The one that got away...

[JeffreyMiller]

The Steelers had a pretty good QB in camp in 1956 ... forgot his name.

[Andrew McKillop]

The Browns, well technically the Ravens fired Bill Belichick.

The Buccaneers might have been able to sign Bo Jackson had they not sabotaged his senior year of college baseball.

[Jay Z]

The Steelers had a pretty good QB in camp in 1956 ... forgot his name.

If you notice, a lot of these happened in the late 1950s... the NFL was a tough league to break into at the time, more good players than jobs. The CFL was pretty good at the time, they took some talent, but plenty of good players sat the bench for a few years or even got cut.

I remember Lombardi complaining when he was with the Redskins that nobody would trade with him. He had a terrible defensive line, certainly could have used the help, but the days of Henry Jordan or Willie Davis being available were gone. 26 teams by then. George Allen spent a bushful of draft picks rebuilding the Redskins' front wall when he came in a couple of years later.

[BD Sullivan]

The Browns, well technically the Ravens fired Bill Belichick.

Another Art Modell lie, having previously said Belichick would be coaching the team in Baltimore--before firing him one week after the move was finalized.

To be honest, Belichick wasn't all that special in his five years in Cleveland. He made all his mistakes there and was smart enough not to repeat them in New England.

[BD Sullivan]

Eagles had Bob Keuchenberg and cut him

The Falcons also cut him, which extremely annoyed because of what he felt was Van Brocklin had lied to him. Keuchenberg savored the fact that Van Brocklin's last game as HC was in a big loss--to Keuchenberg's Dolphins.

[Rupert Patrick]

The Browns, well technically the Ravens fired Bill Belichick.

Another Art Modell lie, having previously said Belichick would be coaching the team in Baltimore--before firing him one week after the move was finalized.

To be honest, Belichick wasn't all that special in his five years in Cleveland. He made all his mistakes there and was smart enough not to repeat them in New England.

Ironically, Belichick's first regular season win and first postseason win as a head coach came at the expense of...wait for it...the New England Patriots.

[LJP]

On the plus side for the Bears:-

The Eagles decided that the didn't need rookie George McAfee and traded his selection rights, along with Joe Mihal, to the Bears for Russ Thompson and Milt Trost.

The Giants traded the selection rights to George Connor to Boston, who sent them to the Bears for Mike Jarmoluk

The Dolphins cut Gary Fencik and the Patriots cut Steve McMichael.

[SixtiesFan]

The Steelers had a pretty good QB in camp in 1956 ... forgot his name.

If you notice, a lot of these happened in the late 1950s... the NFL was a tough league to break into at the time, more good players than jobs. The CFL was pretty good at the time, they took some talent, but plenty of good players sat the bench for a few years or even got cut.

I remember Lombardi complaining when he was with the Redskins that nobody would trade with him. He had a terrible defensive line, certainly could have used the help, but the days of Henry Jordan or Willie Davis being available were gone. 26 teams by then. George Allen spent a bushful of draft picks rebuilding the Redskins' front wall when he came in a couple of years later.

You wonder how Lombardi would have done with the Redskins if he had been able to coach them another five years or so.

[BD Sullivan]

The Steelers had a pretty good QB in camp in 1956 ... forgot his name.

If you notice, a lot of these happened in the late 1950s... the NFL was a tough league to break into at the time, more good players than jobs. The CFL was pretty good at the time, they took some talent, but plenty of good players sat the bench for a few years or even got cut.

I remember Lombardi complaining when he was with the Redskins that nobody would trade with him. He had a terrible defensive line, certainly could have used the help, but the days of Henry Jordan or Willie Davis being available were gone. 26 teams by then. George Allen spent a bushful of draft picks rebuilding the Redskins' front wall when he came in a couple of years later.

You wonder how Lombardi would have done with the Redskins if he had been able to coach them another five years or so.

His drafting was always fairly suspect. A good number of the legends that won him titles in Green Bay had been brought in before he got there. Paul Brown always seemed to be his personal pigeon, as previously noted.

[Jay Z]

You wonder how Lombardi would have done with the Redskins if he had been able to coach them another five years or so.

I think 4-5 years is about how long Lombardi would have lasted in Washington, based on coaches like Parcells and Walsh, who walked away from good teams. If Lombardi could have been a lifer without burning out, he would have stayed in Green Bay, done what Landry and Noll did. But he didn't, so I think he would have burned out again in a few years, like Parcells and Walsh.

Washington had a bit more holdover talent than the Packers did. Except for a few players, the Packers had a lot of young, untested players. Washington had Jurgensen, Charley Taylor.

The one commonality is that defensive line was the one spot where Lombardi brought in outside talent. Dave Hanner was the only long term holdover. Washington had nobody worth holding over, and Hanburger was the only long term solution at linebacker. I can't believe Huff would have had much left after 1969.

Ultimately George Allen handled the Washington situation better than Lombardi would have, IMO. The players like Willie Davis and Henry Jordan were simply not being given away by any teams in 1969-70. It was either build through the draft long term, or do what George Allen did, go all in on veteran trades. I don't think Lombardi could have committed to what Allen did, and he wouldn't have had the patience for a long term rebuilding program. He would have been caught in between. I think Lombardi might have scored a wild card berth or two, but I don't think he could have gotten the Redskins to the Super Bowl.

As a Redskin postscript, always thought it was interesting that the 1982 Redskins had several key players that were holdovers from Allen: Riggins, Theismann, Moseley, Dave Butz.