There have been conflicting reports as to whether former Texans GM Rick Smith is ready to return to football, but if this morning’s report from Adam Schefter of ESPN.com is accurate, Smith will be back in the league sooner rather than later.
In the wake of Washington’s dismissal of former team president Bruce Allen, owner Dan Snyder thought long and hard about replacing Allen with Smith, per Schefter. Snyder and Smith met in the Bahamas multiple times and discussed their plans for putting the Redskins back on the right track, but Snyder ultimately elected to make a fundamental change to his team’s power structure and run the franchise through his new head coach, Ron Rivera, rather than through a team president.
Sources expected a deal with Smith and the Redskins to get done, but an entirely different dynamic was probably the right way for Snyder to go. The conversations with Washington, though, suggest that Smith is going to return to a prominent position in the NFL in the near future. Smith’s wife passed away of cancer last January, and Smith left the Texans at the end of the 2017 to care for her and his three children.
As we heard when the Rivera hire was reported, the Redskins are expected to wait until after the draft to hire a GM, per Schefter (Twitter link). Snyder believes he has the people in place to get through free agency and the draft, though there will be changes to the front office after the draft is over. Louis Riddick has already been connected to the GM job, and John Keim of ESPN.com says Colts exec Morocco Brown is another name to watch out for. Interestingly, it does not sound as if Smith is a GM candidate for the ‘Skins.
In other Redskins news, Rivera is hiring former Panthers LBs coach Steve Russ to serve in the same capacity in Washington, per Schefter (via Twitter). Alex Marvez of SiriusXM NFL Radio tweets that Rivera is also bringing on former Chargers assistant DBs coach Chris Harris to be the Redskins’ DBs coach.
If you’re a GM candidate, why would you want to have less authority than the HC? Texans’ HC has run out 2 GM’s and wasted a ton of draft capital on the OL (5 picks on 3 players) which still gave up 7 sacks yesterday.
Seahawks hired and structured the same way with Carroll/Snyder. Same is done in New England. Those are two pretty solid examples.
*Schneider
If your coach is able to evaluate talent and not just coach it , than it works. It leaves the GM to focus on the cap and making financials work.
Coach identifies target players that fit their system and GM acquires which ones the business structure allows. Coach then coaches and develops talent.
If the failure comes from obtaining talent it’s on the GM. If it comes from scouting or on field it’s the coach. This ends the coaches you get termed and say, “I could do better if I got my guys”
Bears GM job should be open at the end of the 2020 season, and there still should be the core of a top 10 defense in place.