The Jim Zorn era at Redskin Park officially gets started today with the opening of his only three-day minicamp this year, not quite 12 weeks since he replaced retired Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs as the coach of the Washington Redskins.
“It gives us an opportunity to step on the field and see what we need to work on, to see our veteran players and our rookies coming in … see how they stack up,” said Zorn, who has never served as an NFL coordinator, let alone as a coach. “We want to see who are the guys that are fast learners, who are the guys that will jump right in to be a part of this program and feel most comfortable. We’ll find out how well we work as a staff initially, how we communicate on the field.”
Today marks the unveiling of the West Coast offense that Zorn, the former Seahawks quarterbacks coach, brought with him from Seattle. But his full playbook won’t be ready until the start of training camp in mid-July.
“It’s exciting,” center Casey Rabach said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what Coach Zorn and his offense are all about.”
Quarterback Jason Campbell, who missed the final four games of 2007 and the wild-card loss at Seattle with a dislocated kneecap, gets his first chance to find holdover targets Santana Moss, Chris Cooley and Antwaan Randle El and newcomers Devin Thomas, Fred Davis and Malcolm Kelly, all second-round picks, in the quick-hitting scheme.
While the defense remains nearly intact, Greg Blache will be in command for the first time after being promoted from line coach following the dismissal of Gregg Williams in January.
“I can’t wait to get out and find out what’s going good and what wasn’t so good,” Zorn said. “It’s pretty exciting … even for our veteran players because they don’t know what it’ll quite be like.”
Although all but six players who played in the loss to the Seahawks are back, so many are unfamiliar to Zorn that he had the equipment staff put names on the practice jerseys.
Everybody is expected to practice except linebacker Rocky McIntosh and cornerback Carlos Rogers, both of whom are recovering from major knee surgery; reserve tight end Tyler Ecker; rookie safety Kareem Moore; and rookie quarterback Colt Brennan, who’s recovering from a hip operation.
While most players have been on hand since conditioning workouts began March 17, safety LaRon Landry, guard Pete Kendall and defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin all skipped the early spring on-site regimen, as did defensive end Phillip Daniels and cornerback Shawn Springs.
This weekend’s minicamp is traditionally just for rookies. Zorn was allowed two more minicamps under league rules since he’s a new coach, but he opted to look at everybody at the same time this weekend and bring them to training camp earlier to prepare for the Hall of Fame Game against the Indianapolis Colts that opens the NFL preseason Aug. 3.
“Having five preseason games is kind of the catalyst behind having one minicamp,” Zorn said. “The other is that we didn’t wholesale change. Defense, special teams, the running game are all the same.”
And Zorn wants to keep his team, half of whose starters are at least 30 years old, as injury-free as possible heading into a grueling NFC East schedule. After the extended preseason slate, three of the Redskins’ first five games are on the road against the Super Bowl champion New York Giants, the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles.
“This is a division where teams can beat each other up,” Zorn said. “What we have to do is make sure that we keep our guys healthy.”
REDSKINS MINICAMP QUESTIONS
1. What is Jim Zorn’s presence as the man in charge? Is he in your face like Marty Schottenheimer, only involved with the quarterbacks like Steve Spurrier or a distant ruler of all things like Joe Gibbs?
2. How does quarterback Jason Campbell look in his first action since dislocating a kneecap in December? And how comfortable does Campbell look in Zorn’s offense?
3. Does the defense look any different under Greg Blache than under former boss Gregg Williams?
4. How do the rookies, particularly wide receivers Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, look in their first pro experience?
5. How do the starters returning from injury — offensive tackle Jon Jansen and guard Randy Thomas — look? (Linebacker Rocky McIntosh and cornerback Carlos Rogers aren’t expected to work.)
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