The redskins need a lot of things to turn things around but here is my personal take on the most pressing needs right now and what I think ought to be done about them:

Owner: Partially solved… Dan Snyder will always be “Dan Snyder” and we can’t really fire an owner.  But I think “the Danny” has learned a lot in recent years and finally (hopefully) appears ready to let proessionals to run the team.  If nothing else, he at least is saying “he’s made some mistakes” and that’s progress.

GM: Solved… Cerrato out (thank gawd!!) and Bruce Allen in

Coach: Solved… Mike Shannahan (2 Super Bowl wins)

Offensive Line: Let’s face it, this was a patchwork line at best and they got smoked most games.  Chris Samuels, the best of the bunch, is retiring due to injury, so this must be the #1 thing the team addresses in the off-season.  The question is how to address it best?  Using a #1 pick on a lineman is a safe play and it will hopefully be the direction the skins go with their first pick.  If Okung is on the board at #4, I say the skins take him.  If not, look for them to trade down to a lower first round pick, and possibly pick up another 1st or 2nd round pick.  Ideally, the skins would end up acquiring an additional pick on draft day due to a trade at the #4 spot and could pick up a Tackle and a Guard in the first 2 rounds.

Quarterback: Jason Campbell might not be the long term answer, but he’s at least solid and somewhat seasoned at this point (he did have his best year statistically!).  Plus, I don’t think getting a rookie QB and putting him behind the line the skins have is a good plan.  With a solid O-line, maybe you can get away with that, but not with what they have up front.  Clausen or Bradford is tempting if they’re on the board at #4, but the more important need this year is on rebuilding the O-line.  If the skins do end up taking a QB, look for them to pull an “Eli Manning” style trade on draft day and get someone else they want from the acquiring team, or low draft picks this year and next.  There are other teams that need a QB more then the skins do.  Additionally, the skins have one of the oldest teams in the league.  Getting more picks in low rounds would be worthy of trading Clausen or Bradford.

Running Back: Portis’ days in DC are likely over.  Gibbs and Zorn ran him a lot and it shows.  The Skins need to move on.  Betts, assuming his knee recovers as expected, should be the #1 back going into the off-season, and there should be a battle for #2 between Cartwright, Mason and Ganther.  Furthermore, RB is one of those positions where you can find talented guys in later rounds because so much of a running back’s production comes from who’s blocking for him.  Shannahan was a master at plugging in RB’s into a system with good linemen and making the RB look like an all-star.  At earliest, this is a 3rd round pick for the skins and it could even be later depending on Shannahan’s evaluation of Betts, Cartwright, Mason and Ganther.

Safety: LaRon Landry is not a true free safety and is an average strong safety.  Yeah, sometimes he makes big hits but he’s no Sean Taylor (RIP) and his mistakes (including personal fouls) end up being costly.  Despite the need, I doubt the Skins go Safety with the #1 pick.  This is more of a middle to late round pick for them, since there are other pressing needs.

There are a few bright spots on the skins roster.

Tight End: The brightest has to be TE, where the Skins have a pro bowler (Cooley), a solid #2 who could start (Davis), and a good blocking/Goaline TE in Todd Yoder.  Yeah… at TE, the skins are solid.

Linebacker: The other bright spot is Linebacker.  Fletcher is as solid a player as you get, McIntosh has improved a lot and Orakpo (Pro Bowl) was in contention for Rookie of the Year.

Then there are some areas which are just OK. Not amazing, but good enough.

Defensive Line: Solid.  Daniels and Carter are above average DE’s.  Wynn is a solid DT.

Cornerback: Solid. Dante Hall helped a lot.  Smoot and Rogers were good at times, not as good at others.

Fullback: Mike Sellers is a top 5 FB and a recent pro-bowler

I haven’t always been a fan of Danny Snyder and I’m still not really a “fan” per se, but I will say that at long last he appears to grasp the idea of delegation.  His hiring of Bruce Allen to replace Vinny Cerrato was something obviously distasteful to him on a personal level, but had to be done from a business standpoint.

Allen has only been in place for a few weeks, but already his tone and demeanor suggest a new mindset working its way into Redskin park.  Vinny Cerrato never struck me as a football GM, in part because he couldn’t talk like one.  Granted talk is cheap, and it’s results that matter, but Cerrato never made anyone feel like he had a strong handle on what was going on in the clubhouse, and that he was in charge of the organization.  The results Cerrato’s team produced reinforced the sentiment that he was in over his head.

In comes Bruce Allen and already we’re seeing signs that he has the leadership qualities to help this team move forward.  One of the fundamental aspects of leadership is honesty, particularly as it relates to the public’s perception.  Vinny always tried to spin things and did so much of it that no one really trusted things he said.  Allen strikes me as an honest guy who “calls ‘em as he sees ‘em.”  Much of what he’s said so far indicates he understands what Cerrato did not: the best teams are not made up of the best players, they’re made up of the right ones.

Hail!