The Washington Redskins introduced new general manager Scot McCloughan Friday afternoon.
"There's no reason this team can't win," McCloughan said at a noon press conference.
He said he has a good idea of the team's roster but wants to watch more tape of the season for making any judgments.
McCloughan says best case scenario is to draft your own, mold your own and sign your own #Redskins
— Jason Pugh (@JPughNBC4) January 9, 2015
The team confirmed Thursday evening the hiring of McCloughan, an anticlimactic announcement after days of negotiations.
McCloughan is a former executive with the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks and has spent more than two decades in the NFL working either as a scout or in a front office.
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He will have authority over the draft and free agency, giving the club a highly respected personnel evaluator in charge and separate from the coach for the first time since Charley Casserly was dismissed in 1999.
McCloughan is credited with helping craft championship-level rosters with the 49ers (2005-09) and Seahawks (2010-13), including the two seasons he served as San Francisco's GM. He left both teams due to personal reasons and spent last season as a private consultant to NFL teams, talking to the Redskins throughout the season.
McCloughan said he doesn't want to live in the past and his personal issues made him a better person.
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He has no easy task in front of him. The Redskins have finished last in the NFC East in six of the past seven seasons, and poor draft decisions and unwise free agency signings have left the talent pool wanting.
In addition, McCloughan must decide if Robert Griffin III -- who has been benched twice in two years -- truly is the franchise quarterback he appeared to be when he won the league's Offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2012. McCloughan said he thought both Griffin and backup quarterback Kirk Cousins were productive players coming out of college.
McCloughan will also work with Jay Gruden, who went 4-12 in his first season as an NFL head coach. Gruden is in search of a defensive coordinator after Jim Haslett's departure last week. McCloughan said he will not be involved in that hire, leaving it to Gruden. Sources tell News4's Dianna Russini former Cleveland Browns and New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini, currently an assistant with the 49ers, will interview for the defensive coordinator job.
Mangini was on Patriots defensive staff during all 3 of their Super Bowl wins. He coached the secondary and was a DC #Redskins
— Dianna Marie Russini (@NBCdianna) January 9, 2015
McCloughan takes the job previously held by Bruce Allen, who has been the Redskins' general manager for the past five seasons and gained final say over roster matters after in-charge-of-everything coach Mike Shanahan was fired a year ago. Allen did not have a strong reputation as a player-personnel manager when he came to Washington, and the team is 28-52 during his five full seasons.
Allen, a close confidant of team owner Dan Snyder, will remain team president, concentrating on business and other off-the-field matters. He said hiring McCloughan was a no-brainer after learning he wanted to be back in the league.
