Zorn at the League Meeting

PALM BEACH, Fla.--Jim Zorn just finished speaking for more than an hour at the NFC coaches' media breakfast at the annual league meeting at a Palm Beach resort.

Among the things that the Redskins coach said was that he and other team officials, including owner Daniel Snyder, toasted late safety Sean Taylor at dinner here Tuesday night on what would have been Taylor's 25th birthday. Zorn said that he's having a collage of pictures of Taylor assembled to hang in his office at Redskins Park to help ensure that any visitors remember what the organization lost when Taylor was shot and killed last fall.

Zorn said he speaks to his predecessor, Joe Gibbs, and plans to continue to do so fairly regularly. He's a racing fan, he said, and so far their primary topic of conversation has been NASCAR. Zorn said that one of his challenges in replacing a Hall of Fame coach will be to find a way to convince his players to accept a new way of doing things without dishonoring Gibbs's methods in any way.

His playbook is ready for his first offseason practices, he said. He has begun working with quarterback Jason Campbell, doing mostly footwork drills. Zorn said he's been pleased to find that Campbell has good footwork and should be able to move fluidly in the pocket as required by Zorn's version of the West Coast offense.

The schedule-makers haven't done him any favors. He's a rookie head coach trying to squeeze everything in, and yet his team will play the Hall of Fame game to open the preseason and the first game of the NFL's regular season. Zorn said he had an "Oh my gosh" reaction at first but has accepted how daunting the early portion of the schedule is and he hopes that he and his team will be up to the challenge.

He said he was in Snyder's office at 1:30 a.m. on the opening day of free agency and the Redskins studied the possibilities in the market as aggressively as the organization had done in the past. But team officials couldn't strike deals that they thought made sense with the players they'd targeted, Zorn said, so they stood pat in free agency and now look to the draft to address a list of needs that still includes a safety, a defensive lineman, a wide receiver and depth on the offensive line.

More details later on Zorn's comments...

UPDATE (10:05 a.m.)...

More from Zorn:

On the Redskins being among the seven teams, all with offensive-oriented head coaches, that voted against the coach-to-defense proposal that was ratified by the NFL owners here Tuesday: "I'm on board because the rule passed. There are several reasons to vote for it. There was another side that I looked at, but that's a moot point now. We have to make sure we're up to speed: Who's gonna wear it, what we're gonna do when the offense changes personnel groups. We just have to make sure we're on target."

On readying for the offseason practices: "What encompasses being a head coach, it's a unique and new challenge. I think we could all be further along. But I feel confident in the assistants I have. We're ready for our first minicamp playbook-wise."

On melding his passing offense with the Redskins' old running offense: "I think the transition we've had in our pass protections has been great. I really thought there would be much more discussion, much more hashing out of the protections."

On Jason Campbell: "He's just in for a lot of different thoughts of how to get rid of the ball in rhythm, how to understand how fast the game is played. He's got to meet the tempo of the game. We've worked on some footwork drills. A lot of quarterbacking is change of direction."

More Campbell: "Matt [Hasselbeck, Zorn's former pupil in Seattle] developed over several years. I think Jason is going to develop over several years. What we're gonna have to do is not give him so much that he can't function.... I expect there to be some carryover from some things he's already done. The running game should not be a burden for him, and then we can concentrate on the passing game.... The learning process might be through training camp, but we'll get that done."

Even more Campbell: "He's got excellent feet. I'm getting him to play in a lower position so he's in position to make a sudden move, not standing straight up. I don't know what he needs in all areas yet because we haven't run a play. It's just been drills.... He can really move. If he's in the right position, he can really change directions and he can do it suddenly, so that's pretty good. It's not about scrambling up the field. It's about getting out of the way."

On free agency: "It's just kind of the way it worked out. I was there at 1:30 in the morning on the first day of free agency looking at the possibilities. It wasn't like we were out of it. At the time, the smartest thing to do was re-sign Todd Collins. There was no difference in Dan's desire to be aggressive."

On the draft: "I couldn't tell you it's going to be this guy. With the 21st pick, it's hard to tell."

On the team's aging offensive line: "It's what we have. It's a good group of guys and they're tight-knit.... If we can stay injury-free with those guys and keep them together, I think we're all right."

On the Redskins playing the Hall of Fame game in the preseason and then the NFL's opening regular season game on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions, the Giants: "I was just going, 'Oh my gosh' to have to play those games. But in the next breath, you say, 'That's how it goes' and you set yourself to go.... What more could a rookie head football coach ask for? I think the challenge is there. The challenge is set. I hope to meet the challenge."

On the NFC East: "This is a division where teams can beat each other up. We have to make sure we keep our guys healthy, and that's what we're doing in the offseason."

On the Redskins' offensive approach: "We'll probably have a run-first philosophy initially because of who we have as a running back and how developed our running game is. [But] I want to create balance as long as I'm here."

On succeeding Joe Gibbs: "I'm going to try to do my thing. I think what Joe would want is not me trying to pay homage to him by doing what he did. I appreciate what he's done. It's incredible to walk into our facility and see three Super Bowl trophies. All three have his name on them.... [But] I think I'm going to try to do my thing. I can't worry about the comparisons. I want to start out with a clean slate and take each day as it comes."

More on succeeding Gibbs: "I think the players realize things change. Each year is a new year and things don't stay the same. I just want to make sure we're concentrating on the right things. I don't want guys to be saying, 'That's not the way we used to do it.' I'm hoping they'll say, 'This is the way we do things now.' I want to do that without discounting what he's done."

On speaking to Gibbs: "We talk about NASCAR. We talk about racing.... We're going to talk often."

By Mark Maske |  April 2, 2008; 9:00 AM ET  | Category:  Redskins
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