This is not a knock on Hightower; far from it. In his short stint as a Redskins running back, he earned the respect of fans, coaches and players alike. His leadership, running skills and veteran awareness in the passing game were definitely assets in an otherwise forgettable 2011 season. There was much hope from all corners of Redskins Nation that Hightower could return to form in 2012.

But events conspired against him. The Redskins drafted Alfred Morris in the 6^th round, who quickly went from “long shot to make the team” to the Redskins starting running back last preseason (and we all know how that ended up). Hightower’s knee wasn’t completely healed either. With Evan Royster and Roy Helu also on the roster, coupled with Shanahan’s decision to keep seven wide receivers on the 53-man roster, Hightower was caught in a numbers game.

However, Tarik El-Bashir of CSNWashington.com reported at the time that Mike Shanahan hadn’t given up on him. “A guy like Tim, I think the world of. He might be back sometime this year”, Shanahan said. “But you have cut down. You have to make the decision that’s best for your football team and we went three running backs and a fullback. But it was a tough decision. He could come back here. I thought when he did play, he played well.”

Now, the Redskins beat reporter from the Washington Post, Mike Jones, is reporting that the Redskins have indeed had “exploratory talks” with Hightower (so have the Giants), and that there might be another conversation “in a couple of weeks”, according to Jones’ article. So perhaps the talks with Hightower were more serious than it seemed during my discussion with him?

Well…seems unlikely. Hightower is once again caught up in a numbers game.

Morris is entrenched as the starter after setting the all-time franchise record for rushing yards in a season. Royster and Helu remain on the roster (for now), and the Redskins drafted not one but two running backs last month. Fifth-round pick Chris Thompson and seventh-round pick Jawan Jamison have already signed their rookie contracts.

The good news for Hightower is that, after an extensive rehab that included traditional therapy and a multi-step holistic wellness program, his knee is back to 100 percent. “The knee is good”, Hightower assured me. “No more pain, no more limitations, no more restrictions”.

Let’s hope that Hightower lands on his feet, if not with the Redskins, then with a team where he gets to show the world that he still has something left in the tank…preferably somewhere outside the NFC East.

With the Redskins finishing 30th against the pass in 2012, the conventional wisdom was that Shanahan would select defensive secondary players early and often. If the Skins did somehow opt for an offensive player, the call on the mock drafts was for a speedy wide receiver to give Robert Griffin III another bullet in his chamber.

Jordan Reed has drawn countless comparisons to another Florida TE, Aaron Hernandez

But since when has Shanahan followed the expected script on draft day?

When Baylor WR (and RG3’s brother from another mother) Terrance Williams was plucked by the hated Cowboys before Washington’s turn in the 3^rd round, it seemed as if Shanahan’s most likely target was gone baby gone. Fret not, for this was good news for DC football fans; the next Aaron Hernandez fell into their lap.

Reed the Heir Apparent?

Welcome to the Redskins, Jordan Reed. Don’t think for a second that you won’t be an integral part of the Redskins’ offense, sooner rather than later.

How soon, exactly? Well that all depends on everyone’s favorite topic during the offseason: health. When someone whines “Why did the Redskins take a pass catching TE? They already have one of those with Fred Davis!” be sure to remind that person of a few things:

• Fred Davis is coming off a devastating Achilles tendon rupture, and may never be the player he was before the injury
• He’s one failed drug test away from being suspended for an entire year
• He only has a one-year contract

Does that really sound like a guy you want to hang your hat on? I submit not. However, with two months between now and the start of training camp, and the aforementioned one-year deal lighting a fire under his backside, Davis might just surprise people in 2013.

Fred Davis looks to return to form in 2013

We shall see, but don’t expect it. Shanahan himself said that if Davis could “come back at 80 percent, that’s still pretty good. You’re shooting for 90 percent, but very seldom do you come back at 100 percent” from an Achilles injury. Davis won’t be back in 2014 unless he absolutely kills it this season.

Third Year’s the Charm For Niles Paul

So Jordan Reed will eventually take Davis’ place, right? Not so fast. Don’t go to sleep on Niles Paul.

