The Washington Redskins quarterback situation is barely worth discussing this year. It’s best vertical passer is a 2003 first round draft pick who was his team’s primary starter in just one season. It’s best passer under pressure is a 2007 second round pick who has four career starts and no live game snaps since 2007. It’s best overall player may be a 2006 second round pick who had his best shot at being a full time starter on a bad Jets team in 2007, and wasn’t very good. The player with the most upside is an undrafted 23 year old rookie who lead a team that was on the doormat of the Big Ten year after year.
Maybe the most notable point of the Redskins QB conundrum is that there appears to be no obvious solution in sight. Let’s take a breif trip down memory lane, shall we? The Redskins had a bunch of potential franchise quarterbacks come through town on the late 90’s Norv Turner teams, but the team wasn’t entirely happy with Gus Frerotte or Trent Green or Brad Johnson (even after a pro-bowl ’99) for various reasons. The next four QBs they tried were Jeff George, Tony Banks, Shane Matthews, and Danny Wuerffel. That was a carosel of epic proportions, so in 2002, the Redskins decided to end the carosel of veterans and draft their QB of the future. Patrick Ramsey was a nice player for the better part of 4 seasons for the Redskins, but when he was dealt (for cap space!) before the 2006 season. He resurfaced as a briefly effective backup in Denver in the 2007 and 2008 seasons, proving that Mike Shanahan’s desire to acquire quarterbacks he once rated highly as college prospects didn’t start this past year.
Mark Brunell was acquired by the Gibbs regime to bring stability to the quarterback position. Brunell was not good at all in the 2004 season, but adapted into two different offenses in the 2005 and 2006 seasons, and was effective in his own way as a complementary part. Jason Campbell, the team’s 2005 first round draft pick, seized control of the position in 2006, improving every year without really bringing the instant returns fans were hoping for. Campbell did stabilize the quarterback position for three and a half years, though whether he deserved a fourth year to right the ship depends on who you talk to.
The trend here is that the Redskins deemed none of the players they brought in worthy of a long term contract. The cynical amongst us might point out that there was no clear evidence to believe that the Redskins ever had a franchise quarterback, but if you’re stingy with the money at the most important position on the field, perhaps what you really have is a “you” problem. The Redskins had Frerotte and didn’t extend him, they had Green and didn’t extend him, they had Johnson and didn’t extend him, they had Ramsey and didn’t extend him, they had Campbell and didn’t extend him. At different points in the last fifteen years, the Redskins had roughly three potential franchise QBs walk though the door and a number of useful stopgaps, and that puts us where we are today: the Redskins’ current coaching staff inherted a decent QB situation (Jason Campbell-Todd Collins-Colt Brennan) in need of some veteran QB shuffling and some tougher decisions with the younger players. One year later, it’s been stripped down to the cold, hard reality of that opening paragraph.
When evaluating the current Redskins QB situation, one must always remember that the Redskins (specifically, the Snyder and pre-sale Redskins) have found nothing about the last fifteen QBs to come through Washington worth keeping. It’s not likely that the trend will be broken by Beck or Grossman.
Incumbent Redskin Quarterback: QB John Beck
Departures: QB Donovan McNabb traded to Minnesota (6th rounder in 2012, conditional 6th in 2013)
Redskins QB Added via the Draft: Well, nobody, I suppose.
Free Agent Signings: Re-signed QB Rex Grossman for 1 year, $1.3 million. Signed QB Kellen Clemens to a 1 year, $0.8 million league minimum contract. Signed undrafted free agent QB Ben Chappel to a 3 year, $1.2 million deal (three league min salaries) with a $15,000 signing bonus.
John Beck is under contract through 2012. John Beck will turn 30 in three weeks. He may very well be the Redskins only hope.
