Scot McCloughan LANDOVER, MD – SEPTEMBER 20: General Manager Scot McCloughan of the Washington Redskins talks on the phone prior to the start of a game against the St. Louis Rams at FedExField on September 20, 2015 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)

Free agency is here in the National Football League, so it would be expected that the general manager for your favorite NFL team is in the front office working on key negotiations to improve the team moving forward. For whatever reason, that is not the case with the Washington Redskins, where general manager Scot McCloughan is oddly nowhere to be found.

Something feels off with the Redskins right now as far as McCloughan is concerned. The NFL Combine was last week in Indianapolis. The single biggest offseason scouting opportunity is an obvious place to be for a GM in the NFL, but McCloughan was nowhere in sight.

As previously reported, McCloughan had reportedly been sent home weeks ago. The team’s official line regarding his prolonged absence is he is attending to family matters following a death in the family in early to mid-February. Everyone deserves time to grieve and sort through such losses of course, but there appears to be no public return date in sight for McCloughan with the Redskins. Is this week an option? Maybe, but there is no confirmation just yet.

So who is running the Redskins right now during free agency?

Well, somebody is, apparently. The Washington Post says Washington vice president of communications Tony Wyllie claims the team is “busy with free agency,” and there are certainly people in place capable of handling free agency responsibilities. Not having a GM in the office seems odd considering the Redskins have some key contracts on their own roster to work through, in addition to league-wide free agency and the upcoming NFL Draft. Regardless of who has a hand in the operations right now, it may be a safe bet to guess who is calling the most important shots right now…

But this is the Washington Redskins we are talking about. I’m sure this will all end just fine for them.

[Washington Post]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.