Yes, that Niles Paul. Last season, he often looked like a trust fund baby in a bad neighborhood – not very comfortable and afraid of random acts of violence. But cut the man some slack. He was basically a rookie last year after being converted from WR to TE, the latter being a position he had never played before in his life. And we love him on special teams; hopefully he can fill the void left by Lorenzo Alexander’s departure.

Will this be Niles Paul’s breakout season?

Brian Tinsman, lead writer for Redskins.com, likes Paul as his breakout player of 2013. “He’s a matchup threat. He’s much faster than most of the TEs in the league”, Tinsman said. “Now that he’s in his 3^rd year in the offense, 2^nd season as a TE, he’s ready to take that next step. He really asserted himself on special teams last year, and moving forward, that will be a point of confidence for him and allow him to really blossom a little bit more in this offense.”

Nobody would claim that Logan Paulsen is much faster than most other TEs in the league. Firmly entrenched as the Redskins “blocking” TE, Paulsen is one of those guys who seems as big in street clothes as he does in pads. But that didn’t stop him from having a sneaky good pass catching year in 2012.

When Davis went down and longtime fan favorite Chris Cooley was called in from his pottery barn, many fans assumed Cooley would jigger and jolly his way to at least a couple dozen catches. Didn’t happen; Cooley finished the season with a grand total of one catch on three targets.

Instead, it was Paulsen who picked up the slack, finishing the season with 25 catches for 308 yards and a touchdown. Paulsen re-inked with the Redskins in the offseason for the next three years and figures to be a steady mainstay on the roster for a long time.

Four’s Company

Where does the rookie Jordan Reed fit into all this? Just about everywhere. In addition to his presumed role as the “joker” TE, Reed can play H-back, running back, WR, and as a former high school quarterback, he can even be the emergency QB if absolutely necessary (God help us if that ever happens). Whatever the case, it’s going to be very exciting to see if he can replicate the production and athleticism he demonstrated at Florida.

Put all this in a bag, and what shakes out is a very unusual situation – the Redskins will keep four TEs on the active, 53-man roster. All four can play and will undoubtedly see plenty of opportunities to show their wares this fall. This makes tight end the deepest position for the Redskins in 2013.

So without further adieu, enjoy my entry to the Washington Redskins position unit Battle Royale.

Unfortunately for Redskins fans, Washington’s wide receivers have been a not so fun bunch to watch since Ark Monk donned the Kelly Green.

Remember how awesome Michael Westbrook and Rod Gardner were? Me either.

When the Redskins landed Laveranues Coles back in 2003, we were finally supposed to have a building block-type of receiver that any quarterback would be happy to throw to.

Coles had Pro Bowl year in 2003 and all was right with the world. Then came 2004. Coles wasn’t a big fan of the scheme newly re-hired Head Coach Joe Gibbs was running in DC. After an alleged terrible case of “turf toe” kept him sidelined for much of the year, he effectively whined himself out of DC and back to the New York Jets.

What return did St. Joe get when trading the former Pro Bowler and anointed savior of the Redskins receiving core?

Santana Moss.

The initial fan reaction was…well… not pleasant.

Then the Monday Night Miracle happened, and the legend of Tanaman the Cowboy Killer was born. Moss set the league on fire in 2005 and finally Redskins fans felt like they had a game changer with the ability to score any time the ball was in his hands.

Over the next seven years, Santana saw limited success at receiver, rarely recapturing the 2005 form that fans were dying for. You can blame Moss’ limited success on constantly changing schemes, quarterback ineptitude, or the toxic situation that was Jim Zorn and the bingo caller, but the real reason Santana struggled is much simpler than any of those reasons.

Santana Moss was all alone. For seven years he was the only threat the Redskins had through the air. Vinny did his best to bring in guys to play along Moss, but for the most part, they were all over-paid failures. David Patten, Antawan Randel El, Brandon Lloyd…heck they even tried to trade as much as they did for RG3 to get the infamous Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson.

Moss had the luxury of taking a lot of teams by surprise in 2005, but once they figured out that all you had to do was eliminate Moss and no one else could really attack the defense, the Redskins had to go to guys like Chris Cooley and Clinton Portis to move the chains.

