Mike Shanahan: Redskins ‘better off today’ than 4 years ago

Despite a 24-40 overall record, Shanahan argued Monday that the franchise has improved during his four-year tenure.

Dec 30, 2013, 4:24 PM UTC

Jeff Zelevansky

Mike Shanahan refused to take questions during his press conference shortly after the Washington Redskins fired him on Monday morning. He did, however, pose his own question: “Is this a better place today then it was when we came here four years ago?” Despite an overall record of 24-40 and a frustrating and drama-filled 3-13 2013 campaign, his answer is yes.

Shanahan referred to an improved financial situation as the primary evidence of the improvement, noting the salary cap room the team has moving into the offseason.

“The thing I feel good about [moving forward], we don’t have those problems financially,” said Shanahan, notably still using the pronoun “we.” “You don’t have to worry about us not doing things the right way relative to overspending. I think from now on, the problems with the cap are over with, the penalties are over with.”

“So with 25-30 million to go forward we’re in at least a situation where at least we’re better off today than we were four years ago.”

Shanahan essentially blamed the shortcomings of this season on cap hits that prevented him from bulking up his defense and special teams.

“...Anytime you take a look at some of the cap situations that we went through it’s always tough to have depth, and that’s what really hurt us this year. Depth on our special teams and our defense. We didn’t have the speed we had a year ago.”

He thanked fans and the organization, but did not address the rumored power struggle between he and team owner Dan Snyder or reports of a rift with franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III that hung a media storm over the team for much of the season.