"2013 marks Chief Zee's 35th Year as the complete embodiment of what it means to be a WASHINGTON REDSKINS fan. His passion, loyalty and dedication to the team is only eclipsed by his love of all the other fans of the Redskins. If we are the living breathing entity that gives life to FedEx Field, then Chief Zee, for as long as I can remember, is the heart and soul of us Fanatics!

We are in the process of organizing a celebration to take place at FedEx Field on September 9, 2013, the opening game of the 2013 Redskins season at lot E-43, the location of The ExtremeSkins Tailgate. "

That's the message by Capt Kaos, a member of Extremeskins, the Washington Redskins fan message board.  Capt Kaos' message, "A great big THANK YOU to Chief Zee" describes his effort to raise $5,000.00 of "much needed funds" to present to Chief on the opening night of the 2013 NFL season. That post links fans to the online GoGetFunding project page that you can see here.

Hog Heaven is a staunch defender of use of the "Washington Redskins" brand, logo and trademark, but I wince whenever I see Chief Zee now. Is a black man wearing a feather headband a racist image?

Bad aim

Perpetual Native American nag Susan Harjo wages her campaign against the Redskins to make a point that doesn't involve the Redskins.

Ms. Harjo wrote the following in an ESPN chat session captured on ESPN.com.   

"The Native American parties to our lawsuit are the ones who are doing something about the big issues, and this is one of them, because it is contextual, atmospheric -- it affects federal Indian law because, for one thing, policymakers don't make good policy for cartoons or for people who are used for others' sport."

Excuse me? Federal law? Harjo thinks her nuisance suits will lead to change in federal law and policy that will improve the condition of Native Americans.

"Child, please." ~ Chad Ochocinco Johnson

The Washington Redskins football team is not an arm of the U.S. government, which did indeed wage a genocidal campaign against Native Americans in the conquest of its portion of the continent. That campaign was as applauded at the time by Americans as Redskins fans today applaud the football team.

Redskins fans are not applauding anything the U.S. Army did. Our chiefs are not Red Cloud and Crazy Horse (great men, both). Redskins' chiefs are Sammy Baugh, Sonny Jurgensen, Joe Theismann, RGIII ... and Chief Zee.

The Washington Redskins did not exist when those offenses occurred. Harjo's lawsuit is badly aimed.  

The race-based slur is "injun," not redskin. The brand is "Washington Redskins," two words, capital "R," plural. While that may seem small to you, it's huge when it comes to branding. Pro-Football, Inc., the Redskins' parent company, defined the brand as professional football entertainment. In my entire baby boomer life, I have never heard the term "Redskins" used in any way other than in reference to sports teams.

Bad strategy

Ms. Harjo hopes that by waging the trademark campaign against the Washington Redskins, she might raise American consciousness about the condition of her people. Yet, every time she brings a new case, all anyone talks about is the team's logo.

I don't get it, but I do get the point that fans of sports teams affect some aspect of the brand in a cartoonish way to show their love and loyalty to the team. If we are mocking anyone, it's ourselves and it's in good fun.

Thirty-five years ago, when Chief Zee, got his start, I saw anyone in blackface as offensive. Today, with vast improvement in the conditions for African-Americans, I merely object to it as bad taste. Blackface is not about me.

There has not been an equivalent improvement in conditions for Native Americans, which may be Harjo's unclearly made point. I am African-American, so I empathize with her offense at Chief Zee's redface image. That does not solve Ms. Harjo's problem.

There are two issues. The first is that the 'Skins do not have a mascot. They do not own the Chief Zee character.

The Washington Redskins do not dress in Indian clothes

Chief Zee is the creation of D.C. resident Zema Williams who first attended games in costume in the Jack Pardee era. Through good times and bad, Chief Zee has been the face of fans.

For a long while, the Chief was a fixture on TV broadcasts of Redskins games, especially Redskins-Cowboys contests where Williams staged wrestling matches with Wilford "Crazy Ray" Jones who, like Williams, was the unofficial mascot of the Dallas Cowboys.