Flash forward to 2012: Moss enjoyed a fine season, mainly because Moss finally got what he needed since 2005 – a legitimate receiving core.

The 2013 Washington Redskins receiver group has the potential to not only be the deepest receiving core Washington has had in 20 years, it has the ability to be the most solid group in the NFC East (if everyone remains healthy).

Looking back at the season, the receiving corps could be considered somewhat of a disappointment, considering they fell seven spots from being ranked the 14th best receiving group in 2011 to the 21st ranked in 2012 – but the overall rankings lie just a little bit.

Leading receiver Pierre Garcon missed 6 games and was limited in two others with a nagging foot injury, yet still racked up 633 receiving yards. If you project that production over a full 16 game season, Garcon is looking right at 1,000 yards receiving and a probable Pro Bowl appearance.

Joshua Morgan, who was brought in from San Francisco, turned in a respectable 500+ yard season despite playing the entire year with torn ligaments in…wait for it…BOTH HANDS…not too shabby.

In fact, Garcon, Morgan, Hankerson and Moss all turned in plus 500 yard seasons – sounds like some pretty even ball distribution by RG3.

The point is that the Redskins finally have playmakers at WR. The top four guys have all shown flashes of being legitimate threats when on the field, not to mention the potential of spark plug receiver Aldrick Robinson or newly signed former fan man crush Lance Lewis.

This Redskins unit has it all: size, speed, hands, elusiveness, and the thing Mike and Kyle Shanahan covet most in receivers – yards after the catch.

While the 2012 receivers were good, the 2013 group has a chance to be great.

Former Miami standout Leonard Hankerson is in his breakout (or bust) third season, and all signs point to Hank being primed for a great season. Of all the receivers on the roster, Hankerson has the most potential to be a game breaking NFL pass catcher. At 6’2 and possessing 4.4 speed, Hank has all the tools that this group has been missing.

“I think he’s got a chance to be the guy.” Mike Shanahan said of Hankerson “You can see in practice where he’s a natural… The thing that separates guys at No. 1 is when they can beat bump coverage and they don’t have to slow down to beat it. They’re able to keep their speed and be able to get by somebody. He’s got that.”

While Hankerson inappropriately gets a bad rap for dropping passes (he actually lead the team in lowest pass drop ratio per Pro Football Focus) he does all the little things that Shanahan likes to see in his receiver – namely, he is a BEAST of a blocker.

The problem with Hankerson has been that he seems to still think a lot on the field. This could be caused by his lack of a full off-season since he was drafted in 2011. This year there are no lockouts and no injuries; Hankerson is enjoying his first full off-season program. The time for him to get it is now, and there is no reason to believe he won’t be pushing for a starting job come August.

If they can all stay healthy, there is no reason to not expect bigger and better things from this group in year two. It would appear Santana Moss is finally getting what he has been asking for, albeit six years and three coaches later. Hopefully for him, this group is finally potent enough to make a deep run in the twilight of his career.

The Redskins on the other hand were coming off a 2007 playoff push hoping for the beginning of a dominating run of their own. But Joe Gibbs would retire and be replaced by a man named Jim Zorn, who by the end of the 2009, 4-12 season, would be fired after recording a 12-20 record.

The following seasons for each of these teams would be much different. The Capitals would dominate the Southeast Division and make the playoffs for six straight seasons. The Redskins would miss the playoffs for the following four seasons.

A city once known for its dedication and loyalty to the Washington Redskins would soon revolt. Due to the poor seasons before and after the 2007 season, Dan Snyder would become enemy number one to Redskins fans. He, to some, was the main culprit behind the Redskins floundering from their glory days.

Ted Leonsis would experience a much different relationship with the fans during this time. His Southeast Division dominating Capitals would take the spotlight away from the Washington Redskins, and become the new team in town – almost to the point where Washington, D.C. was being considered a hockey town.

Fast forward to today, and things are much different. The Capitals for the third time in the post season since 2008 have been eliminated in the first round, and since that time (in 2008) have yet to make it past the second round.

Though the Redskins haven’t shared the same amount of success within that timeframe, they did win the division for the first time since 1999, making the playoffs for the first time since ‘07. This was largely due to their elite, game changing quarterback, Robert Griffin III, along with the many other pieces put in place by Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen.

