need to properly block, last week against the Texans, Fred Davis missed a vital block and it was one of the reasons we lost that game. We have a Good kicker and I still stand by that statement, but he can't be expected to make every kick if we don't block the opposing team. I don't want to see Trent Williams out on that field, I want him to be fresh for the Eagles game, something tells me that's going to be a huge grind.
   
7. Consistency from Our Receivers: I want our receivers to continue to get themselves open so we can actually move the ball down the field, I firmly believe this will continue to happen. Santana Moss already has 16 catches. I also would like to see another receiver emerge, at this point I don't care if it's the 38-year-old Joey Galloway if he goes out there and performs at a high level every week then good for him. However this doesn't mean I wouldn't like it to be someone who's a little younger. Hopefully Devin Thomas has a good game, but again he needs to show some consistency and prove to this coaching staff and the fans that he can become a solid target.
   

That's all folks, and Hail to the Redskins!

Today, we played an amazing game on offense, Donovan McNabb made Eagles fans craw in their skin. He showed he still has the intangible abilities to be an Elite Quarterback in this league. He threw for over 400 yards and a touchdown. As this team moves forward, they will begin to find their identity. I honestly don't blame Gano as many would, Fred Davis missed a key block on special team late in the game causing that blocked kick. The second kick in Overtime was nearly impossible to nail on a second attempt. Our offense clicked today and boy do I mean click the 38 year-old, Joey Galloway, showed he still has it as he caught 3 passes for over 30 yards. There was one clear thing that stood out to me: Some of these catches were overthrown, but a big receiver could have surely made those catches especially the pass to Joey Galloway in the End Zone which he failed to reach. Vincent Jackson adds another dimension to our offense he provides a big red zone target and even in those smaller 5 and 10 yard situations at the goal line. What I found out today is that we can play with the big boys in this league and it is plausible to think we can win this division especially with the way our divisional opponents are playing right now; however, McNabbs skills can only get us so far we need a solid starting #1 receiver. If we add Vincent Jackson to our Receiving Corps. we have 4 legitimate weapons on this offense Cooley, Davis, Moss, and Jackson which can pay off BIG time down the stretch especially when you sometimes NEED to throw to those TD bombs. What's he worth you ask? I have heard a 3rd rounder is possible, I'm looking at Haynesworth right now as a way to acquire that pick.  Now, it is just a waiting game will Shanahan and Bruce pull the trigger on this one. Because I sure as hell would have loved to see us get an extra seven points from that overthrown pass tonight. See Below

via www.vincentjackson83.com