Warring Factions – Battle of the Bastards
By Jay Evans
April 4, 2019
“When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”
When the final season of Game of Thrones (GoT) debuts and Tax Day passes, another battle will continue to rage through the end of April. The victorious party will be anointed when the NFL draft concludes on April 29th.
Deciphering mock drafts until there is a greater understanding of the infighting going on in Ashburn is a waste of time. The exponential variables available to the Redskins in the draft and impending announcements moving forward will leave prognosticators, analysts and fans gnawing on their cuticles. The reported strife within the organization will come to blows in less than a month.
According to 106.7 the Fan, weapons have been drawn. Due to “philosophical differences” sides have been taken in a power struggle for the Washington Redskins. The deathmatch will certainly result in someone being axed. The combatants are Jay Gruden and Bruce Allen. Reportedly Kyle Smith has sided with Jay, while Doug Williams, and Eric Schaffer are on team Bruce.
They aren’t the rulers we want or deserve, but it’s what we got.
The Bruce Allen battalion has the advantage on the battlefield: they control the high ground. Their strength has been reinforced by the owner, and Doug Williams’ allegiance to Bruce explains his position in the front office more than his title or his thoughts on the scheme.
Presumably, Eric “capologist” Schaffer is not a part of the equation (his focus has been the numbers, not player evaluation) and for all we know, he could be reading the tea leaves. Rather than ruffle feathers in the offices of Ashburn than being truly aligned with Bruce Allen, Eric has opted to side closer to Dan Snyder who gave Eric a raise in 2018.
Jay Gruden is entering lame duck status and after three consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance, he needs to win. Jay sees the writing on the wall and doesn’t intend to be the fall guy when history looks back upon this era. Kyle Smith, on the other hand, is a young, impressive scout and future general manager; if not here certainly elsewhere in the league.
JP Finlay told an anecdote on Episode 427 of the Redskins Talk Podcast about Jon Gruden saying, “Hey! You guys gonna take a quarterback this year?” Everyone chuckles. It’s not funny.
Don’t underestimate Jon Gruden’s superfluous, rhetorical question. Jon knows Bruce. He’s also Jay’s brother. Surely off the record brotherly conversations have taken place between the two.
Jay Gruden inherited a bad situation and it has become “ok”. His frustration isn’t a salty impression of this team, but more a reflection of the growing feud above him. The frustration reflected in his comments are because of the mounting pressure to produce positive results and the lack of support from the other members of the front office.
The two philosophies are, subjectively, polar opposites. One is about long-term forecasting and improving the overall narrative of a frustrated fanbase. The other has a focus on the now: a need to improve the current state due to a lack of certainty in the future.
Team Bruce needs a star, a face of the franchise, to crush the growing discontent and galvanize the fanbase. Bruce’s desires have been evident: signing Landon Collins to a big contract and rumors that have linked the Redskins to every available high market asset. They will want to do one of the following: reach for a quarterback prospect at fifteen, trade for Josh Rosen, or move up in the draft for a highly rated prospect.
The last time the Redskins had three consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance Bruce Allen and the front office went after a quarterback. Robert Griffin III was drafted in 2012 to revive a downtrodden fanbase and immediately became the “face of hope” for the franchise.
Team Jay needs the best available player, wants to show competency in drafting, and more than anything must win with the current roster. They’ve have shown a keen eye for scouting potential and Jay’s emphatic defense of certain players (ie. Chris Thompson, Matt Ioannidis, Trey Quinn) proves that he knows what he wants when he sees it.
Jay and Kyle could fancy a quarterback for this team. Jay needs to produce wins to continue serving as head coach and if they are convinced a rookie can come in and immediately provide results then they will draft a quarterback. Scouting reports show this crop of quarterbacks will all need time to develop and utilizing draft capital on players that need a year or two to mature is not in Jay’s contract. All the reports of Kyle Smith as Jay’s ally show that they clearly see the team the same way.
The Redskins can’t predict the previous fourteen picks, so they will have contingency plans in place. It’s possible that the two groups agree on a quarterback sitting at 15. It’s also possible that they agree on the trade. However, the reports have these two factions on opposite sides of the aisle without any sense of agreement. The player acquired fifteenth overall will go a long way in determining who wins the battle within the Redskins organization.
If this is a story of squabbling bastards in Westeros then one is Jon Snow and the other is Ramsay Bolton and the story doesn’t end well for one. Or perhaps they’re the Hatfields and the McCoys, bitter rivals fighting over a once great Hog.