Redskins GM: Building winner not a one-year thing, it's a 10-year thing
The Washington Redskins have won more than eight games four times since 1999, the year owner Daniel Snyder bought the team.
By
Ryan Wilson
•
2 min read
The Washington Redskins have won more than eight games four times since 1999, the year owner Daniel Snyder bought the team. This offseason, the organization hired Scot McCloughan, considered the first proper general manager during Snyder's tenure. And not only have the Redskins been prudent in both free agency and the draft, McCloughan has been realistic about managing expectations regarding any sort of turnaround.
“This is my philosophy,” the GM said this week during an appearance on SiriusXM (via the Washington Post). “Right or wrong, I’ve been lucky to be with San Fran, I’ve been lucky to be with Seattle. I’ve seen how it’s always [come to fruition] if you have the philosophy, it’s not Day 1 that you’re going to be better, but if you go the long haul, in the future, it’s going to be really good.
"I want to make sure the coaches are on board, I want to make sure the scouts are on board. I want to let them know when we take this player, it’s ownership. When we’re bringing a guy in here, he could be 21, 22, 23 years old, but we need to teach him. We need to teach him how to be a Redskin, we need to mold him to be a Redskin. And let’s get him a second contract. And then that’s when we start hitting it, that’s when we start going. … It’s not a one-year thing, it’s a 10-year thing.”
The honesty is refreshing for an organization that hasn't been able to get out of its own way for the better part of 15 years. Of course, McCloughan's words won't mean much if the Redskins struggle again in 2015, particularly if the problems start with quarterback Robert Griffin III. That doesn't make McCloughan's assessment any less true, but Snyder has a history of impatience when it comes to losing.
Whether we'll see a new and improved Snyder going forward, McCloughan's message for building a winner isn't complicated: “Finding football players. Finding football players, plain and simple.”
Not surprisingly, Griffin and coach Jay Gruden expects Year 2 to be much better than last year's forgettable four-win effort.
"Yeah, just knowing what coach wants and growing together. We're all in this together. We know that," Griffin said earlier this week. "We go out there as a team and we come off that field as a team, so whatever happens is under our control and I look forward to continuing to grow with him and the rest of the team."
