Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Talking K. Shanahan with Dukes and Danny

I jumped on the LaVar and Dukes show (with Danny Rouhier filling in for LaVar)  on 106.7 The Fan this afternoon to talk about my articles (here and here) on Kyle Shanahan. Click here to hear the podcast.

Redskins ' coaches back owners in labor dispute

If you're paying attention to the NFL labor dispute, you may have heard that the NFL Coach's Association filed a brief with the 8th Circuit Court in support of the NFLPA's attempt to reinstate the injunction that would end the lockout. Today, the Redskins' coaches let it be known that they did not agree. According to the Twitter feed of Albert Breer of the NFL Network, the Redskins coaching staff released a statement on the matter. Per Breer, the letter was signed by 17 coaches and read in part:

We stand united with our ownership and the brief does not reflect our thoughts on the matter. We, like everybody else, are hopeful we can return to playing football.

Breer later tweeted why he thought the Redskins' staff did this:

I do think that a big part of the Redskins coaches' problem here is that they weren't consulted first ... Which is understandable.

Since he also holds the title "Executive Vice President" in addition to head coach, Mike Shanahan is considered to be part of management and did not sign the letter, according to Breer. Update: Here is the full text of the statement:

The Washington Redskins' coaching staff has not given its backing to the brief filed with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the National Football League Coaches Association. Our former representative, Kirk Olivadotti, is no longer with the organization and no member of our coaching staff was consulted prior to this action being taken. We stand united with our ownership and the brief does not reflect our thoughts on the matter. We, like everyone else, are hopeful that we can return to playing football. We look forward to a new CBA and welcoming back our players as soon as possible.

Update 2: See a PDF copy of the letter with signatures here. Interesting to see if any other coaching staffs follow suit.

Dan Snyder was not on SiriusXM radio

There is a report in Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback article about a draft day trade between the Redskins and the Steelers that fell though because the player the Steelers wanted wasn't there. The source for this was an interview that Dan Snyder supposedly conducted on Sirius XM Radio. However, there is a problem with this. According to both media relations at Sirus XM and the Redskins PR department, Snyder has not been on Sirius XM radio since the draft. A tweet by Steelers reporter Jim Wexell of Scout.com's SteelCityInsider.com appeared to be the origin of King's report. Update: Per a tweet by official Redskins blogger Matt Terl, the report that the Redskins had agreed to the trade discussed by King, which would have had the Steelers moving up from the 31st pick to the 16th, was "inaccurate." Update: Wexell tweeted a retraction:

The Redskins have denied alleged plans for a draft-day trade with the Steelers. My apologies.

Update 2: King has since corrected the MMQB column:

A tale of two McNabb tales

There have been two stories involving Donovan McNabb that have come out in the past two days. In one of them, what happened is clear. Boxer Bernard Hopkins told reporters that McNabb was "tan," not black because of the quarterback's middle-class upbringing. There is no dispute that Hopkins, an Eagles fan, said this since his remarks took place at a press conference with cameras present. We have the recording. Hopkins' comments drew near-universal condemnation and a denial from McNabb's agent. Generally, the reporting and blogging on all of this was pretty straight forward, although one site went over the line a big with this headline: Boxer Bernard Hopkins: Donovan McNabb Is A House-Negro Hopkins never said that and the headline was clearly made to be provocative. The other incident, of course, is the report that McNabb refused Mike Shanahan's request to wear a wristband in order to help him call the plays in the huddle. If you're not familiar with the story and the followup denials, this my third straight post on the subject so you can look here and here. The story was originally reported by the Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan in Washington. They cited anonymous sources who they believed to be very credible for the story. Subsequent reports from Chis Russell of ESPN 980 and Kelli Johnson of Comcast SportsNet (disclosure: CSN Washington owns this site and employs me) said that their sources said that the story was untrue. Brian Mitchell, who also is a host on 106.7, tweeted that he had talked to McNabb and that he had denied that this ever took place. The dueling reports (including me saying in a post in a comments of the first post on the subject that I was 99% sure that the story was true) became good lockout-time fodder first for Dan Steinberg on the DC Sports Bog and then for Mike Florio in Pro Football Talk (more disclosure: PFT is owned by NBC Sports, which is affiliated with CSN Washington). Meanwhile, Redskins fans don't know what's up. I suppose it's nice to have dueling sources from which to choose so that you can choose whichever story fits your point of view. But it doesn't do much to advance knowledge about the team. Perhaps all of this would not have come up if the NFl was not in lockout mode, making for an extremely slow news period. It's hard to say for sure but it seems to me that this would be a pretty interesting little nugget no matter what else was going on. There have been complaints from fans that this all was ginned up to generate ratings and page views and the like. I can only speak for myself, but that point of view is putting the cart before the horse. I wrote about it because I thought that people were interested in it. Yes, that interest generates clicks and as this blog is now part of a business that keeps a very close eye on such metrics so those clicks are important. But if people aren't interested in reading about the subject you can hope for page views but they just won't happen.

Orakpo, Fisher endorse Young

Brian Orakpo and Vince Young were teammates at Texas and there are rumors that they might be teammates again in Washington. Orakpo was asked about Young before the charity golf tournament that the Redskins linebacker hosted on Monday. At first his response was rather tepid:

As far as football and what he’s gonna do in the future, haven’t really gotten that aspect of it, but I wish him the best and we’ll see. I mean, it’s all speculation. We really can’t tell what’s gonna go on.

