NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - 2010 Offseason

[Ming]

You're welcome... one of managements BIG mistakes.

[Spaced Cowboy]

After an afternoon of negotiations produced an agreement, Mike Shanahan signed a five-year contract to become head coach and executive vice president of football operations for the Washington Redskins.

Under the terms of the new deal, Shanahan will team with Redskins executive vice president and general manager Bruce Allen, but Shanahan will have the ultimate authority on football decisions. Shanahan will be introduced as the Redskins head coach at a 2 p.m. ET news conference Wednesday.

As the contract was being signed at the Redskins' training complex, Shanahan and owner Dan Snyder posed together for a picture. Then, with the deal signed, Shanahan, his agent Sandy Montag, Allen and Snyder headed out for a celebration dinner in Washington, D.C.

The contract is worth approximately $7 million a year, the Denver Post reported on its Web site. Now that Shanahan has been hired elsewhere, the Denver Broncos, who fired Shanahan one year ago, will recoup $7 million in offset money over the next two seasons under the terms of the agreement they had with the coach.

NFC East blog

Mosley ESPN.com's Matt Mosley writes about all things NFC East in his division blog.

• Blog network: NFL Nation

The Redskins' intense courtship of Shanahan began shortly after Jim Zorn was fired on Monday morning. Zorn was dismissed during a meeting in his office with Allen after the team's cross-country flight following a 23-20 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. The Redskins finished 4-12.

Allen had interviewed Shanahan via phone Monday morning, a source close to the situation told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. The Redskins and Shanahan reportedly began talks last month, a day after Allen was hired.

Shanahan won two Super Bowls in 14 seasons with the Broncos. He was fired a year ago after Denver missed the playoffs for the third straight season.

One of Shanahan's first orders of business will be assembling a coaching staff, but first he will interview Washington's assistant coaches to see which ones he would like to retain. Once those coaches are interviewed, Shanahan will launch his search for the best and brightest.

Shanahan's son, former Houston Texans offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, will be the Redskins new offensive coordinator.

Zorn was 12-20 over two seasons and lost 18 of his last 24 games after a 6-2 start in 2008. The Redskins struggled early this season despite a weak schedule and finished with their worst record since 1994.

"The status quo has to end," Allen said. "We have to change the way we've been doing some business. ... Last place two years in a row is not Redskins football."

Zorn's replacement will be Washington's seventh coach since Snyder bought the team in 1999. The Redskins are 82-99 on his watch, missing the playoffs in eight of 11 seasons.

"No one in the organization is satisfied with our record over the last two years," Snyder said in a statement released by the team, "and I am sure that Jim would concur with that statement. It has been painful for him, too. I certainly accept responsibility for mistakes that I have made."

Zorn's dismissal had been expected for months. The front office stripped him of his play-calling duties in late October, and Snyder interviewed assistant coach Jerry Gray for the job weeks ago, according to the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which monitors minority hiring in the NFL.

Shanahan made the playoffs in half of his 14 seasons in Denver, although he had only two losing seasons -- 6-10 in 1999 and 7-9 in 2007. His greatest successes came early, with back-to-back Super Bowl titles after the 1997 and 1998 seasons with running back Terrell Davis and quarterback John Elway.

His career regular-season record is 146-98, including 138-86 with the Broncos from 1995 to 2008 and 8-12 with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1988-89. Shanahan's playoff record is 8-5.

Adam Schefter is an ESPN NFL Insider. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4799532

[SlowwHand]

Zorn didn't even start out out be head coach. He got sucked into it. Maybe now he can go do what he wanted to do, somewhere else. Somewhere where there's brain activity.

[Theben]

Spaced Cowboy sighting

[SlowwHand]

I think their "also includes" is little more than a pipe dream.

Los Angeles announces intentions to poach the Jaguars or Bills

By MJD

There's a company that plans to build a stadium outside of L.A., and that company also has plans to steal a couple of NFL teams from other cities. Their intended targets of thievery: the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars. From the AP:

Majestic Realty Co. managing partner John Semcken said the company is still considering at least seven franchises for a new stadium some 25 miles east of Los Angeles.

They also include the San Francisco 49ers, San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders.

But he said the Jaguars and the Bills are at the top of the list because they play in small markets that tamp down their earning potential and because they have little hope of building larger venues in their home regions.

At the very least, that last part is true. Building a bigger stadium for Jacksonville football fans would be like building a bigger public library for high school drop-out crystal meth tweakers. It's just not going to get much use.

It's kind of a strange announcement, and if I were a Jaguars or Bills fan, I'd take it a little personally. Basically, the L.A. people have just announced that they hate you and are planning on taking something that you love. That's just not very nice.

There's no reason to panic yet, though, as we're a long way from anything like that happening. A lot of people have wanted to put a team in L.A., and every single one of them has failed to get their act together. When it comes to landing an NFL team, L.A., for about fifteen years now, has been all talk.

I wouldn't worry too much about it just yet, Bills and Jags fans. Of course, it probably wouldn't hurt to start, you know, filling your stadium, either.

[Lord Avalon]

The whole thing's a pipe dream. A major market like LA couldn't keep the Rams there.

[Ming]

It is kind of strange that LA can't keep a NFL team. The fact that the Rams moved from LA to St Louis kind of sums it up.

[Lord Avalon]

Mangini gets reprieve:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4805274

[Ben Kenobi]

The Bolts' lease is up in Feb. Could happen. Personally I'm hoping they go to TX instead.

[SlowwHand]

I don't know how they would deal in El Paso, but that would be a good spot. They'd likely pull in fans from West Texas as well as New Mexico and other spots.
San Antonio or Austin would be too close to Houston. I suppose it's possible.

[Ben Kenobi]

Alamodome baby.

Houston is no closer to SA than Dallas. SA would pull all the west Texas folks too.

[SlowwHand]

Yes it is, too. Damn, Ben. Put away the map, if you come here, you'll be needing to use GPS.

[SlowwHand]

Not as different as I thought. San Antonio to Dallas = 274 miles.
San Antonio to Houston = 200 miles.

[reismark]

The only move that will be happening in the NFL is the Raiders back to Los Angeles, as soon as Al Davis kicks the bucket and someone with an ounce of common sense steps in to take over.

[SlowwHand]

Unless the Bucs leave?