Over time, Williams and Jones became great friends and great theater. They worked out a deal where the hometown mascot would appear to win the fight between them. Broadcasters always showed it to the delight of both Redskins and Cowboys fans. They became legendary fixtures of the rivalry. Williams attended Jones' 2007 funeral in full regalia.

Mr. Williams is not as flush with cash as Mr. Snyder is. There is no percentage in suing him because of his outfit. Instead, Harjo targets the Redskins who haven't affected such a get up since the days of Lone Star Dietz, head coach of the Boston Redskins in 1933. Suing Williams would make Harjo seem a bully.

First Amendment rights

The second issue is that winning the case does nothing for Ms. Harjo's cause. As already noted, all everyone talks about is the team name and not the conditions of Native Americans. Daniel Snyder has said the team name will not change regardless of what happens to his trademark rights. Winning the case will not affect Mr. Williams' first amendment right to express himself as Chief Zee. The U.S. patent and Trademark office cannot force that change regardless of Harjo's wishes.

Moving on

Chief Zee is part of the theater of NFL games, but fans may have moved on from 20th-Century cartoon characters. The Hoggetts, those cross-dressing men with pig noses, represented Joe Gibbs-era fans as much as the Chief. The Hoggetts retired at the end of last season.

Other fan characters like SuperSkin Defender, play on the Redskins logo, but not the cultural symbols of Native Americans.

Hog Heaven gladly contributed to the fund for Chief Zee. His time may have passed, however. Susan Harjo did that.     

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The wonders of the Internet!

Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III just finished his first press concerence since his reconstructive knee surgery in January. Twitter let me to both capture the moment and present it to you. Here's what the savior of Redskins football in no particular order of importance.

@rgiii at the podium. Apologizes for not being available to the press. Will speak to them every week from here on.

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) May 23, 2013

@rgiii goal is to return by week 1. "Goal," not prediction.

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) May 23, 2013

Dumb question to @rgiii : Does your relationship with the coaches have to be repaired? Answer: No

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) May 23, 2013

@rgiii - Running and cutting all that's left of his rehab

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) May 23, 2013

Griffin actually said "explosive spring."

@rgiii talked to Adrian Peterson; avoids comparisons. "I'm not Adrian. Bodies heal differently." Redskins @ Vikings 11/7/2013

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) May 23, 2013

@rgiii learned to limit hits, be available to his teammates. If there's 3 yds to go for 1st down and Ryan Clark is coming at me ... slide.

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) May 23, 2013

YES!

@rgiii had no problem with how he was used by Redskins last year.

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) May 23, 2013

Griffin on ready for Week 1 "If I had to say, yeah." says his biggest fear is rolling an ankle & other injuries.

— Chris Russell (@Russellmania980) May 23, 2013

#RG3 recalled being emotional after waking up and realizing he had ACL surgery. "Real men cry." #RedskinsTalk

— CSN Washington (@CSNwashington) May 23, 2013

Griffin III didn't know he would need ACL surgery when he went in. Woke up, felt patellar tendon surgery in his other leg and knew.

— Redskins (@Redskins) May 23, 2013

This is why athletes should not make the final call on their health. 

#Redskins' Griffin said the LCL was not completely torn. Andrews looked at the images for 15 minutes before also deciding to do the ACL.

— Zac Boyer (@ZacBoyer) May 23, 2013

@rgiii with year's experience, "mental reps" will be easier.

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) May 23, 2013

#Redskins' Griffin said the OTA process will be a very frustrating one because he looks healthy and he feels healthy.

— Zac Boyer (@ZacBoyer) May 23, 2013

Robert Griffin says he would be comfortable playing in week one without any preseason action if needed. #Redskins

— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) May 23, 2013

RG3: Conversations with Mike Shanahan after the injury have not included apologies.

— Rich Campbell (@Rich_Campbell) May 23, 2013

#Redskins' Griffin said the ACL was done with regard to him having a high quality of athletic life when he's 40.

— Zac Boyer (@ZacBoyer) May 23, 2013

You can't tell me anything at all at this point for me to think that RG3 isn't a better human than football player. This kid is 23.

— Joe V. (@Joe_V_) May 23, 2013

HTTR!
 