There’s a lot to consider when deciding whether or not Dan Snyder is beginning to enjoy a reputation in Washington, D.C. as the better sports owner. One of those happens to be the stance on the team’s name.

The recent statement by Snyder saying the Redskins would “NEVER” change their name has significantly boosted approval ratings of him throughout the city – a city that is all about football, at least when the team is winning.

Things are much different with Ted Leonsis, who even after multiple fan’s pleas, has stood firm that he will not revert back to the original name of the Washington Bullets.

General managers under both Snyder and Leonsis have been one common problem. While the Wizards and Capitals have experienced playoff runs under both Ernie Grunfeld and George McPhee, they both have also had their problems, much as Snyder had with Vinny Cerrato.

The Capitals continue to not address the defensive side of the puck, which has been the main reason for their departures each year in the playoffs. Instead, head coaches, goalies, and offensive minded players were brought in to “fix” the problems.

The Wizards, of course, have just been an all around bad team. Erine Grunfeld continues to look for the next big European player, and the team fails to address key needs which have kept them in the cellar.

Does this sound a little like the old Washington Redskins? You betcha!

Instead of addressing the root of the problem, the general manager, Ted Leonsis has allowed the team to make the same mistakes over and over again, only to look dumbfounded at why the team continually fails to make it deep into the playoffs.

Snyder thankfully realized the error of his ways. Now, the Redskins have a team built for years to come, with an elite level quarterback that shows up in important games, a running back that was second best in the NFL, and an offense that has made its name known throughout the league. If the Redskins hadn’t been penalized $18 million in cap space last year, the defense might have been much better as well.

Lastly, you have ticket prices. Under Dan Snyder, ticket prices have been raised twice under his ownership; once after the 2005 playoffs, and most recently after the 2012 playoffs. That’s much different compared to the four seasons in a row most the Capitals have increased admission prices.

While ticket price increases are expected for playoff teams, is a 33% increase reasonable? Especially after your team managed to get swept by the division rival Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round? Most likely not, but that’s exactly what Ted Leonsis did.

Last season, Redskins fans paid .75 cents more than the average ticket price in the NFL (Capitals fans paid $12 more). This year they will find themselves paying 10% more for their season tickets than they did last year.

When the Redskins didn’t get better, their tickets stayed the same. When the Capitals teams got worse and continued to choke, their prices rose. Where’s the logic in that? No, owning the Wizards is not the reason Ted Leonsis had to raise ticket prices. His ticket price increases started before the purchase of the Washington Wizards.

Capitals fans on Twitter made their feelings known last night with how dissatisfied they were with their team, as well as Ted Leonsis. Some went as far to say he should hand over the team to someone else.

The exact opposite however has been said about Snyder recently, as he has allowed Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen to run the football team and turn them into a respectable team that has come off their first division title.

Has Snyder won the city over for the first time in his ownership? Or does he still have a ways to go before the spotlight is taken away from Ted Leonsis’ Capitals?

Tim Hightower appears more like a hip college professor than an NFL running back, with his fashionable frames, tailored sports coat and neatly manicured cornrows. As he sits a few feet across from me in the conference room at the Natural Horizons Wellness Center in Fairfax, VA, I can’t help but notice how his soft-spoken manner further belies his violent past on the gridiron.

Tim Hightower hopes this isn’t how his career ends

Here is a man who once plowed into linebackers with reckless abandon on his way to 2,933 total yards and 26 touchdowns in his professional career. Today, Hightower is up against a different sort of opponent, one who never stops coming after him: a career-threatening injury.

A Game of Attrition

When the Redskins traded Vonnie Holiday and a 6^th round draft pick for Hightower in 2011, Mike Shanahan was thrilled to get an experienced rusher who seemed like an ideal fit; Hightower naturally settled into Shanahan’s one-cut-and-go philosophy. However, in a game against the Carolina Panthers in 2011 – just five games into his Redskins career – Hightower tore his ACL on a routine cutback run. His season was over, and he hasn’t had a single NFL regular season carry since.

