Former NFL GM Criticism: Washington Football Moves Mean 'Playing With Fire'
ASHBURN, Va, -- Did the Washington Football Team just make two "playing with fire'' personnel moves?
Former NFL general manager Randy Mueller recently posted a column on "Mueller Football Advising" (MuellerFootball.com) this week that questions the Washington Football Team's decision to let go of O-linemen Morgan Moses and Geron Christian Jr.
In the piece, titled "Washington Football Team - Playing with Fire," -Mueller explains that he ss 'bullish' on coach Ron Rivera and the progress that Washington is making.
READ MORE: WFT Signs New Tight End
But ...
The gist of the column is that he learned as a GM to 'never get rid of an offensive lineman unless you HAD TO" - the capital letters being Mueller's.
Mueller wrote about both Moses and Christian Sr., saying, "I really don’t think either played poorly last year and when the scouting reports from other teams are read, they will no doubt feel the same way. In fact, Christian was quickly claimed by the Houston Texans, a gift in my opinion that they surely didn’t expect."
Is Mueller right? In our judgment, and in our collecting of WFT opinions from inside the building, Moses was solid. And Christian was better than some outsiders think - but was also unreliable, as he played in two games and 43 offensive snaps in his rookie year before being lost to a strange knee injury ... and then admitting that he didn't work hard enough to get ready for his rookie season.
With Trent Williams holding out at that time, and eventually refusing to report and play, Washington chose veteran Donald Penn to play. Christian therefore only had 146 offensive snaps despite being available for all 16 games.
Last year, he played six games and almost 400 snaps before being lost for the season and eventually shut down.
Truly, 587 snaps in three sub-par years because of a few longer-term injuries and an admitted work-ethic problem does not scream 'must keep' to us.
Moses, in fairness, was everything Christian fell short of being: dependable, hard-working and reliable.
Moses never missed a start from 2015 through 2020.
So we've demonstrated the thinking behind the Christian move. And the Moses move? His salary cap number for not only this year but next was higher than ideal.
Mueller is sort of suggesting, "You should keep everyone just in case'' without maybe seeing who is being kept - and why.
We say Christian was never making this roster. We say Moses was kept until Washington acquired Charles Leno Jr. and drafted Sam Cosmi, which make him (and his contract) expendable.
Respectfully, to Mueller's stance: Washington didn't move on from O-linemen because the WFT doesn't believe in keeping O-linemen. The club moved on from two of them because in the salary-cap-era puzzle-piece assembly of a roster, they've moved on to two others.
