The Redskins Blog

Mike Ditka Speaks On All Things Redskins

(AP Photo)

On Wednesday, Washington Redskins legend Joe Gibbs was back at Redskins Park for the annual luncheon for his foundation, Youth For Tomorrow. Gibbs was joined by current head coach Mike Shanahan and former coaching fraternity brother and friend Mike Ditka.

When Gibbs first put on his signature burgundy Redskins snapback as the lead man in our Nation’s Capital, few knew who he was. Even Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke admitted that he wasn’t sure what Gibbs brought to the table.

After the Hall of Fame coach failed to get a victory in his first month with the Burgundy and Gold, questions about the offensive guru’s longevity were popping up left and right.

However, Gibbs put those questions to rest just one year later when he led the Redskins to their first of three Lombardi Trophies. Washington steamrolled through their regular season schedule with ease and missed a perfect record by two touchdowns.

Luckily for Ditka, he avoided Washington’s reign of dominance for the most part– well sort of.

Someone forgot to mention to him that Darrell Green was that good.

Read more »

Moss’ Jump Ball Catch No. 64 Of Top Plays

Since 2005 the Redskins have seen about as much change as any team in the league.

Mike Shanahan is the third head coach during that time, Robert Griffin III has taken over the reins of the offense and firmly entrenched himself as a franchise corner piece, and weapons Fred Davis, Pierre Garcon, and Josh Morgan have been added to spread the threat across the field.

While there has plethora of new faces, one man has remained a constant figure despite all the moving pieces—wide receiver Santana Moss.

After being acquired in trade with the New York Jets, Moss instantly became the Redskins number one receiving threat.

Moss would lull defensive backs to sleep before whizzing pass them with his blazing speed.

Just when it looked like Moss’ time as an elite receiver was reaching its deadline No. 89 recorded a team-high eight touchdowns.

This touchdown against the Eagles, however, may have been the crème de la crème.

Read more »

Fifth Round Pick Has Some History

Last night the Redskins made their first two selections of the 2013 NFL Draft when they selected NC State corner David Amerson and Florida tight end Jordan Reed.

For years, the Redskins were one of the top spenders during the free agency period, snatching some of the marquee names off of the board before other team’s could even promote the benefits of coming to their franchises.

However, a shift in the primary focus of building the roster through the draft began in 2010 when the franchise tabbed Mike Shanahan to be the 24th full-time coach in the illustrious history of the Washington Redskins.

During Shanahan’s tremendous 14-year tenure with the Denver Broncos, he quickly built a reputation across the league as one of the best talent evaluators not only of early round talent, but deeper into the draft, to build a competitive winner week in and week out.

Today, Shanahan and company have an additional fifth round pick from the Albert Haynesworth trade from 2011 to work with.

Shanahan’s history shows that this pick may soon being seeing the field at Aloha Stadium at the Pro Bowl.

Read more »

Beathard On The Hiring Of Joe Gibbs

The Washington Redskins are ramping up preparations for their 81st campaign, looking to defend their NFC East crown after an improbable seven-game winning streak to end the 2012 regular season. Five of those wins came against division foes.

Winning a second consecutive division crown is certainly on the team’s goals sheet for the 2013 season, but this team has their sights set on a bigger prize.

Led by head coach Mike Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen, the team is seeking to add a fourth Lombardi Trophy to the collection.

The first two Super Bowl team’s were assembled by Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs and general manager Bobby Beathard.

Beathard’s hiring of Gibbs is hands down one of the great moves in franchise history as the Burgundy and Gold dominated the NFC during the 1980′s.

Find out what Beathard had to say about prying Gibbs away from the San Diego Chargers and tapping him to be the lead man of the Washington Redskins here:

Read more »

Blacken’s Passion Extends Beyond Field

On Wednesday, the Washington Redskins announced the return of former strength and conditioning coach Malcolm Blacken to the Nation’s Capital.

Blacken has twice appeared in burgundy and gold as he was under head coach Norv Turner from 1996-2000 and was part of head coach Mike Shanahan‘s revamped vision for the three-time Super Bowl winning franchise in 2010.