“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I went down on that day”, Hightower told me. “I tried to come back, had a little setback…it’s been a journey…but the knee feels good”. With a recent tryout with the New York Giants, Hightower may yet beat the odds. If he did, he would be the exception rather than the rule.

Put aside the somewhat erroneous notion that all professional athletes are multi-millionaires who are set for life, and it becomes difficult not to have sympathy for Hightower’s predicament. More than any other position in the league, running backs fall prey to the “next man up” mentality that is ubiquitous in the NFL.

While rushers may still be fantasy football’s bedrock, in reality, backs are often discarded within a few years, in favor of newer, younger models. Unless it’s a potential Hall of Famer like Adrian Peterson, most running backs who suffer a major knee injury are usually thrown on the scrap heap while coaches search for their replacement – with little-to-no long team health care available for their ailments.

Running backs are hardly all alone in the harsh world of victory by attrition. Rarely a month goes by without news of a player suicide, law suit, claim of memory loss, story of narcotic addiction, lifetimes of chronic pain…the list of these adversities is long and appalling.

• HOF running back Earl Campbell was often confined to a wheelchair before his 50^th birthday.
• Over 3,000 current and former NFL players have sued the league over concussions.
• 65% of NFL players retire with permanent injuries.
• The suicide rate among former NFL players is six times the national average.
• In males under the age of 60, arthritis is over three times as likely to occur in former NFL players (40.6%) than it is in the general population (11.7%).
  
• The use of opium-based pain killers by NFL players is also three times the national average.
  

Several pages could be filled with statistics like these.

What seems clearer than ever is that traditional “western” medicine is failing these men, or at the very least, it is proving to be inadequate in both keeping them on the field during their playing days and helping deal with chronic pain in their retirement.

The Road Less Travelled to Recovery

Little wonder that more and more NFL players are turning to alternative, non-traditional methods to handle their various ailments. A 2010 New York Times article reported a rapid increase of acupuncture treatments, where 40 players regularly received the pain-relieving procedure from just one practitioner.

Former Jets FB Tony Richardson receives an acupuncture treatment in 2010

As Pittsburgh linebacker James Farrior said: “I’m not the same if I don’t have it. It’s like getting the game plan. You can’t go into the week without either one.”

Ricky Williams has traded in his smoke-able herbs for healing ones, along with classes in holistic medicine and yoga. Former Atlanta lineman Tim Green wrote in his book The Dark Side of the Game: My Life in the NFL, “Players from across the league have turned to chiropractics, acupuncture, Rolfing, vitamins, holistic medicine…” to help deal with the afflictions that come with being an NFL player.

Besides Hightower, there are a number of other former Washington Redskins who have gone through a holistic multi-step healing process, also at Natural Horizons.  “This program has been instrumental as far as my recovery this past year”, declared former Redskins guard Derrick Dockery. “We do laser [therapy], we do fusions, which is like vitamin drips, we do [the] hyperbaric chamber…chiropractic. I’ve played ten years in the National Football League, so maintenance is a huge part in making sure you are able to play and be ready for the next season”.

Doc takes on the Docs

I also caught up with former Redskins TE and current ESPN radio broadcaster Rick “Doc” Walker, who has some very no-nonsense opinions on this issue. Doc was kind enough to sit down in an exclusive interview with Son Of Washington and discuss a variety of topics, including his passion for alternative medicine. He believes strongly in wellness methods over – in some cases – traditional western-style treatments.

Rich “Doc” Walker helped the Redskins win their first Super Bowl

“I’ve been a big fan of chiropractic care since 1973, going all the way back to high school”, said Doc, who asserted that holistic practitioners “detox people [instead of] contaminating their patients with poison. Actually trying to give people with addiction problems a way out.

“A lot of the orthopedics–who I have no problems with, in some instances–have slandered the wellness community in a way I think is pitiful. The public needs to understand that there are a lot of alternative means of healing and getting better without contaminating yourself with poison. I think the pharmaceuticals have done a great job of branding and getting people hooked on certain things that are not necessarily needed.”

The Picture of Medicine is Changing

Indeed, the image of the kindly family doctor – with his white lab coat, stethoscope and reassuring smile – might be fading from the public’s consciousness.  Today’s physicians are often paid big bucks by pharmaceutical companies to promote their medicines.

