This post written by Scott Hirsch.
Before we get excited about the Redskins in 2014, it’s important to understand what went wrong in 2013.
By now we are familiar with the Shannahan-agans that went on – ego that rewarded assistant coaching jobs for ‘yes men’ (actually ball boys), the most predictable offense in the league, etc.
One of the more interesting facts that came out was that they were counting on Josh LeRibeus to take over center from Monty- Will Montgomery (aka Monty Python’s Flying Circus to the defenders that easily tossed him to the side in blitzes up the middle all season).
The fact that LeRibeus had problems with letting himself get out of shape and gain 70 pounds in college apparently didn’t enter the coaching staff’s thinking process. As a result, LeRibeus’ penchant for slacking off and feasting ended his chance to replace Monty. Every defensive coordinator that studied the tape saw the glaring weakness and sent blitzes up the middle. The result was a 3-13 season and literally, the buffet that broke the camel’s back amongst all the other Redskins ailments.
The problem is the offensive line coach behind this disaster, Chris Foerster, is still the offensive line coach today on the Redskins. Foerster may be a good coach and yet another victim of Shanahan’s controlling oversight (that’s the line for all the coaches that have survived the purge) but there are other eyebrow raisers here.
#1 is that Foerster could only hold down a multi-year NFL job on just two NFL teams in his 26 year coaching history – the Redskins and the mighty Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Some of the ridiculous contracts for the Redskins subpar offensive linemen are suspect at best.
Foerster obviously had strong input to draft and groom LeRibeus (3rd round?????!!!!!!), Gettis, and Compton. If in their 3rd year, none of those turn out to be starters, that’s a tremendous black mark on his resume. I’m not even going back to the idiotic trade to the Saints for Jammal ‘no hip’ Brown and his outlandish contract and other earlier disasters.
Now we have the new guard Lauvao that was signed to eyebrow raising $$$ amount even though he was ranked one of the worst guards in the NFL. We have seen this story before – bad offensive lineman with overly priced contracts.
I’m not sure what will take place in this draft, but the Redskins desperately need a starting Right Tackle and more improvements on the offensive line. If this season is a bust, my hunch is that it will be on Foerster’s shoulders.
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