John Keim, ESPN Staff Writer:  “Washington Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan is no longer involved in the team’s decision-making as his future with the organization remains in question, multiple sources told ESPN.

One source with intimate knowledge of McCloughan’s situation said his agent, Peter Schaffer, will meet with the Redskins soon to discuss the matter.”

This sums up my thoughts on Keim’s breaking news:

To make this perfectly clear, the Redskins are removing their general manager one day before free agency starts, one month out from the NFL Draft, and giving up on him just two years into his tenure in which the Redskins went from being 3-13 (’13) and 4-12 (’14) to 9-7 (’16) and 8-7-1 (’17).  Why? Is he back on the wagon and drinking again? Did he mess up the Cousins negotiation so bad that Snyder would rather fire him than have him fix it? Does he just not want to work for the Redskins anymore?  There are so many questions here that I cannot answer so let’s speculate.

Timeline: Chris Cooley came on his radio show one morning and speculated that the only reason the Redskins haven’t started conversations with Kirk back in February is because McCloughan is back on the bottle again.  This seemingly harmless joke turned serious as many in sports media couldn’t get a hold of McCloughan to comment on Cooley’s statement.  Thus we started into the ‘radio silence’ phase.

McCloughan was not allowed to speak with ANY media, including ESPN and Redskins Radio, for the whole month of February. Then all of Ashburn stopped returning calls – Jay, Bruce, all of them. Garcon, Jacksons, and even Chris Bakers agent all told reporters that the team had yet to contact them about their upcoming free agents. Then reports come out that McCloughan isn’t attending to the NFL Scouting Combine. Still, radio silence from Ashburn. The next time we heard from someone was Bruce Allen days before the scouting combine to a Nashville sports talk radio station. Thus we begin with the white lying:

Via CBS Chris Lingebach: Amid reports and speculation about Scot McCloughan’s absence from the combine, Allen was asked, during an appearance on Nashville’s 104.5 The Zone, about his general manager.

“I’d be remiss if I don’t ask,” the host said. “What’s up with Scot McCloughan, who doesn’t talk to the media and has been behind the scenes? There are rumors out there that he’s away from the team and we know he’s talked about his battle with alcohol in the past, and you’ve got people in D.C. speculating that something’s up there. Is he okay?”

“Yeah, Scot’s a great guy,” Allen said. “Anyone who knows him know he’s a great guy. He’s dealing with some family matters right now. His grandmother died a week or so ago, so he’s dealing with that right now.”

However, McCloughan’s grandmother did not pass away “a week or so ago”.  In fact,  she passed away Feb 6th – the beginning of February. This interview took place March 2nd.  Yet, as DC reporters started the press the issue, Redskins brass did not comment. Thus, reporters such as Chris Russell and Grant Paulsen at 106.7 the Fan began investigating and reporting that McCloughan is on his way out and the Redskins are just slow playing it to avoid the PR mess.

To make it even more obvious that the Redskins were trying to avoid the PR mess, they extended Grudens contract by two years (a move I like, actually) in so much as to say “hey, we’re not in any kind of mess, we’re united, look! We resigned our head coach!” Now, two days after the scouting combine, sources leaking that McCloughan’s agent has scheduled a meeting tomorrow with Bruce to discuss his clients future followed by Keim reporting that McCloughan is out and Bruce Allen will take over as GM in his place.

Reasons: To believe everything the redskins front office is saying would be like believing Bigfoot is real. However, if we were to believe that McCloughan is having family issues then why couldn’t they come out and say it weeks ago? Were they trying to protect him? Was he still able to do his job or is that why none of our departing free agents got a phone call?  McCloughan has been quoted saying the NFL combine is his favorite scouting event to attend. Was he really still that distraught to not attend?

Let’s say that the redskins are lying about McCloughan dealing with family issues during the combine. This would mean Snyder and Allen are taking back control. Why? Are they not happy with the players McCloughan drafted? Are they divided over whether or not to pay Cousins? What personnel are they disagreeing on? What is the problem?

Fans deserve to know the answers to these questions and the Redskins ownership is keen on keeping them from us. What makes matters worse is the timing of all this. While the redskins are out trying to find a new GM, teams are already lining up their potential free agents. Matter of fact, as I type this Garcon and Desean have both signed with other teams (49ers and Bucs, respectively).  Furthermore, there are now reports that McCloughan was never in charge of the teams personnel. He was actually nothing more than a head scout. Bruce Allen handled the purse strings the whole time. In summary, we were all duped.

Hail to  the Bruceskins: These are turbulent times but one thing remains constant, Bruce Allen is Snyder’s chosen one to run the team. If the last report that Allen was handling all the personnel moves is true, then I have a little more confidence that the skins will be fine. However, I’m not buying it.  Let’s hope the redskins can retain McCloughan’s services in just the drafting department because Allen’s draft classes have not been great. Outside of the 1st rounders Ryan Kerrigan, Trent Williams, 3rd rounder Jordan Reed, tell me who you remember out of this list (2009-2014):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Redskins_draft_history#2009_Draft

 

Kirk Cousins Situation: 

There are reports swirling that 49ers are gearing up to trade for Cousins. Today, the niners  signed Garcon and QB Brian Hoyer, Kirks old teammate at MSU.  I hate to imagine a world where the first decent QB the Redskins have had in my lifetime gets traded in the prime of his career. However, if you’re going to lose him after this year then you should try and pick up something for him. Combine that with the report that Kirk doesn’t want to be here anymore and then we should all be in agreement he needs to be dealt.  The #2 overall pick in this years draft is tempting but the Niners have already released a statements saying they would wait until he becomes a free agent next year before giving up that pick (more than likely posturing but who knows). So now what?  Trade him for a 1st rounder in 2018?

I’ll tell you what you do. Pay that man. Pay him and worry about something else. Make him the highest paid QB in the league and negotiate something in there that gives you a way out if he regresses. Try to work out a deal so it’s not such a burden on your team down the road and effin sign him. Make him want to be here by backing the Brinks truck to his front door. If you want to have a shred of that #3 ranked offense you had last year you have to sign Kirk long term and you have to do it now.

Signs were pointing in that direction just a week ago. The skins put the exclusive franchise tag on Cousins meaning he can not shop the $24 million he is being guaranteed now. Cousins agent went on the record saying that this was a good sign that the Redskins are interested in coming to the table to negotiate a long term deal. The skins then offered him a deal around $20 mil per year. That’s not going to be good enough to get this done but it’s a much better start than last year ($12 mil/ year – 3 years).

All in all, my morale has taken a beating this week from the news of McCloughan, Garcon, and Jackson all departing. However, I still have confidence Kirk will be under center for the skins this year and through 2020.