Washington's second post-Joe Gibbs era began for the organization with the coach's Jan. 7 retirement or with the Feb. 9 hiring of his replacement, Jim Zorn

But for most of the players, the Zorn era began on March 17 with the start of the voluntary offseason conditioning program at Redskin Park.

"I'm very pleased with how many guys are already here and how many guys will be here, but I'm not disappointed with guys that aren't here," Zorn said. "We have a good line of where the guys are, who they're working with. There's just a handful of those guys. There's not a designated 'you have a free pass to do whatever you want.' There's a constant communication effort to make sure we know what those guys are doing and they know what we're doing. All of these guys are going to be in and out."

Veterans of previous Redskins coaching changes such as Pro Bowl snapper Ethan Albright stressed the continuity of having every projected starter under contract and 11 of 17 assistant coaches returning from a team that made the playoffs last season and in 2005.

The defense, under Greg Blache, who was promoted from line coach, and the special teams, still under Danny Smith's direction, are constants. What's more, Zorn doesn't plan to change the running game half of the offense.

"That's big," center Casey Rabach said of the stability in the running game. "That gives us one step forward. (The running game) will be constant."

Albright, who was also on hand for the changeovers from Marty Schottenheimer to Steve Spurrier and from Spurrier to Gibbs, said this switch has been much smoother.

"There hasn't been a complete changeover," Albright said. "There is some stability, some doing it the way we've been doing it (including in the conditioning program). It's not at all the night and day switch like some teams I've been on. I think it will be a huge help. Instead of rebuilding, we're building on last year's success."

Rabach said the first day of workouts were same old, same old despite the new man in the head coach's office.

"Same as normal, came to get a workout in, go get some breakfast and go home and chase the kids around," Rabach said. "That weirdness factor (of Gibbs being gone) kinda left after a couple of weeks. We're excited to see what the new coach is doing, what this offseason will entail. (Zorn) seems like a good guy. He brings a lot of enthusiasm and a wealth of experience (albeit none as a head coach)."

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.