After Jason Thompson was cut to make room for Lance Lewis and the surprise pass on Josh Jarboe, I decided to take a second look at the undrafted free agent (UDFA) wide receivers.

One thing that jumps off the page about the Redskins UDFAs is they focus on the four main positions – Wide Receiver, Middle Linebacker, Center and Right Tackle. The first three of these correspond to three of the oldest members of the Redskins team – London Fletcher, Santana Moss and Will Montgomery.  All four are positions that were not addressed with the seven picks in the draft.

So it should be no surprise that all of these guys chosen this year (Lance Lewis was from last year) are Santana's height (5' 10") with the exception of Chip Reeves who is a relatively towering 5' 11".

Chip Reeves – Hogs Haven has a slow 40 time for him. Other sources claim he ran in the 4.4 range at his pro day and had an eye-popping 41-inch vertical jump.  Reeves claims he had previously clocked in at 4.35 in the 40.  

Reeves was 4th in the entire NCAA in catches over 30 and 50 yards.  He led his conference in yards per game with 89 per game and over 100 yards per game in five different games last season.  There is some video on YouTube on him and he is burning defenders and making good grabs quite nicely.  I assure you he does not play a 4.6 40 time. He looks to me like a great practice squad candidate, as he is really on a major growth curve and who knows what the limit is for him.

Skye Dawson – He has a 4.4 40 time and was a track star.   Great ability to catch the ball in traffic.  His overall yardage numbers are a bit low, so unless he shows that TCU under used him, he'll have a hard time.  His kickoff return ability puts him in the mix as well (though interestingly, his averages in punt and kickoffs is just below Nick Williams, his main competitor in my opinion.  He's a gifted, fast, short receiver that is like a version of what everyone wished Brandon Banks would be, except that he is a far better receiver than anyone could have dreamed of for Banks.

Nick Williams – Williams has the trait the Shanahan's love – he plays angry.  He is a 4.65 40 guy that appears to accelerate on tape to a 4.49 when defenders are on his tail, not because he has the ability and is athletic, but out of sheer willpower.  He is very inexperienced at wide receiver and was just starting to make an impact in that position his senior year.  He does have elusive moves.  The dream for Nick is that he could evolve into a Wes Welker slot WR with the added plus of being a special teams returner threat.  That comparison could play into his favor since the Shanahans are in a giddy Patriots mood since drafting another tight end and the desire to put RG3 in a high octane, yet low QB injury type offense.


Lance Lewis – Lance is a holdover from last year.  He has the advantage of having been through training camp and understanding the offense better.  Lance's height is either 6 feet, 6' 1", 6' 2" or 6' 3" depending on your source.  I'll bet it's 6 feet and a half inch or so.  Lance's specialty is getting vertical to get the high ball.  Something we all hoped Dezmon Briscoe would do for the team.  His YAC are not impressive on film.  His ability to get the high ball is.

Bottom line – these are all very interesting receivers that could impact the team 2-3 years from now (perhaps Lance could be ready to go later this season).  It looks like Thompson was dropped because he dropped several easy balls during Rookie minicamp.  Assuming none of the above drop the ball (literally and figuratively), I'm going to bet that at least one will make it to the Practice Squad.  

Of all the limited tape I saw on these players, I have to say there are things I like about every single one.  I hope they take at least two for the practice squad.  If the Shanahan's continue to mismanage Aldrick Robinson and need a big playmaker, then I would want them to take Chip Reeves.  If Santana Moss needs an immediate clone, than I want Skye Dawson.  If a Wes Welker type is perfect for the new tight end formations, then I want Nick Williams.  If Morgan still is hampered by his ankle and cannot jump to the 40 inch vertical like he claims he did pre-injury, then I would consider Lewis.

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This picture tweeted by Robert Griffin III generated a lot of negative feedback.

Redskins Hog Heaven loves that plugin from Notice Software that pushes our content to those mobile handheld thingies. We don't quite understand the technomagic that makes it work.

Here's one thing you should know. We receive comments you send us through your smartphone, but have no idea who you are. That capability is not written into the app, nor can we respond to you.

