The Offseason
Philadelphia Eagles
I'll take this time to speculate about non-Redskins for a moment.

The Eagles lost the NFC Championship for the third year in a row. Where the Eagles failed has long been their weakness, namely, that their receivers can be blanketed with single coverage, allowing for free blitzers to pressure McNabb.

The Eagles other weakness was their propensity to allow huge running lanes for opposing running backs.

When it comes to the offseason, the obvious fit is a big name receiver like Terrell Owens. Keyshawn Johnson is also available but TO is a much better fit because he shifts coverages. Keyshawn is a possession receiver. At his age, Keyshawn is a complementary second receiver but not the breakout wideout the Birds need.

The Eagles also need to deal with Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent departing. The Skins will put the franchise tag on Champ Bailey and the Ravens will do the same with Chris McAlister. From what I've seen, the Eagles don't have a bad one in third CB Lito Sheppard and if they can keep either Taylor or Vincent, they'd be in decent shape for their secondary since they still have Brian Dawkins. It will definitely be an interesting offseason to see how the Eagles team takes form next year.

Running Backs

Stephen Davis and Deshaun Foster pose an interesting scenario. Likely, the situation will continue for one more year while Davis' cap number is manageable and Foster is content to play his role. However, Foster will get even more carries next year and his apprenticeship will be over. Even if Davis doesn't get injured next year, he'll be giving up playing time to Foster and by the season after that, they'll be cutting him. It's too bad because these next two seasons would be prime playing time for Davis to come back to the Redskins if he saw the writing on the wall. Perhaps a trade would be do-able but at the same time, Davis will be 30 this year.

Corey Dillon will demand big bucks and attract a lot of attention. He will also be 30 this year and both the Cowboys and the Skins will be suitors for his services. However, he is not a free agent either and would also need to be acquired via a trade.

Impending RB free agents are Duce Staley, Correll Buckhalter (restricted), Stacey Mack, Dominic Rhodes (restricted), Rudi Johnson (restricted and sure to be retained over Dillon), Troy Hambrick, Doug Chapman, Thomas Jones, and Kevan Barlow (restricted). Of those on this list, none of them are elite backs. Rudi Johnson and Barlow are the best of the bunch but both will likely be made restrictive qualifying offers from their respective teams.

The wild card for the Redskins is Ladell Betts. The fact that he didn't stay healthy this year does not bode well for him but he has shown glimpses of speed and power. If he could stay healthy, he would fit Gibbs' prototypical back profile.

Now that there's been more time for the Gibbs (re)hiring to sink in, some of the negative scenarios I'd posed won't likely play out. Since Gibbs has the title of team President, he clearly outranks Cerrato and has the highest respect from Snyder. Snyder will do everything that Gibbs deems necessary.

It's been quite an interesting mystery uncovering what went down to make all this happen. My initial inkling was that Snyder had been continuously making overtures to Gibbs, even while Spurrier was still under contract. According to the Washington Post, that's incorrect, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were the truth.

The best part is that Gibbs will continue to play a role in the organization after he finishes coaching. In that way, he can be Snyder's best advisor about how to be a good owner, putting good people in charge and letting them run the team.

Gibbs Returning to Coach Redskins (washingtonpost.com): "

The prodigal son returns. Absolutely unbelievable. I was stunned when I first saw the ticker on ESPN this morning.

I still find it difficult to comprehend. Then I don't know whether to be upset or overjoyed. On one hand, I feel like it's a desperate shot to try to re-capture old magic and has somewhat of a circus feel to it. On the other hand, Gibbs can help the team in many ways. Overall, it will benefit the team but for starters, here are negative scenarios that could play out:

1) Gibbs isn't ready for today's NFL with more blitzing schemes, free agency and ridiculous antics. He doesn't match his former glory and tarnishes his god-like legacy.
2) Gibbs burns out after a year or two and remembers why he left in the first place, leaving the Skins in worse shape than it is now.
3) He succeeds but when he steps down, the Skins find it even tougher to find a worthy successor. They haven't been able to find anyone close since Gibbs left in '93. Schottenheimer was the only one that gave the Skins some promise and was canned by Danny Boy.
4) Gibbs wants more player input and GM duties (which was the case at the end of his first tour of duty) and eventually comes to a clash with Snyder over it (who doesn't want to be relegated to the back seat). It leads to an acrimonious parting and a grief-stricken fan base of the bitter loss of their "golden son".

On the plus side:

1) Gibbs brings back immediate credibility to the organization. He will command the respect of players and restore needed discipline.
2) He will maximize talent and hide weaknesses. He will bring back rollouts to buy more time for Ramsey to throw.
3) Rather than his on-field contributions, Gibbs' most important role should be to teach Snyder how to be a good owner. Gibbs not only worked with a cantankerous owner in Cooke but was a supremely successful owner himself with Joe Gibbs racing.
4) Gibbs could set up the right succession if all plays out correctly. He hires Bugel and Russ Grimm as assistants and grooms the two of them to take over. That could get messy, as it did with Richie Petitbone.

I find it hard to see how Snyder can maintain the proper front office balance. He wants to replicate the coach/GM/owner structure that Gibbs/Beatherd/Cooke shared. However, that's not possible. Gibbs is far superior in footbally knowledge to Snyder and Cerrato. What happens when Cerrato butts heads with Gibbs about player movement? It's hard to see Snyder ever deciding against Joe Gibbs, out of respect and fear of alienation.

Snyder definitely keeps things interesting, that's for sure.