Blacken will serve as the Director of Player Development this go ’round and will play a key role in helping younger players become acclimated to the rigorous and trying lifestyle of a professional athlete.

His versatility and extensive knowledge of the game will be paramount for the younger players as they defend the title of division champions.

But what might be more interesting to fans is what Blacken does with his time away from the facilities.  When not lifting weights and counseling young men, Blacken is actually quite the artist: Read more »

Putting $36 Million In Perspective

Yesterday’s press conference with general manager Bruce Allen and head coach Mike Shanahan marked the first time that the Redskins have made extensive public commentary on the $36 million salary cap penalty levied against the team.

One of the more interesting facets of the discussion revolved around the value of the penalty. Sure, the Redskins are subject to a $36 million dollar reduction in spending, but what does that actually mean? Read more »

UPDATE: Redskins Mock Draft Tracker

The Redskins made a splash yesterday re-signing six of their pending free agents and, arguably, some of the team’s key core players to help build off of last year’s NFC East Championship. The team also announced the signing of veteran free agent offensive tackle Tony Pashos (former Cleveland Brown) in addition to announcing that they had released CB DeAngelo Hall.

According to coach Mike Shanahan, yesterday’s roster moves helped the team get back under the salary cap and in position to meet the league-mandated cap requirements prior to the start of free agency today at 4pm. But despite the moves, it doesn’t appear that the team will have enough wiggle room to be a major player in free agency.

It’s possible that front office has something up their sleeves but the most likely scenario is that the team will turn their attention to the draft to help fill certain needs.

Keep in mind that a lot can happen between now and April and, yet again, consensus among the mock drafts below seems to be that the Redskins will lean toward drafting secondary.

Thought remains that this year’s draft class is secondary-laden and that there should be some intriguing prospects at number fifty-one, including some that may peak your interest as draft weekend approaches. So let’s go ahead and take a look at our updated Mock Draft Tracker and a few players that some of the experts think the Redskins should pursue.

Read more »

Redskins Excited To Return To Team

On Monday, the Washington Redskins announced that it has re-signed five players who were instrumental in the team’s late season push to the playoffs and the 2012 NFC East title; the first in 13 years, as well as tenuring another.

On the offensive side of the pigskin the Redskins re-signed fullback Darrel Young, the lead blocker to record-setting running back Alfred Morris, offensive guard Kory Lichtensteiger and tight end Logan Paulsen.

On defense, the team brought back linebacker Rob Jackson, tendered nose tackle Chris Baker, and signed long snapper Nick Sundberg from the special teams unit.

Find out what the players had to say about returning to the Burgundy and Gold and the chance to conquer the NFC East once again.

Read more »

Catch Shanahan-Allen Presser After Work

Want to watch this afternoon’s press conference with Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan, live from Redskins Park, but also want to get home for dinner?

We have the answer(s) to your dilemma.

The entire press conference will be streamed live on Redskins.com, beginning at 4:30 p.m. If that doesn’t work, watch the Redskins Official Ustream Channel, or watch via the tab on the team’s Facebook page.

If you are sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic or are on the go, feel free to watch from anywhere on the Redskins’ Official Mobile App, which you can download here.

Don’t miss a minute of offseason Redskins news–watch from anywhere! For extra info and up-to-the-minute updates, follow along on Twitter, @Redskins.

.

.

.

Redskins Embody ‘Team, Effort, Tradition.’

On January 5, 2010, head coach Mike Shanahan was formally introduced as the Redskins head coach. From 2010-present, coach Shanahan and the front office have completely revamped the team.

There are 60 new faces out of the 70 players currently listed on the roster, excluding last year’s the practice squad. Here’s a breakdown of the how the current team was built since coach Shanahan’s hire in 2010: Free Agency (37), Draft Picks (21), and Trades (2).

The roster changes, however, should not be viewed necessarily as a rebuilding effort, yet instead viewed as part of a bigger evaluation process in an attempt to build a team consisting of humble, hardworking, character guys.

Read more »