It’s all perfectly legal, and many of these partnerships are hidden from public view. Most drug companies are silent about what they pay doctors, for obvious reasons.

Imagine a patient sees a doctor in hopes of getting treatment for some kind of physical ailment.  The doctor says, “Here’s a prescription for Zarpex. Take this for a while and see if it helps”.  The drug covers up the most unpleasant symptoms of the ailment but does not provide a long-term solution – and it produces some nasty side effects as well. Then the patient finds out that the manufacturer of Zarpex paid that doctor to promote their drug.

The doctor would probably not want that information made public. Yet this happens all the time, and these doctors are often paid in excess of their normal salary by mammoth pharmaceutical companies.

If these medicines cured what ails NFL players, then that would seem somewhat justified. But usually, they just cover up the symptoms while creating new problems…which can be solved by yet another heavily promoted drug, according to your doctor.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that athletes are looking for a different path.

Despite the “dumb jock” stereotype, I can tell you from the various interviews I’ve done that many NFL players are highly intelligent people. Due to their popularity, they have access to a very wide swath of the population, and when an idea gains traction among them, it spreads like wildfire throughout their closed community.

Hightower hopes to see an NFL field again

With more access to information than ever before, the word is getting out to NFL players that they can manage pain and recovery while preventing future injuries without the use of synthetically produced pharmaceuticals.  With increasing frequency, professional football players are using holistic wellness procedures, as either a supplement to traditional western medicine, or entirely as an alternative.

It has certainly worked for Tim Hightower. Whether he gets back on an NFL field or not, the wellness treatments he has undergone have helped bring him to a physical state that he gleefully describes as, “No more pain, no more limitations, no more restrictions”.

This one is for all our uniform nerds.

I LOATHE the white jerseys the Redskins wore last year. Why? Because that two-tone rugby collar was about the worst thing I have ever seen on a jersey.

Thankfully, whoever is in charge of making uniform decisions at Redskins Park agrees with me, and it looks like the two-tone collar is going bye-bye.

Word on the street is that the Redskins–among other teams–are moving toward the collar matching their jerseys for all uniforms. This means the Redskins white jerseys will now have an all white flywire collar.

As of yet, there is no word on any uniform alternates for the 2013 season. Last season, there were flurries of rumors surrounding the Redskins alternate prior to the 80th anniversary jerseys being released. One rumor regarded a uniform that Nike pitched to the organization before they chose the classic 80th look which featured a version of the spearhead logo and­–wait for it–black uniforms.

Whether we see some sort of crazy alternate this year remains to be seen, although some have speculated RG3 has pushed for an off the wall version of the traditional duds.

We took a minute to do a rough mock up of what the new white jerseys will look like this fall. Personally I could not be happier with the result. Check out our mock up below and let us know what you think about the “new’ white jerseys.

(Click Image Full Size)

We discuss what is hopefully the last act in this episode of Name Gate as well as tweaks to the Redskins uniform and early reactions to Rookie Camp.

All that and more in this weeks episode of SOWRadio brought to you buy Easterns Automotive Group.

Shocker: Manuel goes #16 overall

Manuel was the first quarterback taken in the 2013 NFL Draft, much to everyone’s surprise. The conventional wisdom was that West Virginia’s Geno Smith would drop off the board quickly, perhaps even in the top ten to the Browns (#6) or Cardinals (#7) .

But while Smith watched and waited for his name to be called at an increasingly lonely table inside Radio City Music Hall, an unheralded Florida State product stole the spotlight.

What is so remarkable about the selection of Manuel with the 16^th overall pick is that he was not just the 2^nd or 3^rd QB on most draftnik’s boards, but rather the consensus 5^th or 6^th-rated player at the position.

Reaching for a Star?

While many draft gurus differed in their analysis, most mock drafts at the quarterback position looked something like this:

• Geno Smith, WVU
• Matt Barkley, USC
• Ryan Nassib, Syracuse
• Tyler Wilson, Arkansas
• Mike Glennon, NC State
• EJ Manuel, FSU

Scour a dozen or more pre-draft rankings on any major sports website you can find, and Manuel will be no higher than 3^rd on any of them.

