Whether he personally is a good judge of talent or listens to the people he hires, is totally irrelevant, It all makes him a good GM. In the past I think he might have relied either on himself or less than solid advisors. Whatever the case, you would have real trouble arguing that his last five or six drafts have been anything but between solid and excellent. Add to that FA success, selection of increasingly good coaches, and cap management and I’d say he’s in the top 5-8 GMs in the league.

Coaches – Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey and Dave Campo anyone? with the exception of Gailey none were hired through an extensive search (And don’t forget, Terry Donohue was the original choice but he left when Jerry only offered him 500k and disallowed him from hiring his own guys), Parcells was the one who made contact with Jerry, in fairness Jerry does deserve credit for not only accepting the call but taking the step back and letting Parcells run everything. Compare this to Danny Snyder’s coaches were by-default Norv Turner, Terry Robiske (3 games), Marty Schottenheimer, Joe Gibbs and now Jim Zorn.

Salary Cap – everyone laughs at the Skins in the 2000s but how often have we seen them not only avoid cap trouble but be able to land high-name players (Thankfully it hasn’t worked out the way they planned)? Jerry has done well this decade but in the 90s he wasn’t the best at it, Aikman’s departure after 2000 hit us with a then-whopping $10 million dead hit that killed our cap and Jerry put pressure on Stephen Jones in 02 to work with less funds after signing Chad Hutchinson.

Draft – No defending the Skins’ ignoring the importance of the draft, Bill Walsh in the 80s and Jimmy Johnson in the 90s gave clear examples of why draft picks are gold, it’s appearing the Skins are finally learning this which worries me. In the 90s Jerry ignored scouts and often played cute, anyone forget the infamous “Drafting for backups” that Jerry announced in 96? Kavika Pitman and Ekuban were clear attempts to find the next Haley and scouts were screaming mad at Jerry to pick Bell instead of Carter in 01, let’s not forget instead of grooming a QB when Aikman was not only suffering concussion problems but missed time due to back issues traded two first rounders for one last shot at the Bowl (I forgot how many drinks I had the night I heard about this trade, I was furious for 3 reasons, #1 Galloway was a number 2 receiver and we needed an Irvin-type guy who could move the chains, #2 – again draft picks are gold and #3, Jerry boasted that he was done spending stupid money and everyone else would have to earn it, then he turns on a dime and appeased a spoiled player who was willing to sit out a year just to get paid). Jones did start listening to his scouts starting with the 02 draft from 94-01 he found very few starters/stars.

My point is they may be different now but not too long ago they were one in the same.

How is Haynesworth not right up there with Harrison?

Roy isn’t a dirty player, he used the horse collar when it was legal, since it was banned, I have only seen him flagged a couple times and the opponent wasn’t injured.