We gather all mobile responses and respond to them on Wednesdays. However, most reaction to Hog Heaven stories appear on our Twitter page (@skinshogheaven) and occasionally on our Facebook page.

The best way to share your thoughts with Hog Heaven readers is directly on the site through the "Comments" hyperlink on the page.  Don't keep your thoughts to yourself. Discuss.

Whether you comment or not, thank you for reading Redskins Hog Heaven.

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No. 1 – Joe Gibbs doesn't live here anymore.

All the things that new millennium Redskins fans hoped for have come to pass. We hoped that Mr. Snyder would be more hands-off and bring in competent management. We hoped the Redskins would build through the Draft saving veteran free agent contributors to fill talent gaps. And we hoped the Y2K teams would get younger and more athletic. Done, done and done.

My blogging friend Rich Tandler put it succinctly.

"Of the 89 players currently on the preseason roster, only 10—London Fletcher, Santana Moss, DeAngelo Hall, Reed Doughty, Kedric Golston, Will Montgomery, Fred Davis, Rob Jackson, Brian Orakpo, and Darryl Young—were with the organization when Shanahan arrived."

Gibbs' operating philosophy was to build around veteran talent to "win now." He did lead the Redskins to the playoffs in two of his four years in his second go-round in Washington. No thinking Redskins fan saw those teams as Super Bowl caliber.

Veterans are more expensive, too. To work them in, the Redskins did unnatural acts to the salary cap – extending player contracts that baked in dead cap money that crippled the future acquisition of talent.  We thought Gibbs would change all that when he returned on that glorious 2004 day. Things did get better. Yet, Gibbs was as much affected by Snyderrato thinking as the other way around.  In the end, it just wasn't enough.

It turns out that the painful rebuild Snyder sought to avoid really was the fastest way happiness. Washington won the division with a bunch of players Mike Shanahan signed or drafted in 2011 and 2012. Unlike those Gibbs II teams, these Redskins are built to sustain winning with legitimate Super Bowl runs to be expected in 2014 or 2015.

No. 2 – At least they aren't predicting a three-win season.

Sportswriter Pete Prisco famously predicted a three-win season for the 2012 Redskins. He acknowledged his error after the 'Skins won about six games. The early Vegas line pegs the Redskins at eight or nine wins.

Betting lines are not predictions; they just seem that way. Instead, lines are handicaps set by the house to draw an equal number of bettors on either side of the line. Gamblers are betting against other gamblers and not actually against the house. Handicappers project the future from the immediatel past. 

The Redskins did well to overcome their weaknesses, find their true leaders to finish with 10 wins against a fourth-place schedule. Nobody saw that coming. This year they play a division first-place schedule.  They trade the Carolina Panthers for the San Francisco 49ers, for example.

Washington lost at home to Carolina, even though the Panthers came to FedEx on a five game losing streak. Don't expect the 'Niners to come in on a losing streak when they arrive in November. The 'Skins play NFC North teams, which means they face the Minnesota Vikings for the fourth-straight year. The Redskins went 1-2 against the Vikings since 2010 when both were division fourth-place teams. Now, both are playoff teams.

I can buy into a line of eight or nine wins based on the schedule alone. If I were a betting man (I am not), I would take the over, barring injury to RGIII.

(My lawyer wants me to tell you that I'm no expert handicapper and that you'd have to be an idiot to place a wager on my say so. We aren't covering your gambling losses, folks.)

No. 3 – Robert Griffin III more popular than Sean Taylor?

In 50 years of watching football, I've never seen anyone like Robert Griffin III. RGIII has salved the psyche of Redskins fans in a way no player has, except perhaps Sammy Baugh, who I never saw in live action.

A newspaper publicized the gift registry for Griffin and his fiancée, Rebecca Liddicoat, and fans swamped it to buy it out completely ... in gratitude for how RGIII has touched their lives. I've never seen anything like that in 50 years, either. A generation of fans identified with Taylor that got deeper with his tragic death. Griffin feels the same, only more so.

