The Redskins Blog

Mel Kaufman Passes Away

Mel Kaufman, linebacker on three Redskins Super Bowl teams, passed away today at the age of 50.

In a statement, Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder said:

Kaufman came into the league as an undrafted rookie from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and made an almost immediate impact, as this Evening Sun article from November of 1981 shows. Read more »

A Hall of Fame Coach Does Not Make Getting Cut Any Easier

Well, it’s the time of the year when teams start cutting guys in preparation for offseason moves, which means that it’s also the time of year for ex-players to start writing about those experiences. One of those ex-players is ex-Redskin Matt Bowen, now a regular contributor to National Football Post.

His column today is notionally about how it feels to get cut, which means that it’s actually just about how it felt for him to get cut the last time.

And — surprise! — it feels pretty lousy.

After our last game of the 2005 season, a divisional playoff in Seattle against the Seahawks, I pretty much expected I would never wear the burgundy and gold again. So what did I do, you ask? Well, nothing really. I stayed in shape and waited for that phone call. My wife and I had a house in northern Virginia, she worked full time as a high school biology teacher down the road, and we both knew the drill. The house would go on the market, she would finish up the third quarter of the school year, and we would move on. It wasn’t that big a deal because I had already played six years in the league and knew what happened when you fell on the depth chart. I fully expected to get released.

And the fact that it was Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs doing the cutting didn’t do anything to help soften the blow. Read more »

Monday, February 9: Redskins Make Burgers On TV

If you are a dedicated viewer of the NFL Players Association‘s reality TV series Helmets Off, but you DVRed this week’s episode and wish to remain spoiler-free as to who wins the Redskins linemen’s burger competition that aired this past Saturday, STOP READING NOW.

If you’re more like me and had never heard of Helmets Off, let alone the Redskins linemen’s burger competition, here’s some quick background: the show is in its fifth season, and is described by the NFLPA’s marketing materials as “a series of reality television shows featuring some of the most talented stars in the National Football League.” The show airs on Comcast SportsNet (or Fox Sports, depending on where you live), so check their website for airdates and times.

Anyhow, the first I heard of the burger contest — held at the Good Stuff Eatery in DC — was a month or so back, when the winner shouted across the locker room, “Hey, I won the burger contest!” Read more »