A little later on, though, his praise for Young, who led the Longhorns to the BCS title following the 2005 season, warmed up a bit.

He was a great player, great leader for our team for the time when I was there in Texas. He’s so athletic and he’s a great, great competitor, man, a great playmaker. Obviously things haven’t been going well for him in his NFL career, but he’s still a young kid, a young guy, and he still has a future ahead of him. Any team that picks him up, man, I know what type of player [he is]. Once you get the best out of the man, and forget all the hoopla surrounding him, he’s gonna be a hell of a player.

Although one would expect Orakpo to offer an endorsement of a fellow Texas alumnus, this seemed sincere rather than perfunctory. Players, of course, don't make these decisions but if Mike Shanahan does decide to take a chance on Young, someone like Orakpo could be critical to helping to sell the move to the rest of the players in the locker room. Former Titans coach Jeff Fisher, who had numerous clashes with Young during their five years together in Tennessee, was positive about his former QB's future in the NFL as well. Here is what he told NFL.com:

Vince has won a lot of games; he’s led teams to the playoffs before. I believe he can (win in the NFL). It’s just a matter of him finding a place that suits him and be in the right place and work hard. But he certainly has that ability.

It would be a mistake to read too much into this as it is likely that Fisher was just taking the high road. Rest assured that Fisher and Shanahan will have an extended conversation about VY prior to the Redskins making any decision about offering him a contract.  

On with LaVar and Dukes @ 4:00

I'll be on 106.7 The Fan in Washington with LaVar and Dukes today at 4:00. It's always a lot of fun, if you have a chance tune in 106.7 on your FM dial or catch it streaming.

AZ Republic: Cardinals ' not interested ' in McNabb

Kent Somers, the Arizona Cardinals' beat writer for the Arizona Republic, has once again poured cold water on the notion that the Cardinals are a possible landing point for quarterback Donovan McNabb. In the notes after a recent article, Somers said the following:

- The Redskins are expected to release McNabb this off-season, but the Cardinals aren't interested. Despite his unknown future, McNabb said this has not been a stressful time for him. "The next couple years, we'll see what happens," he said. "Who knows where I'll be anyway? I'm looking forward to that and when that time comes, step in there and be ready to go . . . "

Somers, who probably is the most credible source in the business when it comes to the Cards, fleshed out the team's non-interest in the story in an article on the paper's website last December (I'm unable to locate the link):

The only problem with the story is there was never a story. Over the last two years, I've asked Cardinals officials numerous times about alleged interest in McNabb. Each time, they have dismissed it. So all of the speculation [about McNabb] is premature at best. McNabb still belongs to the Redskins, although being benched for Rex Grossman signals that his job status will soon change. Do the Cardinals pursue him? I would be surprised. McNabb has never played in this offensive system. There are allegations that he's not the hardest working guy in the business. He has no ties to this coaching staff, which doesn't seem to hold him in as high a regard as some fans. Maybe the Cardinals will show interest this time. They will look to bring in a veteran quarterback next season, and they will be tempted to draft one with their first selection. Maybe McNabb would be a nice bridge to the future. But again, I doubt it happens.

(Emphasis added) So, there you have it. As Somers said, don't look for that particular move to happen.

Look for 2010 rules if lockout injunction stands

If Judge Susan Nelson's ruling ending the NFL lockout stands, expect the NFL to revert to the rules of the 2010 CBA. That would mean that there would be no salary cap and no salary floor, meaning that teams could collectively pay players as much or as little as they would like, although minimum salary rules would stay in place. Players would have to be in the league for a minimum of six years in order to be unrestricted free agents instead of four as has been the case. Players with four and five years of experience would be restricted free agents.

Help wanted sign will be out at Redskins Park

If not for the NFL lockout, the Washington Redskins could be contributing to substantially lowering the unemployment rate. NFL teams carry 80 players on the preseason roster. A count of the names currently on the roster comes up with 72 names. But there really aren't that many. The following 9 players are not under contract for 2011. Jamaal Brown H. B. Blades* Phillip Buchanon Reed Doughty* Rex Grossman Stephon Heyer* Rocky McIntosh Santana Moss Carlos Rogers *Could be restricted free agent depending on outcome of CBA negotiations Since their contracts expired when the league year ended on March 11 when the lockout began, they are not technically on the roster. So the Redskins have 63 players. But we need to subtract two more players. Donovan McNabb and Albert Haynesworth still are under contract and listed on the roster but most believe they are just awaiting the end of the lockout to be traded or released. That leaves 61 players on the de facto roster. The help wanted sign is out for almost 20 players. The Redskins have eight draft picks but they will not count on the roster until they sign contracts. They will be unable to sign undrafted college free agents as soon as the draft ends but that's a moot point. When there are minicamps for those players to participate in they will be able to sign the UDFA's. And, of course, when all of that happens, whether it's in May or in August, the veteran free agent market will be unfrozen and there will be more names added to the roster. Look for a lot of fast and furious action when things open up.

Court today, free agency tomorrow?

It's possible--but highly unlikely--that the NFL could resume normal offseason activities sometime this week, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. The NFL and the NFLPA square off in court today and a quick resolution is one of several possible outcomes that I discuss on CSN Washington this morning.

Go here to read the article on CSN Washington.

What do you think? Will the free agency floodgates be opened anytime soon? Or will this drag through the legal system all summer?