Hits and Misses Some moves worked, others didn't

The Washington Redskins organization has changed for the better over the last two seasons. They aren’t great. They aren’t bad. The Redskins are competitive in pretty much every single game they play.

- Chris Russell

They make it hard on their fan base by constantly shooting themselves in the foot with mistake after mistake, but then the Redskins show a pretty good level of resiliency when you think they are about to fold.

General manager Scot McCloughan wants “football players,” but what he is really talking about is players that are not going to make a lot of mental mistakes. He wants and has tried to bring in players with a high football IQ. Leadership and maturity are traits he values, but hard to find in combination with great talent. The ability to find those components in perfect harmony makes it a lot easier to build a championship roster. Those are “hits.”

The inability to find enough of those components is what leads to a large bowl of mediocre soup. In other words, these players are along the lines of “misses.”

McCloughan has had plenty of both.

Hits:

JOSH NORMAN - This one is easy. The Redskins do not want to survive by free agency, but they want to thrive when they pounce on a target.

Norman is far from perfect and has said some controversial things that are way over the line, while also being involved on the wrong end of some costly plays. Overall, he has been a very good addition.

Many would argue Norman has been a great addition, but a reasonable argument can be more than made that he has been good to very good (at times) in his first season with the Skins.

Through 12 games, Norman had just one interception, but he also contributed two forced fumbles, 48 tackles and 12 passes defended. That’s double of anybody else on the defense.