Question: how did he go 22 picks before Smith?

Answer: RGIII and the success of the read-option.

Side Question: Was it more miserable for Geno Smith to (a) go un-selected in round #1 as the cameras recorded his creeping malaise, or (b) get drafted by the Jets?

With apologies to Steelers’ coach Mike Tomlin, whose football credentials are beyond reproach, the read-option isn’t just “the flavor of the month” as he called it. Its prevalence may fade over the course of time, but it hasn’t even peaked yet as a featured offense in the NFL.

“A few years ago, people were talking wildly about the Wildcat”, Tomlin said. “It’s less of a discussion now”. However, unlike the Wildcat, the principles involved in the read-option are more based in modern NFL offensive philosophies. The Wildcat predominately features a direct snap to a player who will run the ball the vast majority of the time, while the entire playbook is available with read-option looks.

This so-called “gimmick” has been around in one form or another for a long time; aspects of it can be seen as far back as the Wishbone and Wing-T days. The Carolina Panthers used elements of it in 2011 with Cam Newton, so no one is claiming the Redskins and Robert Griffin were the inventors of this offense.

However, the tipping point came in 2012 when RGIII executed it better than anyone had ever seen at the NFL level. Mike Shanahan’s Redskins regularly featured it last season, to thunderous success. It opened the doors for the ascendancy of the entire offense.

I See What You Did There

People who follow the NFL know that it is a copy-cat league; if one team tries something new and it works, you can bet several other teams will see if they can apply the same principles to fruition.

Little wonder then that the two teams who most conspicuously parroted the Redskins schemes–the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks–were two of the best teams in the NFC. While they didn’t always use the read-option (nor did the Redskins), it was very effective when they did.

Shanahan and RGIII helped spark the trend

The Buffalo Bills took notice.

Their GM Buddy Nix clearly had one eye on the read option with this selection, saying, “I don’t think the NFL is going to get to be an option league, but I do like the idea that [EJ Manuel] could do it if he wanted to. If you get a guy that can take you either way, it’s a good thing.”

Manuel ran many successful plays with read-option looks in Florida State’s offense, usually with him carrying the football. That said, most of his highlight-reel plays came out of a traditional drop-back offense. This doesn’t mean that new Bills coach Doug Marone won’t incorporate the read-option as a significant part of his offense in Buffalo.

As Fox Sports NFL analyst Charles Davis explained, “Most people see EJ Manuel and think ‘Athlete, read option’ and all that, [but] most of his plays came from the pocket”. Yet Russell Wilson ran a traditional, run-heavy, drop-back passing offense at Wisconsin and was very successful using read-option looks in his rookie NFL season.

The Read-Option Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon

This is where the picture of the read-option’s future becomes clear. You don’t have to run it every play – you just have to run it once in a while and be successful with it, because it forces defensive coordinators to devote practice time in order to be ready for it.

Manuel operated FSU’s read-option successfully

Mike Shanahan recently said as much, when asked if he will continue to run the option with Griffin coming back from his knee injury: “We don’t have to run it, but they have to prepare for it.”

Griffin echoed that assessment, asserting, “People say you can’t run the option in the NFL, but we’re proving you can. It’s not something that’s our bread and butter, but you can sprinkle it in now and then.”

When you own the NFL’s longest playoff drought like the Buffalo Bills do, it’s time to try something new, because whatever you were doing before wasn’t working. Marone could have tapped his former pupil at Syracuse, Ryan Nassib, to be the new leader of the Bills offense  Instead, he reached and grabbed the QB that is best suited to run a mix of run-option and drop-back passing looks.

After Robert Griffin III ran for 826 yards and passed for 3,200 in his rookie year, and with the Skins, Niners and Seahawks all making the playoffs, why not? Manuel should thank RGIII for showing him the way-and the money.

As we know, in Washington the policy has been to never officially retire a number, ever since Sammy Baugh’s number 33 went off the market many years ago. With how Sammy Baugh played for the organization, not to mention how he revolutionized the game with his passing, it’s understandable why his is the only retired number.

