As the Redskins close in on a season that could still secure the first overall pick . . . for the Rams . . . the head coach expects to know sooner than later whether he’ll still be the head coach.
Asked by reporters on Monday whether his job status will be resolved quickly after the season ends, coach Mike Shanahan said, “I’m sure it will, but you’ll have to ask Dan [Snyder] to make sure. I can’t answer that.”
Well, he did answer that. And his answer suggests that the answer will be Shanahan gets paid $7 million to not coach the Redskins in 2014.
Then again, there’s a chance (in theory) that Snyder quickly will tell Shanahan that the owner wants to sign Shanahan to an extension. Because Snyder hasn’t said anything since the situation plunged into dysfunction 16 days ago, there’s no way to know for sure what Snyder wants.
Shanahan wants to stay. Supposedly.
“I’ve told you from day one, I love these guys,” Shanahan said. “We’ve been working extremely hard to put this thing together. We’ve had a couple of bumps, which we all know, with the salary cap, but I’m looking forward to building this football team. But like I said, it’s a situation that I’ll get the chance to sit down with Dan at the end of the season and we’ll go from there.”
With Shanahan entering the final year of his contract, the fact that he’s gotten no indication from Snyder that Snyder wants to keep Shanahan isn’t a good sign, if he truly wants to stay. The fact that there have been no leaks regarding the next must-have coach for Snyder nevertheless raises the possibility that he could offer Shanahan a new deal -- if for no reason other than to call Shanahan’s possible bluff.
Either way, Shanahan likely will find out where he stands fairly fairly soon after the season. And then the rest of us will.