Can't believe there are people pissed off at the people who bought gifts for RG & Rebecca.. Who are you to tell people how to spend their $

— HTTR24-7.com (@HTTR24_7) May 20, 2013

Since I'm fresh from the latest Star Trek movie, I offer the Vulcan blessing on Mr. and future Mrs. Griffin III. Live long and prosper, on and off the field.

No. 4. – Offensive scheme changes are coming, but what?

Joe Gibbs once said teams change about 30 percent of its playbook every year. That's to stay ahead of rivals who have torn apart the schemes they saw the prior season. New and departed players are also a factor.   

Griffin III did not have a playbook for the Baylor offense. The coaches Shanahan proved smarter than I expected them to be when they adapted their schemes to Griffin's unique talent. Griffin made them seem smarter than they might truly be. They must be just as nimble for an encore.

Everything depends on RGIII's mobility after reconstructive knee surgery. Hog Heaven hasn't allowed himself to believe in Griffin's return before October, but there are signs of a September return.

I do not expect the Shanahan's to dial back the read-option. Instead, they, and we, hope to see Griffin run differently, by sliding when he gets a first down and by running out of bounds more. By now, the coaches should have given Griffin video cut-ups of Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick running on the option. Both finished the season upright. Griffin finishing the season upright is more important to the Redskins than rushing for an added extra 30-yard gain on a play.      

Hog Heaven suspects the bigger changes are coming in the rest of the offense. Shanahan did not load up on new offensive talent, although I suspect he plans something "tricksy," to borrow Gollum's term, with Jordan Reed. The Redskins are going with the talent at hand. That means they have to be better at offense when RGIII is out.

The biggest criticism Shanahan faced last year was how poorly prepared he was for the loss of Griffin in the Seahawks game. Shanahan won't let that happen twice.  There is more to the notion of Kirk Cousins taking all the practice snaps throughout off-season and preseason than simply to shield Griffin's injury.

Shanny is installing the Cousins offense, which is a conventional pro set, play action offense with rollouts. It will be run-heavy not unlike the Houston Texans, or Shanahan's teams in Denver.  Both Griffin and Cousins will run that offense. Griffin can adapt to it better than Cousins can adapt to the read option, but this play-action offense will be tuned for Cousins.

Overreliance on Griffin running the read option clouded the coach's thinking when it came to protecting Griffin from himself. If Shanahan again has to dial back on read option because Griffin isn't in to run it, he needs better options to keep winning. And he needs more confidence in Cousins to run it. That means seeing Cousins in an offense where he excels.

5. – Rookie breakthrough at safety   

Hog Heaven observes that perennial contenders are so talent-rich that they do not expect low Draft pick and UDFA rookies to break into the line-up until the year after they join the team.  Washington's talent is not on par with Baltimore's, but it is good enough that they do not need all of the rookies to be starters in order to defend their title.

Of the Class of 2013, I expect safeties Phillip Thomas and Bacarri Rambo to have the cleanest shot to make starter this year. They can't be worse than Madieu Williams was. Reed Doughty is a career-backup, but one you want to keep around. Brandon Meriweather adds something, based in the two quarters of game action we saw of him. I do not expect Tanard Jackson to be on the roster in September.

Thomas is the player most likely to break through. However, if either Thomas or Rambo shows anything, they will start. There is no competition. There just isn't. 
 

Today, Sunday, May 19 is London Fletcher-Baker's birthday. The Washington Redskins posted the top 12 images of his time with the team on Redskins.com. Click here to see it.

May you enjoy every success this year in your profession and in your life, Mr. Fletcher, from

Your fans on Redskins Hog Heaven
 

In which the author unnecessarily and critically picks at the Redskins roster to find areas that can improve over the next three months leading up to the season.

1) The Redskins aren't well hedged against the career years they enjoyed in 2012

This is perhaps the most serious issue for the Redskins for this upcoming season.  For the first time in at least four years, the concept of regression towards the mean will not be working in favor of the Redskins, it will be working against them.  That means instead of getting to make the argument that "we're a lot closer to contention than a lot of people are giving us credit for," the team must be aware that the other teams in the NFC East (and the rest of the NFC) are the ones that get to establish that argument against the Redskins this year.  And looking around the rest of the conference, a small step back could mean rock bottom.

