Washington Redskins: Bruce Allen provides insight on team’s state

Washington Redskins’ team president Bruce Allen briefly met with the media on Monday and said plenty. Should we believe anything he says?

Anytime Washington Redskins team president Bruce Allen meets with the media, it’s a noteworthy occasion. Allen generally despises speaking to the media, specifically the local Washington media. However, on Monday at the Redskins Charitable Foundation Golf Tournament, Allen spoke briefly about a number of topics.

On quarterback Kirk Cousins, Allen feels optimistic about a long-term deal with the sixth-year quarterback and spoke of why the team wants to get this done, according to Stephen Czarda of Redskins.com:

"Kirk’s played well on a one-year contract the last two seasons. The reason we want to sign him to a long-term deal is that he’s gotten better and better each year. I think he has a lot of good football in front of him. The coaches feel they can give him more and more each year and the team has responded to him."

In this, Allen said a lot of words, but didn’t really say a thing. It’s more of the same rhetoric he’s spoken about since February. He did note the two sides have had consistent dialogue, which is probably the most important thing he said regarding Cousins.

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Allen also spoke of a possible new stadium deal. He mentioned all three locations — Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland — are very much in play and offer unique opportunities. When given the chance to expound on the stadium talk, Allen just said it was “a little ahead of schedule.” Washington’s lease on FedEx Field runs through 2027, so there’s plenty of time to worry about that in the future.

Perhaps the most interesting topic Allen discussed was the current front-office structure. The team president noted he was proud of this group as it performed well, despite some tough circumstances. Allen said some additions to Washington’s front office were likely forthcoming.

Allen said the team has interviewed 12 candidates for a position in the team’s front office. He didn’t specify exactly what position the candidates interviewed for. He did mention most of these candidates were from the outside, which should appease some Washington fans who believe Allen simply only hires folks from his past that he’s comfortable with.

"I’ve met people I’ve never worked with and it’s been a good period. We’ve learned a lot about other strategies and structure around the league. It’s refreshing to hear their thoughts about the quality people we also have at Redskins Park."

So, in that statement, it’s difficult to parse if Allen is legitimately interested in hiring from outside the organization or he’s simply picking the brain of other talented personnel folks from other organizations. Either would be a sound strategy.

Sure, Washington fans would prefer the Redskins hire talented personnel people from other teams. It would be a departure from the norm. However, if the team is already planning on reorganizing the current front office, it’s never a bad idea to nitpick candidates on how other successful franchises do things.

According to Allen, though, the Redskins plan to hire someone, possibly even up to three new additions to the front office.

That’s an important statement. If Allen wasn’t planning on hiring anyone, he certainly wouldn’t mention up to three possible newcomers to the team’s front office. It just remains to be seen whether or not the new additions have a prior relationship with Allen or others currently in place.

Next: Biggest 2017 offseason story for Redskins, each team

Generally, when Bruce Allen meets with the media it’s a special occasion and we all have something to laugh about in the aftermath. However, on Monday, Allen provided some solid insight to Washington’s thinking on some key topics currently surrounding the team.