Season Starts Anew

It's been a long time between posting. It has been tough to recover from the embarrassing 5-11 that was last season. In addition, the team has done little to bring cause for hope during the offseason.

Needs:
(1) General Manager - not addressed
(2) D-line - not addressed
(3) LG-replacement for Derrick Dockery - TBD
(4) Bolster secondary - addressed
(5) Overall team youth/depth - not addressed
(6) Get rid of Brandon Lloyd - not addressed

(1) Gibbs and Gregg Williams should focus on coaching not personnel, as the Washington Post clearly pointed out in a series of January articles. With Gibbs having title of team president and seemingly oblivious to the need for a top-notch personnel man (Cerrato is not even close to working), it doesn't look as though this will change in the next few years.

(2) All subsequent needs relate to (1). Williams doesn't feel the need to have a premier pass-rusher because he gets pressure from blitzes. The downside is that blitzing to create pressure is a high-risk strategy and regularly ineffective at stretches last year. A front four capable of collapsing the pocket without extra rushers is worth its weight in gold.

(3) The Skins were right not to give Dockery the ridiculous amount of money the Bills threw at him. Good to him for being able to get that kind of cash but he wasn't an elite player with Pro Bowls under his belt. On the flip side, no one stepped up during the offseason. Now fans have to pray that 34-year old Pete Kendall is the answer. This is a guy who was solid for the Jets but is playing his last season or two, has not yet lined up with Chris Samuels, and is just now starting to learn the playbook.

(4) The Skins did well here with Laron Landry, Smoot, and David Macklin. Springs' durability was a major factor in the Skins' success the past two seasons. Macklin has been a starting corner in the league and to have him as the 4th corner provides a lot of necessary depth because the first three are likely to be banged up at some point in the season. The question might be: was Laron Landry really necessary given the return of Pierson Prioleau? Could that pick have gone to better use on the D-line? Again, back to the lack of a GM.

(5) Again, the lack of a GM hurts the team. The Skins have made draft-day moves that have hurt them like sacrificing multiple picks to get Jason Campbell and leaving the team with only the single first-day pick during the 2007 draft. HB Blades was the only other draft pick to make the team.

(6) Lloyd is a waste of roster slot who the Skins never should have signed. He was a headache for the 49ers. Inconsistent at best, undisciplined at worst. I don't understand why Corey Bradford or Todd Pinkston didn't beat him out but then again, I wasn't in training camp.