Here is what you need to know on this Thursday, February 12, six days before the Washington Redskins and the rest of the NFL assemble in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine.
Question of the day
We’re changing up the format of Need to Know for the offseason. Every day I’ll give an in-depth answer to a question submitted by a fan on my Twitter feed, via the Real Redskins Facebook page, or in the comments section here. On Twitter address the questions to me at @Rich_TandlerCSN with the #NTK hashtag. There will be a comment thread set up on the Facebook page and if you’re asking your question here, put “for NTK” at the start of the comment.
Today’s question is from Twitter:
@Rich_TandlerCSN #NTK Who makes the decision if both McCloughan and Allen want a player, but at a different price?
— Crapshoot Season (@Trips_CCC) February 8, 2015
Even though Scot McCloughan got all of the authority that a GM traditionally gets when Bruce Allen hired him and yielded that title last month, he needs the help of others to get things done. Any GM in the league is in the same situation.
Salary cap and contracts are not part of McCloughan’s areas of expertise and he will rely on Allen and cap guru Eric Schaffer to take care of contracts. For rookies, that’s easy; you basically just fill in the name, the numbers are set by the draft slot. But when it comes to free agents, it gets more complex.
From what we know, a free agent acquisition has to start with McCloughan wanting the player to come to the Redskins. He has final say on the 53-man roster so nobody is added to it without his OK. So he brings his list to Allen and Schaffer to take care of the money part of it.
Here is where the matter of trust and the crux of your question comes in. They need to have a discussion about what they think the player is worth and come to a consensus as to how high they will go to get that player. That is more Allen’s and Schaffer’s area of expertise than McCloughan’s so he is going to have to trust the cap guys’ estimates and evaluations.
Could Allen torpedo the process by overstating what a player might fetch on the market? Could he not negotiate in good faith if he really doesn’t like a player that McCloughan wants to bring on board? The answer to both is yes. But the NFL is a small world and word would get back to McCloughan, potentially poisoning the well at Redskins Park. We’ve seen it before but Allen is too savvy to do something like that.
The bottom line is that McCloughan has the final say. If Allen says I can get you Player X for Y dollars, McCloughan has the authority to tell Allen to pull the trigger or pass on the player. But if things work out the way they should, they all should be on the same page and in agreement on the decision.
Let me make one more point here. Fans roll their eyes when they hear about GM’s or coaches hiring guys that they know. But trust is a big thing whether we’re talking about matters like this or decisions made on the coaching level. It’s much easier to get to work and get up to speed when there is a pre-established relationship there. That’s one reason why these hires often work out the way that they do.
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Timeline
—It’s been 46 days since the Redskins played a game. It will be about 215 days until they play another one.
—Days until: NFL free agency starts 26; Redskins offseason workouts start 67; 2015 NFL Draft 78
If you have any questions about what's going on at Redskins Park, hit me up in the comments. And I'm always on Twitter @Rich_TandlerCSN.
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