Redskins have plenty of options for Scot McCloughan’s replacement
The Washington Redskins power structure was dramatically altered — or at least finalized — Thursday night. The reality is, the team’s setup as it stands now has been in place for a couple of weeks as the drama surrounding general manager Scot McCloughan built, culminating in his firing.
The question now becomes: How will they replace him? It’s not certain they will hire someone as general manager. It could be just another personnel guy, someone to provide input. There have been reports they already had started calling around before McCloughan was absent from the scouting combine. The most likely timetable is to hire someone after the draft.
Only after Washington makes a hire will it be clear how much power that person has over the roster or any personnel decisions — or if the new hire is just be another set of eyes to evaluate talent and provide input.
Until that point, it’s hard to tell who has final say over the 53-man roster; right now it’s about building a 90-man roster anyway. Coach Jay Gruden has had a big say in that area and will continue to do so; he has a big voice in all personnel matters already (he’s always liked evaluating talent, whether in college or with other teams).
For now, Scott Campbell, the director of college scouting, will run the draft. In his one time doing so as the lead man, in 2014, the Redskins drafted Trent Murphy, Morgan Moses, Spencer Long and Bashaud Breeland. They’ll definitely miss McCloughan’s eye for evaluating, but in free agency a lot of decisions on whom to pursue or let walk were made before this latest situation.
With input from my NFL Nation colleagues, here are people who should be considered for general manager jobs. Whether the Redskins go this route remains to be seen. It’s also unclear whether any of these people would be interested in the job. The focus here is on those with personnel backgrounds:
Internal candidates
Alex Santos: The Redskins’ director of pro personnel, who just completed his 11th season with Washington. He earned a promotion after the 2013 season.
Scott Campbell: The director of college scouting. He’s entering his 17th year with Washington. In the past, he also served as a director of pro personnel as well. He’s been in the NFL for 30 years.
Doug Williams: He’s been a personnel executive for the past three seasons. He was a personnel executive and later a director of pro personnel with Tampa Bay.
Outside candidates
Mark Dominik: He worked for Redskins president Bruce Allen in Tampa…