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Mike Shanahan arrived in Washington in January with the task of changing the "what me worry?" culture that some felt had become pervasive at Redskins Park the past two seasons under predecessor Jim Zorn.
Shanahan has changed the roster during his eight months as the Redskins' coach, but not as much as might have been suspected. Less than half of the players, 20, on the 53-man roster that survived Saturday's cuts had never donned a Washington jersey before his arrival.
That group includes seven starters, only three of whom were free agent signees: receiver Joey Galloway, right guard Artis Hicks and nose tackle Ma'ake Kemoeatu. Another three, right tackle Jammal Brown, left end Adam Carriker and quarterback Donovan McNabb, arrived in trades. The seventh new regular is left tackle Trent Williams, the fourth overall pick in April's draft.
There are still 18 Redskins who played for Joe Gibbs, the Hall of Fame coach who retired after the 2007 season.
One, fullback Mike Sellers, goes back to 1998, the year before Dan Snyder bought the franchise, although Sellers hasn't been in Washington continuously for 12 years. Those 18 players are important for Shanahan's hope of a quick turnaround because they've all been to the playoffs as Redskins and can help their younger teammates overcome the memory of the 6-18 crash during Zorn's final season and a half.
However, Washington fans shouldn't expect the worst-to-first turnaround pulled off in recent years by New Orleans (2006 and 2009), Philadelphia (2006), Tampa Bay (2007) and Miami (2008). Not only do the defending NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys seem very formidable, but the Eagles and New York Giants aren't pushovers either. And for all of his previous success, Shanahan guided Los Angeles to just two more victories (5-11 to 7-9) during his first year (1988) with the Raiders and led Denver to only one more triumph (7-9 to 8-8) during his first year (1995) with the Broncos.
The trouble for Shanahan's hopes of repeating his pair of Super Bowl victories in Washington is that the window for winning looks narrow given that the Redskins have one of the NFL's older rosters, including 11 starters in their 30s as of Sept. 7.
Mike Shanahan's Changes in Washington Not So Drastic
Sep 6, 2010 – 12:42 PM
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