It's been a busy few weeks with the launch of Madden NFL 09, but this weekend I finally had a chance to do something I've been anxious to get started for a while.. my NFL Head Coach 09 career. I took over as head coach of the Washington Redskins, ready to fill the shoes of the recently departed legend Joe Gibbs. The game gives you the option to pick up the team right after the end of last year's season or before the start of this one. Despite the fact that I think the Skins made some awesome moves this off-season, I elected to take over the team right away so I could initiate my own plan for the burgundy and gold.

My Off-Season Plan

There were a couple of things I'd hoped to do in my first off-season as coach of the Skins. I needed a pass rushing defensive end and more height at wide receiver to improve my red zone offense. I also hoped to get some depth along my offensive line and at defensive back. Shawn Springs can't play forever you know?

Free Agency

I had a goal in free agency to target big name players at the positions where I most needed help. I figured I wouldn't go after too many names, but could afford to spring the big bucks for maybe one or two key players if the opportunity presented itself. My #1 target was Alan Faneca. Signing him would improve me a lot at guard where there's been a bit of a hole since Derrick Dockery went to Buffalo in free agency a year ago. I made a play for him right away and signed him to a pretty lucrative contract, and my hope is that it's well worth it this season.

The other big name free agent out there was a guy by the name of Randy Moss. With an up and coming quarterback like Jason Campbell, how could I pass up a chance to add the best receiver in the National Football League? I'll never know how that bidding war may have turned out because the Patriots wisely got him off the market before any other teams had a chance to make a play for his services. I also considered adding some depth at quarterback and kept my eye on both Daunte Culpepper and Byron Leftwich. I started bidding for both of them but quickly realized there were other teams willing to overpay them and backed off.

Bye Bye Jansen

My toughest move so far came in the form of cutting veteran right tackle Jon Jansen. With the likelihood that Stephon Heyer will continue to improve, I couldn't rationalize Jansen's cap number. As a long time Skins and Jansen fan, it wasn't easy to cut him, but I couldn't risk another year where we might lose him to an injury.

The Draft

I won't bore you with all of the details of my Draft Day wheelings and dealings, but I ended up being relatively satisfied with how I ended up. I stayed at the 21st pick in the first round and drafted Phillip Merling out of Clemson. Did I pick him too quickly? Maybe, but he was the best defensive end available at the time and I didn't want to risk moving back far enough to where I'd pick someone at that position who wouldn't be able to have an immediate impact on the team.

At wide receiver I drafted Limas Sweed from Texas and Mario Manningham from Michigan. Why draft one bigger wide receiver when you can have two? I'm hoping these guys will be able to complement the small but speedy duo of Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El. They should also help me in the red zone where Chris Cooley has been the only big target so far to go to.

What's Next?

So that's a rough overview of what I've done so far.  It's not everything ( I traded away a couple of future picks for Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard for example), but those are my major moves of the off-season.   I'm going to skip through talking about the preseason, aisde from mentioning that I lost Clinton Portis for two months to a leg injury.  No Redskins fans, I didn't make him play during the preseason, he hurt himself in practice before we even played our first preseason game.

My next update will be on my week one game of the regular season at the New yaork Giants.  They are the defending Super Bowl champs so I know I've got my work cut out for me, but what better way to start off a career than winning a big game on the road against a Super Bowl winning divisional rival?