"The Sports Junkies" of 106.7 The Fan fame scored a nice get when Washington Redskins general manager Bruce Allen agreed to come on their show on Friday morning. The interview itself was very informative, with Allen recapping free agency, discussing his team's mindset and squashing some rumors that had popped up over the past few weeks.
To listen to the whole segment, click here. Here's a recap of key comments.
On the dynamics between him and Mike Shanahan: "We had come up with our gameplan in February hoping the deal would be done in March. The way we do, whether it's a draft or free agency, every scout is involved. If it's the draft, obviously our college scouts are involved, but our pro personnel people are involved. In our free agent planning, every position coach is involved, our coordinators are involved and of course Mike and I. What we do is, we go through each player, and then there's an open debate. What we do then is come up with a gameplan, say, 'Alright, we like these seven or eight players. Which ones do we think we can fit in contractually to the overall gameplan.' The position coach has as much say as coach Shanahan because he wants the position coaches involved, and obviously that makes sense that people who are going to coach the players are involved."
On whether they targeted any quarterbacks: "Yeah, we signed Kellen Clemens. We talked to a couple other guys, but we weren't thinking of anybody who was going to be competing with Rex [Grossman] and John [Beck] for the starting job."
On why they didn't pick a QB on draft day: "We analyzed the quarterbacks as well as every position, brought in all the quarterback for interviews to discuss their futures. ... [But] we really went into this draft -- and maybe this was because we had so much time to prepare for it with the lockout -- and realized our gameplan was, 'Let's get multiple picks.' We liked a lot of players in this draft, and we felt we needed an infusion of youth into this club throughout the 53-man roster. When we had an opportunity to trade down, we did."
On the rebuilding process potentially being set back last year at quarterback: "I don't know if I hear that from the fans as much as you might. I think what we're trying to do is make sure our infrastructure is sound. We need to improve on a lot of spots on our team. Six and 10 was a disappointing season, especially because we started off pretty good and just didn't finish well. We feel we needed to improve the 53-man roster. I don't disagree with you that the quarterback position is critical. I'll go even further: I think it's the most important position in all of sports, except for golfer. ... We feel that when you say John is unproven, so are draft prospects. They haven't done it in the league, but John Beck, what the coaches felt he did at practices last season, they feel very comfortable going with him, and obviously they feel comfortable with Rex [Grossman]."
On a potential signing of Cullen Jenkins: "We never called on him. As you guys know, there's a lot of rumors that are started for other people's reasons. We wanted to target Barry Cofield and Stephen Bowen, and we closed on Barry first and then Stephen. Those were our first two priorities."
On the rumor that the Redskins may swap Chris Cooley for Buffalo's Lee Evans, which wasn't really a rumor: "No, no I wouldn't comment on that. Chris right now, he's not going to play today because he's still nursing an injury. We have not talked about trading Chris Cooley."
On Rex Grossman's NFC East comments: "We strive to make them confident, and that's what makes a professional athlete in any sport. They have to believe in themselves and they have to believe in their teammates in order to be successful. If you go into a game scared or a season scared, your performance will show it. Confidence is fine, but the key is performance."