Redskins' Vinny Cerrato Is in Line for Executive of the Year - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Headlines I thought I'd never read: "With Cerrato Now Calling Shots, 'Skins May Finally Have a Front-Office Game Plan". Look, I've spent countless hours making fun of the Redskins new Assistant to the Traveling Secretary, Vinny Cerrato, but I will admit no small about of shock at Washington's inactivity this off-season.

Usually, March is the time when the Redskins make enough hare-brained, high-priced acquisitions to bring home the point many of us may have forgotten over the course of the season: owner Dan Snyder isn't very good at putting together a winning football team and will pay ungodly sums of money to prove as much.

And with the latest front-office move -- promoting Cerrato -- I was convinced it would be more of the same. So far, though, it's been just the opposite. And CBSSports.com's Clark Judge is impressed.

It was Cerrato who swung the votes in favor of Jim Zorn. It was Cerrato who headed the search for the team's new public relations director, too. It was Cerrato who urged owner Daniel Snyder to avoid the free-agent frenzy. And it will be Cerrato who takes the wheel for the club's next spin around the NFL Draft.

"It's the first time in the Dan Snyder era," said one agent, "that there's a sense of a game plan. It's a good move for Washington because Vinny Cerrato is where he was in San Francisco and where he's been at his best, and that's the draft process."

It's worth pointing out that during those heady San Francisco days, Cerrato was the mastermind behind the Jim Druckenmiller (sad sack pictured above) and J.J. Stokes picks. Judge's response: " OK, so he missed. Big deal." And then he goes on to list the myriad diamonds in the rough Cerrato unearthed with the 49ers.

I'll admit Cerrato has been pleasantly surprising during his short tenure as the personnel-like figure in Washington's front office, but I'll hold off on the GM of the Year honors for a few months, if you don't mind. And what does it say that Cerrato's being praised for basically doing nothing this off-season?