Training Camp/Preseason 2019: 1-3: Time to get to 53

[naptownskinsfan]

15 minutes ago, Woz said:

I think I agree with @turtle28 on this one. The cyst may have been the final straw that turned this from "hey, give me a bit more coin and we're cool" to "you all are dead to me."

If they think the relationship is worth saving, sacrifice one or two guys from the medical staff and call his bluff.  I think everyone knows they aren't replacing everyone this close to the season, but getting rid of the "low hanging fruit" shouldn't be an issue. 

[RSkinGM]

17 minutes ago, Woz said:

I think I agree with @turtle28 on this one. The cyst may have been the final straw that turned this from "hey, give me a bit more coin and we're cool" to "you all are dead to me."

He has to shoulder some blame for not going for the second opinion . 

[Woz]

7 minutes ago, naptownskinsfan said:

If they think the relationship is worth saving, sacrifice one or two guys from the medical staff and call his bluff.  I think everyone knows they aren't replacing everyone this close to the season, but getting rid of the "low hanging fruit" shouldn't be an issue. 

I think they believe they are standing on principles by not bowing.

I also think they're idiots.

[Woz]

7 minutes ago, RSkinGM said:

He has to shoulder some blame for not going for the second opinion . 

He did eventually get said second opinion, but that came much later.

[Woz]

 

[Woz]

The fullback ... is no more.

And in case you care: https://www.hogshaven.com/2019/8/2/20751363/redskins-sign-former-colt-brown-ram-olb-garrett-sickels

[offbyone]

32 minutes ago, naptownskinsfan said:

If they think the relationship is worth saving, sacrifice one or two guys from the medical staff and call his bluff.  I think everyone knows they aren't replacing everyone this close to the season, but getting rid of the "low hanging fruit" shouldn't be an issue. 

Firing people who weren't actually wrong is a dangerous game.  By all the reports, the docs didn't handle this wrong.  

Why not compromise and hire a new doctor and tell Trent we got this new doctor just for you.  This will be your first point of contact and he/she will give you more personal attention because clearly you are special.  

[Woz]

Just now, offbyone said:

Firing people who weren't actually wrong is a dangerous game.  By all the reports, the docs didn't handle this wrong.

1. I agree with your first sentence.
2. And it seems your second sentence is correct.
3. But when has "don't do the wrong thing" been an operating principle in Ashburn?

1 minute ago, offbyone said:

Why not compromise and hire a new doctor and tell Trent we got this new doctor just for you.  This will be your first point of contact and he/she will give you more personal attention because clearly you are special. 

This is perhaps a step in the right direction. The problems from this then become:

1. What happens to said position when Trent retires?
2. What happens if said doctor is not available on a given day (for whatever reason) and Trent needs treatment?
3. Does this perhaps create a split in the locker room between the "haves" and the "have nots" (will other players request their own personal doctor)?

I like where you are going with this as it an affirmative step to rebuilding the relationship without tearing others down. It just has some interesting ramifications that would need to be puzzled about.

[Woz]

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/washington-redskins/donald-penn-3007/

$1.03M salary
$0.25M signing bonus
max of $0.75M in roster bonuses (per game, 4 marked as LTBE)
$3M worth in incentives (what they are is unclear)

Cap value: $1.4675M (Flowers is $3.20M, with $1.5M in dead cap if cut)

[Woz]

https://www.hogshaven.com/2019/8/2/20748500/hugh-thornton-the-guard-recently-signed-by-the-redskins-looks-like-more-than-just-a-camp-body

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As a 4th-year player, the Practice Squad isn’t an option for Thornton, so it seems to be all-or-nothing for him as far as the Washington roster is concerned. He’s likely to get a fair shot at the roster, but with both Bergstrom and Pierschbacher having the ability to back up center Chase Roullier, Thornton probably has to beat out Flowers, Kerin and Foster to make the 53-man roster as a guard. It’s a big ask for a veteran who wasn’t part of OTAs, mini-camp or the first week of training camp, but Hugh Thornton seems like a man who is ready to take on the challenge.

 

[Woz]

https://www.hogshaven.com/2019/8/2/20750392/is-jay-gruden-prepared-to-handle-the-new-weaponized-pass-interference-challenge-rule

... this rule change is likely going to really suck, especially for Washington

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Jay has strengths and weaknesses as a coach, but the most frequent criticisms leveled at him often have to do with in-game strategic management and clock management. I sometimes feel like Jay should have a “strategic advisor” on staff, whose job is to help Jay get a better result on these critical in-game decisions and clock management. A recent report by NFL Network said that, with head coach Dan Quinn of the Falcons taking over the duties of defensive coordinator, he added former head coach Bob Sutton to the staff to assist with strategic planning and in-game management. Perhaps the Redskins should consider something similar.