A year ago, I pointed out that the Redskins beating the Giants in the regular season suggested that maybe there wasn't a huge talent gap between the 5-11 Redskins and the super bowl champion Giants.  Two games is just that: two games, so there were no conclusive observations to be made, but simply being aware that the talent gap between the top five NFL teams and bottom five teams can typically be closed in a year and a half given the wise use of resources, it wasn't that shocking that the 2012 Redskins were able to enjoy a similar season to the 2011 Giants, minus of course the playoff success that they may have if Robert Griffin III was healthy at the end of the year.  I think the Redskins closed that gap a lot quicker than many were anticipating, but they did it not by dark magic, they did it by loading future resources into 2012 by way of a massive trade for a top player.  Landing Alfred Morris in the 6th round didn't hurt.

Now comes the challenging part.  The best is yet to come for Griffin, who despite a sensational rookie year, has elements of the passing game where he can make major improvements still.  But you can't say things about guys who had those once-in-a-career years, guys like Alfred Morris, Chris Chester, Will Montgomery, Rob Jackson, (maybe) Logan Paulsen, and a career half-season from Pierre Garcon (that seven game run is not possible without Garcon playing over his head, but he can provide that level of value over a healthy full season), and of course everyones personal favorite: a career single-game from Brandon Meriweather.

If you estimate the 2013 performance of these players at what they have been in their careers, not what they were for the Redskins in 2013, you're giving up a lot of good football plays despite putting the same players right back on the field.  If we simply regress Alfred Morris' expectation to the average Mike Shanahan system running back (historically a very good player), we'd be giving up a lot of great plays he made down the stretch that helped the Redskins win games.

Maybe more significant to the Redskins, is that a number of players not on that list above played very well during the seven game stretch (which includes Griffin), and couldn't even sustain that level of performance for the whole 2012 season, much less will be able to repeat it in 2013.

Maybe Chester and Montgomery will stay healthy all year and the Redskins can repeat their level of play on the offensive line, keeping the interior three as a major team strength.  I think I'd bet on that before I'd bet on Alfred Morris breaking his own team rushing record again.  However, as they have had to in every other season ever, the Redskins are going to have to find creative ways to replace the performance of those who went above and beyond in 2012.  After all: that's what going above and beyond is.  

The big question what is the organizations plan to handle regression when it works against them, instead of for them?  That is what I mean by 'hedging.'

2) The defense really picked up RG3 down the stretch

Which is a really good thing, but Griffin probably drops Rookie of the Year honors to Russell Wilson if his defense didn't really improve those last three games.  The secondary in particular (without the benefit of any pass rush whatsoever) really held down some good passing games after the Thanksgiving near-debacle against the Cowboys.  Particularly against the Giants on Monday Night: the offense didn't really even show up for that game, and the Redskins managed to keep the Giants out of the end zone for the most part.  The pass defense kept that going into the playoffs against the Seahawks as well (although Lynch and Wilson scored the Skins on the ground).

None of this is a problem really, that the Redskins defense may be better than it showed in 2012.  But the issue is that it's one less area where the Redskins can expect improvement in 2013.  They didn't really improve the personnel at all in the offseason, they're just going to gamble on the guys who they missed because of injury last year.  Speaking of which...

3) The best predictor of future injury is past injury

The Redskins have always been a team that trends towards the weaker end of the injury spectrum.  This was one of the major downfalls of the Cerrato-Zorn era.  But the Shanahan era was supposed to be different.  And outside of a fluky 2011 year on the defensive side of the ball, it really hasn't been any different.  The Redskins probably should have cleaned house on the medical staff at the point where they let Cerrato and Zorn go, but with the staff mostly the same, the results have been mostly the same.  Furthermore, even the staunchest Mike Shanahan defenders would admit that the accomplished coach says really inane things regarding the health and injury status of his roster (even getting fined at times for misreporting), and his decision making with regard to Robert Griffin's situation and a number of others has come under fire.