With that said, it’s just incredibly difficult to envision a scenario where Beck is so wildly successful that he takes the reins in Week 1, stays completely healthy and effective, and approaches Donovan McNabb’s raw numbers from last season. I think McNabb’s rate stats are well within reach: all of them, that is, except McNabb’s 7.2 yards per attempt. But Beck can easily complete 59% of his passes, 3.0% TD rate, a lower interception rate, and get sacked on fewer than 7.0% of passing attempts.
The main problem will be health. Beck is about to turn thirty, has never been asked to survive a pro season (even a 16 start season with below average results would have me more giddy about playing John Beck than I am…think Grossman’s 06. It takes a special athlete to complete a 16 game season as a starting NFL quarterback and those who do typically enjoy long careers as backups if not starters). It’s not likely that he’ll be able to put one together now.
I have put together a list of every quarterback who has started 16 games in a season in the last five seasons. Grossman is on the least for his 2006 season. Only 17 quarterbacks are on there more than once. Amazingly, that list of 17 includes Chad Pennington and Matt Schaub. It also inclues Jason Campbell, David Garrard, Joe Flacco, and Jay Cutler. In any case, John Beck would have to make 32 consecutive starts between the ages of 30 and 31 to become part of this group. Even though Beck has no history of injury, you can now see why I’m skeptical. 30 consecutive starts is a rare measure of stability in this day and age.
Rex Grossman probably gives the Redskins their best chance to win because of superior vertical passing, but Grossman isn’t the answer either. If Grossman was the answer, Donovan McNabb was a better answer, and Jason Campbell was the best answer. John Beck and Kellen Clemens are a departure in a different direction, finally, a direction that likely ends with the drafting and development of a college quarterabck. Clemens strikes me as the best all-around passer the Redskins have on their roster. He was a good bargain basement pickup after hanging around on the Jets for about two seasons too long. Clemens is just 28, so if you had to pick one player of the three Redskins quarterbacks to “break out”, I would hope you would select Clemens. He’s behind the 8 ball though. Clemens didn’t have any exposure to the system over the lockout, and wasn’t part of player led workouts. He’ll be measured against Ben Chappel, who actually has some non-zero shot of being the Redskins QB of the future. Clemens is a long shot to stick because of that, but if he can pick up the system, he will be on speed dial if Beck or Grossman goes down with an injury.
I am saying the Redskins are likely to break camp with just two QBs on the active roster, Beck and Grossman, and with Chappel on the practice squad. At different points this year they’ll need to have a third QB active. Beck and Grossman aren’t legendary for their durability, and if one or the other is down, they’ll need to make room on the 53-man roster for a third quarterback. I think Chappel is likely to receive game action in December after a couple of players have hit IR. Clemens is likely to be on the 53-man roster at different points this year, he may or may not see live action this year. As long as the Redskins are even mathematically in the hunt, this will be the John Beck and Rex Grossman show.
It’s the worst one-two QB situation the Redskins have had in years. Of course, you knew that already. It’s not the worst QB situation in the NFL. It’s stronger than Cincinnati’s and rougly on par to what Seattle is featuring. But if it’s in the top 30, it’s barely in the top 30. The Redskins typically have not entered a season where the QB is projected to finish outside the top 20 in most passing statistics. McNabb wasn’t last year, Campbell never was, I think projections for Brunell were pretty optimistic.
Are we moving back through the Spurrier and Shottenheimer eras? Perhaps. Omminously, Mike Shanahan (not Kyle Shanahan) has stated that he is willing to stake his reputation (if not job) to the performance of Beck and Grossman this year. That’s what he said. What I’m hearing is a coach who is content to walk away from a bad situation if the quarterback situation blows up in his face if many expect. Mike Shanahan is not a good liar. If Beck and Grossman perform well this season, the rebuilding under Allen-Shanahan is likely to continue. If the Redskins trend too far in the wrong direction, it’s likely that Bruce Allen will be in the head coaching hunt next season. Bring on Jon Gruden, Steve Sarkisian, and Brian Billick!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
