Stuff on both sides of the Cousins debacle. At this point I’ve moved on. Skins are 2-1 and are led by a player who wants to be here and all indications are the feeling is mutual throughout the org. That’s very important.
The Skins will need to draft someone in the next two years to replace Smith when the time comes. Hopefully they don’t royally botch that like they’re prone to do. Jury is still out on Cousins’ ceiling - sub-prime Brad Johnson and journeyman Trent Dilfer won SBs for crying out loud - anything is possible there.
Given the way things went down I thought the Skins did relatively well mitigating the damage of having a prime-years QB walk. Hopefully they keep adding picks and drafting big bodies. If they do that and nail the successor to AS, I’d say the Redskins can easily complete the journey from laughingstock to respectability...which is all I’m hoping for at the moment. They need to clear that hurdle before I even consider the idea of “contention”. They have to shake decades of Loser’s Culture first.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see but I’ve seen encouraging signs (outside of the Cousins situation) over the last few years, culminating in last offseason when the Skins took the ideal route at every step once it became clear Cousins wasn’t coming back. Don’t forget that next year we’ll have multiple extra picks come draft time. The Redskins have a chance to be solid and deep for the foreseeable future. First time in forever I’d even romotely entertain that notion. They have to draft well and get above average coaching. Jury’s still out there too but the early returns on Allen and Payne are very encouraging. Gruden is in the midst of a “prove it” year and it’s still to early to tell, but 2-1 is 2-1. It’s a solid start for sure.
Going back to the thread meme I’d say the glass has just shifted from half-empty to half-full. That perception could change very quickly, however. And for the first time in a good, long while - I’m actually curious to see how it all pans out.