I have been beating the drum recently about the woeful state of the Washington Redskins offensive and defensive lines.
More specifically, I have taken the front office to task over what I believe is the complete and ultimately disastrous failure to establish a functional pipeline of qualified young linemen to replace their rapidly aging (and based on the evidence in 2008, no longer adequate) starting corps.
Rather than basing that criticism solely on what I see with my own two eyes on game days, I have begun to research the nuts and bolts of how the Redskins have gone about constructing their lines over the past decade and how they arrived where they are today.
Over the coming days and weeks I will be posting the results of that research for reference, discussion and, depending on what we find, perhaps drawing supported conclusions as to whether the Redskins' current struggles to compete with solid opponents at the line of scrimmage are the result of a fundamentally flawed approach, or simply the vagaries of trying to stay competitive in the 21st century NFL.
Let's get to it.
To begin, I broke down the Redskins' college drafts over the past ten years. I limited it to ten years on the premise that beyond that period of time, the data has increasingly little practical relevance to the present, given the number of major external factors (ownership changes, front office changes, coaching changes, player aging and injury, etc.) that come into play.
Here are the raw numbers, broken down by year, total picks, number of linemen selected, player and round selected:
1999 – 6 overall picks, 2 linemen
OT Jon Jansen (2), OG Derek Smith (5)
2000 – 8 picks, 3 linemen
OT C. Samuels (1), OG M. Moore (4), DT D. Cowsette (7)
2001 – 5 picks, 1 lineman
DT Mario Monds (6)
2002 – 10 picks, 2 linemen
OT Reggie Coleman (6), DE Greg Scott (7)
2003 – 3 picks, 1 lineman
OG Derrick Dockery (3)
2004 – 4 picks, 2 linemen
OT Mark Wilson (5), OT Jim Molinaro (6)
2005 – 6 picks, 0 linemen
2006 – 6 picks, 3 linemen
DT A. Montgomery (5), DT K. Golston (6), OG K. Lefotu (7)
2007 – 5 picks, 0 linemen
2008 – 10 picks, 2 linemen
OG Chad Rinehart (3), DE Rob Jackson (7)
Total Picks 63, linemen 16 (25%)
... and broken down by round:
1st Round: 1 (’00)
2nd Round: 1 (’99)
3rd Round: 2 (’03, ’08)
4th Round: 1 (’00)
5th Round: 3 (’99, ’04, ’06)
6th Round: 4 (‘01, ’02, ’04, ’06)
7th Round: 4 (’00, ’02, ’07, ’08)
Of note:
- Over their past five drafts Washington selected 7 linemen (1 third, 2 fifths, 2 sixths, 2 sevenths).
- Dating back to 1992, when the NFL reduced the number of draft rounds from 12 to 7, in those six additional drafts the Redskins selected 12 linemen out of 45 total picks (1 first, 2 seconds, 3 thirds, 1 fourth, 4 fifths and 3sixths).
Moving on …
Recognizing that numbers in a
14 comments Last one added 6 months ago — Leave a Comment
Travis Evans 6 months ago
We are not in Linemen mode. The defense is injured all the time it's just a bad year.
Greg Blache is to blame also.
We do need a few young o linemen though
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Mark Steven 6 months ago
Not sure what "we are not in linemen mode" means, brother. The D injuries don't mask the total lack of pass rushing linemen that's been a major problem for years. The last sentence we're in total agreement on.
One out of three ain't bad. :)
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Travis Evans 6 months ago
So you don't put some on this on Blache.
What I meant by linemen mode was that we don't need them right now we stil have a year or two
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Mark Steven 6 months ago
I could bust on Blache a little for ineffective blitz schemes, I guess. You very rarely see the Redskins spring a free pass rusher these days. But given the lack of even one serious pass rushing threat on the line that can command the double-team, seems to me Blache is fighting with one hand tied behind his back so I can't really complain. That he's kept that unit as competitive as he has with the front four he's had to work with is a credit.
I'd sure like to see what he could do with a rush line one time, though.
As to the idea this team has "a year or two" before they need to get serious about their lines ... well, if you read the piece you already know where I stand. And I'm more than half convinced the Redskins agree with you, not me.
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Travis Evans 6 months ago
yea but if we start putting young rookies in you will get same out put.
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Sean Wilson 6 months ago
Travis...I don't think we can put anything on Blache but congrats on doing so much with less. So we don't get to the QB...we still have the #7 pass defense, #10 rush defense, #5 overall defense, and 6th in points allowed per game with 18.9. We've caused only 20 turnovers, but D has kept us in almost every game. The offense on the other hand is 29th in points scored, 16th in yards per game, 19th in passing yds, and a respectable 7th in rushing yds per game thanks to CP. Jimmy Z doesn't own either the D or running game, that's been well documented...the passing game however...