Does Chris Cooley belong with Sammy Baugh? What about some of the players already instilled on the unavailable list?

Washington has been a town that for quite some time that has given too much credit to less deserving players. Marko Mitchell, Colt Brennan, Marcus Mason, Chris Horton, Brandon Banks, and many others are prime examples of that.

This is in contrast to the 80′s and 90′s when players were labeled fan favorites due to their skill and production on the field. The Redskins of the 2000′s were given the fan favorite label due to the way they made up for their lack of production on the field.

This all of course has ultimately led fans to defend some Redskins players who really had no reason to even be playing in the NFL. Most recently, a player like Brandon Banks fits that mold. Fans argued that not only would he become the next Brian Mitchell, but if the Redskins were to release him he would go to an NFC East rival and make us pay for years.

Banks was released March 11th, and now almost two months later, he hasn’t been picked up by an NFC East rival, not to mention any other NFL team.

Did the Redskins make these same types of mistakes with players who are currently on our unavailable numbers list? Quite possibly.

Doug Williams, up until the addition of Jason Campbell (who was given permission to wear the number 17), had his number unofficially retired. The question however, is for what? While there’s no denying the exceptional game he had in the Super Bowl, there’s not another game that stands out in his Redskins career that is deserving of an unofficial retiring of his number.

While Williams set records in the Super Bowl, so did a rookie running back by the name of Timmy Smith, who had just about the same success as Williams did in the Super Bowl. If the reason behind the number retiring was in fact the Super Bowl, which it could only have been, then isn’t Timmy Smith just as deserving? Rushing for 204 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie in the Super Bowl?

One of the more recent numbers, Sean Taylor, is another whose number isn’t nearly as deserving as some others. While he was without a doubt appearing to change the game, the fact is his ultimately death prevented him from actually accomplishing anything truly significant.

There’s no denying he stood out, and perhaps due to playing on a very poor Redskins team, his skill looked even better than it really was at the time.

The main thing forgotten about Sean Taylor is that he was injured in 2007. While he easily could have become greater than Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu, he also could have had a knee problem for the rest of his career.

Much like Sean Taylor, another member of the Washington Redskins was taken far too soon, when he was hit and killed on Interstate 295 helping a stranger change their flat tire. Harold McLinton who was drafted by the Redskins in 1969 spent his entire 10 seasons in the NFL with the team.

Not only is he part of the 80 Greatest Redskins, he also helped lead the Redskins to the Super Bowl after a contributing role in the 1972 NFC Championship game. Though he wasn’t killed while playing for the Redskins, his resume is much greater than that of Sean Taylor, and easily deserves to have his number unofficially retired.

Chris Cooley is one former Redskin who some fans feel should not only be a Hall of Famer, but also have his number officially retired with the team. Much like Sean Taylor, Chris Cooley was one of the few shining examples on some terrible teams; the only difference is he makes a stronger case for his retirement.

During his time in Washington, Cooley racked up 4,711 yards and 33 touchdowns, while also setting the record for most receptions by a Redskins tight end. The question however is does this make him the Redskins best tight end of all time?

The answer is simply no. Having the most receptions in an age where the tight end position is utilized much more than before the early 90′s makes a big difference.

When you compare Chris Cooley to a tight end such as Jerry Smith who played in the 60′s and 70′s, the numbers are remarkably different. Not only did Smith have 785 more yards (5,496), he also had 27 more touchdowns.  This is quite a significant difference for a time when the tight end position was underutilized.

Chris Cooley has had significant plays in Redskins History. His three touchdown game against the Dallas Cowboys in 2005 and his 66 yard touchdown against the Carolina Panthers in 2006 are two good examples. Needless to say, he’s left his name in the memory books quite a few times, but enough to retire his number? No.

Instead, players who have had significant roles on the team should be there. Perhaps the entire offensive line for the Washington Redskins in the 80′s, The Hogs. Without them our Super Bowl wins might never have taken place. Jerry Smith, who much like Larry Brown and Charley Taylor during their times, changed the game at the tight end position.

There are many members of the Washington Redskins who have earned the right to have their numbers retired, just as there are those who deserve to have their legacy remembered, while still having their numbers worn by current Redskins.