With as much as Jay has struggled with tactical game management, I wonder if he’ll be ready for the challenges and opportunities that the new pass interference challenge rules will bring?

 

 

More reading on the change:

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/06/24/rich-eisen-nfl-pass-interference-replay-fmia-peter-king/
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-coaches-scheming-to-weaponize-new-pass-interference-challenge-rule/b56i42cy2w0v1d5k180sqbfk6

[Thaiphoon]

1 hour ago, Woz said:

 

Me to Trent (If I'm GM): 

Cool. Sit out, then. We'll try to fix some of the issues with the medical staff but we can't fire everyone right now. And if you're still sitting after that, we'll trade you. And if we don't get what we think is a fair trade for a guy like you, then you can keep sitting out. Hope you've made enough money for the rest of your life. You're on the Reserve:Did Not Report list. Which means we can keep you on that list and not pay you...and go after your bonus money all this year. Oh and if you want to sit out next year we can play that game too. And then you'll be a 33 year old OT who has a huge injury history (along with 2 strikes in the drug protocol) who hasn't played in 2 years.

Oh yeah...and because you were put on the Did Not Report list, your rights are still retained by...us. 

So good luck never playing again.

[RSkinGM]

Game , set , Match ==Redskins - Hope you right Thai. IF,, he's tradeable for the right compensation . This might be a win/ win for us . Get out from under the contract . Yes, the young healthy T W was irreplaceable --but the older , oft injured-- maybe not so much . The team looks good - didn't have to cut him . All good things must end .

[Woz]

A bit of Kremlinology (link for you youngsters) with regards to Jay and DRC mixed in here: https://www.hogshaven.com/2019/8/2/20748274/ill-take-potpourri-for-100-alex

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Jay Gruden, answering a question on CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie’s role:

”DRC’s obviously an experienced guy who can still run. He’s kind of been hobbled a little bit, he’s got a sore ankle. He’s a guy who can play nickel, both corners, obviously. And another experienced guy who can run. So, it’s good to have a guy in here like that. He’s right in the mix of corner with all those other guys.”

Man, in my Jay-watching over the past 5 years, I’ve come to read this as a player being damned by faint praise. Asked specifically about DRC, Jay gives the reporter 5 grudging sentences, and two of them say the same thing.

Jay lists DRC’s positive traits:

• experienced
• can still run
• can play nickel and both corners

That’s fine, as far as it goes, but Jay didn’t use any superlatives — he didn’t say that the CB had been “great” or “super”... heck, he didn’t even say that the player had been “good” on the field - only that it was good to have a player with those traits.
...
When Jay describes a guy as “in the mix”, he means he’s competing for a spot on the roster — not a starting spot, just a spot. This is Jay communicating that the player is very much on the bubble, and — given the lack of positive comments overall for DRC in Jay’s response — unless I hear something dramatically different in a future press conference from Jay, I’m prepared to predict here and now that Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie will not make the 53-man roster at the end of preseason unless an injury creates an opening in the CB group.

 

[Woz]

More Kremlinology (Grudenology?) from the same article, for comparison's sake: https://www.hogshaven.com/2019/8/2/20748274/ill-take-potpourri-for-100-alex

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Jay Gruden was asked to comment on the RB position group; specifically Peterson, Guice, and Thompson Look at how he answered:

”Yeah, you can’t disregard Samaje Perine, he’s been outstanding, even catching the ball, protection he’s been great, strong he’s been great. Those guys have been very good. Craig Reynolds has done a good job, Byron Marshall’s showing flashes still. I think the running back room is pretty solid. We added Shaun [Wilson] he’s showing flashes of speed and able to catch the ball, so it’s a deep room and it’s going to be some tough decisions in that room, that’s for sure.”

When I mentioned that Jay hadn’t used superlatives in talking about DRC, this is what I’m talking about: “he’s been outstanding, even catching the ball, protection he’s been great, strong he’s been great.”

Either Samaje Perine took his troubles down to Madame Ruth and got a bottle of love potion to use on Jay Gruden, or Jay is undertaking the greatest snow job ever attempted by a Redskins head coach in an effort, perhaps, to generate some trade value for his lame horse.

This entire off-season, Jay has talked about Samaje Perine in the most glowing of terms. If Perine were a stock, I’d be concerned that Jay was manipulating its value because he’d taken a long position on it, or else — if I believed him — I’d be rushing out and buying it for my portfolio.

 

Bonus of WAY OLD reference by the writer too. Props to anyone (outside of @Doc Draper ... this one might even technically pre-date you?  ) who can identify the reference without Google.