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Sean Wilson 6 months ago
Mark, Awesome job!!! I really think we need to go for a center and pass rusher in the 2nd round this year (trade away the 1st rounder since C's don't normally go in round 1) and work to get at least 3 add'l picks this year. Also, I think (as much as I love him) Buges has to go and we have to get consistent in our blocking schemes. You can't go from a power rushing game one down, to a west coast passing game the next...build an idea in the trenches and stick with it. Now with the draft. Rhinehart could be great, and so COULD Stephon. Chris still has 5 more years on him, and Randy could be around for another 3...So address Center and establish an identity with the scheme and they could do good.
see my article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/86252-too-early-for-redskins-09-draft-ideas-never
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Travis Evans 6 months ago
No we don't trade it we get a good back to spell Portis watch and see.
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Sean Wilson 6 months ago
T--didn't we talk about this before? I want to pick up a big, powerful back to spell Clinton...but we have to work on the trenches if we're going to improve! Get some 2nd rounders to bolster both lines...our skill players are good...not the problem...our o-line sucks and our d-line overachieves thanks to Greg B...(well...not Andre and twinkle toes Taylor) We can use a 3rd or 4th rounder to pick up a big back.
Ladell did play for the big contract, though...he has been a slack ass this season! See last game getting caught by a d-lineman?!
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Craig Garrison Sr 6 months ago
Nice work here Mark, I posted some of my thoughts in response on your blog, but ulitmately your research here simply drives home what many of us have already known for years, including yourself obviously, that this "time" would come when the lines would need a serious overahaul, and here it is. I'm not sure how critical the D-Line is just now, but there is no doubt in my mind that the O-Line is directly responsible for this collapse.
Is it possible that Zorn could have done something differently to make this less painful... could Campbell be better... the rookies... blah blah blah????
It all still boils down to the line of scrimmage, win there, and the points will come.
Nice work as usual Mark.
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Mark Steven 6 months ago
Thanks for the comments, gentlemen. Sorry so long in responding--busy couple of days.
Just so you know, I'm just getting started on this thing. For years Redskins fans and observers have talked about how the team was neglecting the lines, but I had never seen any meaningful data comparing their approach to other teams. So I'm looking for some context, studying what what a representative sample of the NFL at large has done, comparing it to the Redskins, and maybe being able to draw some substantive conclusions.
It's possible when it's all said and done we'll find other teams with similar philosophies of not investing heavily in the lines who win big anyway. That would actually be encouraging. But my instinct tells me the evidence will point strongly the other way.
So that's what this is about--putting some meat on the bones.
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chad riley 6 months ago
Mark,super as always! After this draft class the line is critical. Hell, I say use all the picks on both sides of the line of scrimmage, But 4 was my pick. FYI I Just published my first piece, "The truth about colt Brennan!" is not a start Colt now article, but rather a little insight into our devotion to him. Have a read. Couple typo's, I lost the first draft downloadindg a photo and my eyes were spinning by the time I edited. Your professional opinion would be greatly appreciated. HTTR!
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Jennifer Johnson 6 months ago
Mark,
The last defensive lineman we chose in the first round was Kenard Lang in 96. I understood the need in this year's draft to get one tall receiver to counterbalance the deep ball threat of speedy Santana Moss.
Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to analyze the talent there, bc Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly came into camp hurt and out of shape.
I don't think Zorn has a clue what to do now. He can blame himself for his team's ineffective offense or his player's inability to execute from inside the one-yard line, but I don't think he should make excuses for them.
They have failed, more so than he has. We rode Portis through the first eight games, went up against a top 5 defense (Pittsburgh) and promptly tanked it from there.
And we all made a big deal out of Redskins fans not showing up to the game. WTH?
My biggest fear is that Zorn gets fired, and credence is given to the naysayers of Dan Snyder who question his leadership ability like they have nothing better to complain about.
He stood back and let Joe (God in Washington) Gibbs have all the power, and his moves didn't lead to monster success. (Al Saunders and Gregg Williams are gone too)
Criticize the players first, bc they are the ones that are supposed to learn their coaches system, and then execute the gameplan.
If Zorn is at fault, its because he doesn't attack the secondary enough. Jason isn't good enough in his reads still, and that isn't indicative of a starter in the NFL.
One more rant: Cooley, Moss and Portis all have dropped in production after the bye week. Perhaps the problem lies with the stars?
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jeff bennetts 6 months ago
We don't need a big back-we've already got Sellers who is not used enough. We need a speed back w/good hands like Westbrook. The real reason we are not good in short yardage situations is the blocking up the middle (Rabach, Thomas) is overmatched. This has been going on for awhile now. I remember when Portis or Betts got stuffed on short yardage everyone would say "why not give it to the big guy Sellers". Now when he does get it and gets stuffed, everyone asks why CP didn't get the ball. It's lack of heart on the part of the interior linemen to get the push that's needed in that situation. We have had one of the highest paid lines in the NFL for years, yet we don't get the production that other teams get with much less.
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