Back in March, the Washington Redskins fired general manager Scot McCloughan, reportedly due to alcohol issues. Despite the firing playing out in messy fashion, McCloughan is already working with NFL teams not named the Redskins.
McCloughan was fired after Washington had already started its draft prep, meaning the Redskins could end up employing a draft strategy partially developed by McCloughan, according to Pro Football Talk. But they may not be the only NFL team to utilize a draft strategy partially created by the former Washington GM.
The 46-year-old worked with the San Francisco 49ers from 2005-2009 and then with the Redskins from 2015-2016. In between, the former GM ran a scouting service and worked as an adviser for teams. McCloughan is now doing that again ahead of this weekend’s 2017 NFL Draft.
According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, McCloughan isn’t giving up Washington’s plan and information. However, some of the information he presented while he was the Redskins GM is likely the same as the info he is giving to teams leading up to the Draft. There’s nothing illegal about that either, which means multiple teams could have similar strategies in Philadelphia this weekend.
“As a matter of fact, Scott Campbell the other day, the team’s director of college scouting, said McCloughan’s influence is on their board as it’s formulated right now,” Garafolo said on the NFL Network. “Now they’ve added some things since he’s left, they’ve done their own work on that. But this process began before McCloughan left as a general manager, so his influence for sure is on that board. Let me add another wrinkle to this: Bruce Allen, the team president, said at the league meetings last month that McCloughan was free to work for other teams.”
Well, McCloughan really took that to heart, huh?
“He has done just that,” Garafolo continued. “He had a scouting service before he became the general manager of the Redskins, and according to sources, he is back running that scouting service and has advised NFL teams on his thoughts on the draft prospects eligible for the draft this year. Now he’s not giving up Redskins information, he’s only giving up his own evaluations. He is free to do that. So not only will he have an influence on Washington’s draft, but also the drafts of a few other teams in this draft this year.”
Now I’m imagining McCloughan sitting on his couch at home or in his new office with multiple phones in front of him. About 10 minutes into the draft, all phones light up as multiple teams call him simultaneously.
McCloughan then proceeds to basically perform the below scene out of Moneyball. Only instead of talking baseball trades, he’s talking all four teams into drafting against each other.