The Redskins are clearly banking on having better injury luck in 2013 than they enjoyed in 2012, but the lines between injury luck and injury skill have never been more blurred than right now.  What we do know is that: predicting injuries is nearly impossible, but if you were going to try to start such a fool's game, you'd probably begin with the players who were hurt in 2012 and 2011: Brandon Meriweather, Brian Orakpo, Adam Carriker, Pierre Garcon, Josh Wilson, Jarvis Jenkins, London Fletcher, Tyler Polumbus, Robert Griffin, Keenan Robinson, Roy Helu, Leonard Hankerson, Josh Morgan, Santana Moss, DeAngelo Hall, Kory Lichtensteiger, Fred Davis, and Trent Williams have all missed snaps due to injuries in the last two years.  Many of those players will be healthier in 2013.  Others will not.  When it comes to injuries, I prefer my predictions to be very generalized.

4) How deep is the team at critical positions?

Based on the scheme the Redskins run, they have been able to skimp a bit in the secondary over the years because it's not that important to have top talent at those corner and safety positions.  But at linebacker?  The Redskins are trying to get deeper at those positions.  They have weathered the loss of Lorenzo Alexander fairly well this offseason, but Alexander was only a major player in the defense in 2010 because there was simply no one else.  Rob Jackson had a great year in relief of Brian Orakpo, but I'd stop short of terming Jackson "quality depth".  He is depth, but this team needs Orakpo for 13+ games this year.  Same with Darryl Tapp and Brandon Jenkins.  They represent depth, but quality depth (the kind you see in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Houston) is more elusive.  Keenan Robinson could be quality depth for London Fletcher and Perry Riley, but we simply don't have a great feel there yet.  We do know the run defense was not spectacular last season.

It's the same deal at the quarterback position.  Kirk Cousins, Pat White, and Rex Grossman give the Redskins depth that can handle the position in case of a change of plans in RG3's timetable, but getting a quality performance from the position requires Griffin to be healthy.  The Redskins have depth on the offensive line, but little by way of established performers.  Tight end may be the exception, where the Redskins have quality players to go with their starters, but the uncertainty there is in Fred Davis' achillies.

The Redskins are a fairly deep team heading into year four of the Mike Shanahan Experience, but they are short on quality depth, which kind of comes with the territory when you gut the roster like our front office did two years ago, and then trade a lot of draft picks to get your quarterback.  There's not a ton of waiting-in-the-wings talent from the draft.  If those draft picks from 2012 and 2013 show traits that fit the Redskins scheme, they'll be in the starting lineup sooner rather than later.

5) The roster cannot really carry Robert Griffin III, and the coaches will still need to work overtime to keep him effective

Which, I feel like the Redskins knew when they made the trade to draft RG3.  If he's gone for a period of time or goes though an extended stretch of ineffective play, the Redskins kind of saw what would happen during the final three quarters of the playoff game against Seattle.  The roster is still set up to be put on the back of RG3 as soon as he is healthy.  My single biggest point of concern for the season is that the Redskins coaching staff -- having worked extremely hard to get to the playoffs last season -- rests on their laurels a bit while the roster really isn't better than last year's roster which started the season 3-6.

What the Redskins proved in 2012 is that they had a plan for Griffin from day one.  They didn't just take him and hope for the best.  They took him and used him very aggressively.  I feel like the plan calls for more diversity from the offense in year two.  The Redskins are out to score a lot of points and have a lot of fun in doing so.  As soon as Griffin gets cleared to play, I think the Redskins can go right back to being much of the same team they were in 2012.

For all the warning signs we have on the roster that would suggest that the Redskins probably aren't ready to take the jump to Super Bowl Favorite this season (and I don't believe they are), there is also little reason to suggest that the performance from last season was unsustainable.  If you take away only one piece of wisdom from this article, I hope to help everyone understand that the margin of error in the NFC East is just very slight.  The Redskins can't just decide to take it on the chin for a month while they let Griffin get healthy, because they don't have another seven game winning streak waiting in the cards.  The Redskins traded to get this quarterback because they believe he has special qualities.  And when you get special players, you don't try to limit them, you need to give them the assistance they need to be special.

Another NFC East title is a very attainable goal for the Washington Redskins in 2013, and if they can address the five issues outlined above, it becomes a likelihood.