Washington won’t be replacing G.M. Scot McCloughan before the draft. The team also may not be replacing him after the draft.
As suggested over the weekend by Nora Princiotti of the Washington Times and mentioned in Wednesday’s SportsBusiness Daily, the team won’t necessarily hire a General Manager.
“We’ll assess where we’re at as a team and whatever type of personnel needs we have,” team president Bruce Allen said in Arizona, adding that the organization currently has front-office employees who “in a few years are going to be a General Manager, a director of player personnel.”
These remarks prompted a conclusion that McCloughan’s duties could be divided among multiple people, with coach Jay Gruden also having input and Allen running the show.
The problem with that approach for Allen is that he has essentially traded the high-profile, low-accountability position of team president for a more direct role in building the team. Thus, if the team stinks, Allen is more likely to eventually get the boot.
Then again, Allen may be in line for his own termination regardless of whether they hire a new G.M. By bouncing McCloughan, who presided over the team’s first back-to-back winning seasons since 1996-97, Allen already has embraced both the notoriety and the scrutiny that comes from being in the spotlight.