With Jim Haslett Gone, Time for Redskins to Consider New Defensive Philosophies

The Washington Redskins are in desperate need of change. But they've got a brand-new head coach who deserves more time, and you don't replace your general manager without giving the new guy the ability to hire a new coaching staff. Plus, Robert Griffin III remains under contract with low trade value, and it's not as though they currently have better options in the search for a franchise quarterback. 

So the best change they can make right now is to shake up the defense, which under defensive coordinator Jim Haslett has consistently been torched. 

Rather, that should say former defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, because the two parties have "mutually agreed to part ways," per the team. 

During Haslett's five-year run in D.C., the Washington defense never ranked better than 21st in points allowed or 13th in yards allowed. During that span, only four teams surrendered more points. This year, it ranked 30th in terms of points allowed and 25th when it came to takeaways.

Category	Total	Rank
Points allowed	25.6	30th
Yards allowed	363.4	29th
Takeaways	124	17th
Sacks	175	25th

The personnel could have been better. Salary cap constraints kept the Redskins out of free agency early in his tenure, and it's not as though recent high draft picks David Amerson, Trent Murphy and Jarvis Jenkins have delivered. And injuries were often a factor, especially with key starters Barry Cofield, Brian Orakpo and DeAngelo Hall going down this year. 

But how much rope can you give the guy? At some point, you run out of excuses. And when your D can't stop anybody for half a decade, it's time to move on. 

It's fitting, too, because Orakpo is slated to become a free agent and they'll probably soon be ready to replace Cofield and Hall, who are on the wrong side of 30. The time is now to overhaul the entire defense, which can build around Ryan Kerrigan, who had a career-high 13.5 sacks and was rated the fifth-best 3-4 outside linebacker in the league by Pro Football Focus (subscription required). 

The bright side about having only one definite building block on D is that the Redskins can be flexible. They don't need to replace Haslett with someone who fits a specific set of criteria, which means they'll have a chance to explore as many options as possible. 

That even means they could consider switching to a 4-3 defense, especially considering that Kerrigan was a defensive end at Purdue. 

"That's what I did my whole life, I certainly think I could handle that,” he said earlier this year of playing in the 4-3, per ESPN.com. “It fit me well. In college there was a lot of emphasis on penetration, getting off the ball and causing havoc. I like doing that. Whatever the scheme the coach wants to run I'll be more than fine with it.”

There's no right or wrong answer regarding defensive scheme. The league's four highest-rated defenses this season were 4-3s, but the next five were 3-4s. The bottom six were split. The idea, though, should be to cater to your personnel, and since Kerrigan is the only guy Washington knows has a bright future in burgundy, the front office can afford to go either way. 

And I don't want to cop out here, but again, I don't think there's a "wrong" approach to finding Haslett's replacement. 

You'll hear Rex Ryan's name a lot, and that's the type of move that would definitely shake things up while also having the potential to backfire. But that's also probably far-fetched. Beyond that, they could go with a fresh face (current linebackers coach Brian Baker seems to be quite popular) or a retread who has a winning track record (Wade Phillips comes to mind). 

Ideally, they'll avoid bringing in someone who could pose a threat to Jay Gruden. Although some might consider a potential challenge to be a good thing for the rookie head coach, the friction that has plagued this franchise the last few years has me thinking Gruden deserves a chance to operate without an obvious potential successor breathing down his neck. 

Haslett, though, was nothing more than a stale reminder of everything that went wrong under the previous regime. He wasn't necessarily the problem, but he clearly wasn't the solution. And now, by finally accepting that and giving this defense a fresh start, the Redskins appear to be on the right track. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon