Following another disappointing season, the Washington Redskins and owner Dan Snyder have to be willing to take more risks if they want to get out of the cycle of being the NFL’s most mediocre team. The ’skins haven’t had a season with 11 wins since 1991 — the team is simply a mess.



The Redskins are a dumpster fire, and have become a laughing stock of the NFL after being one of the most dominant teams of the 80s and 90s. So let’s get into exactly how the Redskins can change and return to their old ways.



Draft Offensive Weapons



Even before Alex Smith’s potential career-ending injury the Redskins were only winning games because of stout play from the offensive and defensive lines. When Smith went down, the team’s offense looked even more dismal.



With running backs Chris Thompson, Derrius Guice, and Adrian Peterson (if he resigns), the Skins actually have a backfield saturated with talent and an offensive line good enough to get the run game consistent. But without a top receiving option or a quarterback, the Skins still have lots of room to improve in what has become a shootout league.



Next steps would be to build through the draft. Over the next two years the Redskins need not to rush into any quarterback commitment in order to find the right guy for the job. If that means signing Nick Foles or sticking with Colt McCoy to draft a rookie QB in next years stacked class, I can wait. A flashy QB pick this year would be exciting, but without the receivers to catch the ball, is it worth it to rush into acquiring a big name QB? Especially when there is eye popping talent at WR in this years draft such as D.K. Metcalf, Marquise Brown, and AJ Brown.



Check out Jake Hornyak’s and Sam Shiffman’s mixed opinions on what should be done at QB



Fill out the Secondary



Midway through the season the Redskins had the two highest graded safeties by Pro Football Focus on their team after trading for HaHa Clinton-Dix. Now with DJ Swearinger off the team, and Clinton-Dix looking abysmal in the second half of the season, what was a strong position has quickly become one of the weakest. Not to mention that Josh Norman hasn’t played up to his contract, and other CBs got burned hard in multiple games last year.



Once again the Skins need to use the draft in order to bolster the secondary in hopes of limiting big plays to opposing offenses.



But if offense is their focus, there are some attractive young free agent talents that could change the secondary for the better. Among these options is Ronald Darby and Steven Nelson. Both are only 25 years old and have proven capable of being the top corner on a team.



Fix Team Management



Bruce Allen does not deserve to be the Redskins team president. Fans are not coming to the games anymore because of his inability to put together a decent roster, leading to lower sales and Dan Snyder lying about season ticket holders.



The Redskins have so many problems with team management and ownership that I could write a book on it. Thankfully Jackson parker has already covered how awful of an owner Dan Snyder is.



Take More Risks



The only way to really get out of this vicious cycle of being mediocre is to take risks. Even if that means trading a bunch of future draft picks for a highly touted draft prospect, or singing a high risk high reward free agent, something needs to change in order for the Redskins to take the next step.



Even if the risk they take doesn’t work out, at least the Skins’ will finally have a very high draft pick rather than a mid-round pick in the first round.

Overall the Redskins should treat next season as a chance to rebuild and fill out the roster in hopes of making a run at the playoffs two years from now. ’Skins fans will need to be patient in order to see the team reach 11 wins again.



-Greg King