Quarterbacks: Three is a Magic Number
July 2, 2019
By Jay Evans
Welcome to the homestretch of the offseason. The Redskins begin training camp on July 24th and we can finally end the interminable speculations. The coming series of columns will take the pulse of the roster and consist of the Redskins current standing as compared to the rest of the league.
After this column you may accuse this hack of fouling his own nest, but if what I say is responsible, then I’ll assume I’m right.
It has been said that the second most important position in D.C. is the quarterback for the Redskins. The third most important person in Washington for 2019 might be the backup quarterback.
The candidates for the Redskins starting quarterback include Case Keenum, the 2012 undrafted free agent for whom the Redskins traded in the offseason, the unproven first-round draft pick Dwayne Haskins, and Colt McCoy, the longest tenured member of the group, who is recovering from a broken leg suffered last season.
Not all opportunities or quarterbacks are created equal. Only one ball will be in play when the season opens against the Philadelphia Eagles on September 8th and the Redskins, principally Dan Snyder, Jay Gruden, and the rest of the front office have a very important decision ahead of them.
Keenum, the Houston Cougar, was acquired on March 7th in a trade with the Denver Broncos and subsequently became the odds-on favorite to start the season for the Redskins before the Redskins drafted Haskins fifteenth overall. He signed a two-year $36 million contract with the Denver Broncos in 2018 and is two seasons removed from taking the Minnesota Vikings to the NFC Championship game. Surrounded by inferior talent, Keenum struggled last season with Denver, but half of his salary is being covered by the Broncos and he has shown the ability over his eight seasons to assimilate quickly to NFL offenses.
Keenum has the most professional playing experience of the three, with 57 games played. His $3.5 million contract is extremely favorable in an NFL world where the average quarterback makes more than $29 million and, in his career, has a 3:2 ratio of touchdowns to interceptions. His development has been hindered by never having had the opportunity to grow under a single tutelage. Washington will be his sixth different team in the past six seasons.
The Redskins drafted Haskins out of Ohio State with fifteenth overall pick in this year’s draft. The 6’3”, 230 lbs. quarterback from the Bullis school in Potomac, MD is a promising talent and was widely regarded as the second best quarterback prospect in the draft.
The former Buckeye, originally committed to University of Maryland, redshirted his freshman season, and after backing up senior J.T. Barrett in the 2017 he grabbed hold of the quarterback position in 2018, exceeding all expectations with his heady play.
In his lone season as the full-time quarterback for the Buckeyes, Haskins showed the poise of a future hall of famer and excelled under a pro-style offense. The offensive coordinator, Ryan Day, was promoted to head coach near the end of the season, and the redshirt sophomore flourished as the leader of the offense. In his one full season as a starter Haskins threw for over 4800 yards, 50 passing touchdowns, and added another four touchdowns rushing, and had just eight interceptions.
After finishing third in the Heisman Trophy award voting, Haskins announced he was entering the NFL draft with two years of eligibility remaining. Reports prior to the draft linked the Redskins with Haskins, then claimed Dan Snyder was making the pick, and suggested a trade up in the draft was “on the table.”
The link to Haskins was strong as Snyder’s son attends the Bullis school as did Haskins. Further, Shawn Springs, the local DC product, former Buckeye and former Redskin, is a longtime mentor to Haskins. The Redskins were able to claim Haskins at 15th overall and effectively leveled the odds in the quarterback room to an even split.
The final candidate to start at quarterback is McCoy, about to enter his sixth season with the Redskins. He hasn’t started more than four games in any season since 2012, but knows the offense well and is a longtime favorite of Jay Gruden. The University of Texas legend has a history of injuries and suffered an ill-fated bone break last season after he took over the offense last season.
Head coach Jay Gruden has to decide what is best for himself and the franchise at an inopportune time in his coaching career. With a year remaining on his contract, Gruden must determine which quarterback is the best for the immediate future and his career simultaneously and the two options may not run congruently.
In a recent appearance on 106.7 The Fan, Joe Theismann said starting Dwayne Haskins week one would be an “absolute disaster.” His reasoning was that the Redskins face a difficult first five games of the season and without Alex Smith, so inserting a rookie and expecting success is unfair.
NFL analyst Bucky Brooks took the pro-Haskins position: “Skins are better off handing the ball to their new franchise quarterback Day 1 of training camp and letting him work through the rough patches…”
Theismann’s and Brooks’ comments represent Gruden’s unenviable conflicting reality. Do you start a rookie at the owner’s suggestion against three NFC east opponents, Khalil Mack (the most feared pass rusher in the league), and the defending world champion New England Patriots in the first five weeks? Or one of the veteran signal callers, hoping to win a few games and allow the rookie to learn the rigors of the NFL without being tackled?
There is another saying: “if you have two quarterbacks you have none.” The Redskins have three.
In comparison to the league, the Redskins find themselves in the bottom third of the league at the quarterback position. They have no proven commodity. Chris Simms’ recent rankings of the NFL’s top 40 quarterbacks had Case Keenum, ranked 28, Haskins at 38 and Colt McCoy at 39.
Former number one overall pick Alex Smith won’t play in 2019 and his career is in jeopardy due to a gruesome leg injury. Presumably, the only returning quarterback from last season is Colt McCoy and that is IF he is healthy for the start of training camp. Otherwise, the Redskins could find themselves with two quarterbacks on the roster for the regular season opener with no experience in the offense.
Unfortunately, 2019 begins with a five-game gauntlet that begins on the road at Philly, and home games against Dallas, Chicago, and the New England. All playoff teams with Super Bowl aspirations. The most optimistic fans should be pleased with three wins or even two under the circumstances for the first five games.
Training camp and preseason games will be imperative for sorting the hierarchy of all three quarterbacks. Keenum is a veteran that has seen the NFL for what it is and is callused to its fickleness. He will be unaffected by the quarterback competition, but unlikely to reach a new apex in his career. McCoy is a broken man, both literally and figuratively, and is flawed in his abilities. He can steady an offense in spurts, but his best days are in the past as well. Haskins is the wildcard who could render all the dreaded predictions moot because he is the great unknown.
In OTAs and minicamps, Haskins displayed the talent and frustrations that come with a young player. Some throws were ill advised and garnered “No, No, Yes” from Gruden. Other reads were flat wrong, but there was brilliance, too and the coach has already said the rookie “deserves a shot” to start.
Reminder, Haskins saw time in just 14 games during his collegiate career. The relatively small sample size didn’t deter lofty expectations and he has been praised for his football intelligence; however, experience can only be gained from on field time.
The crux of the issue is that no quarterback has a higher ceiling than Haskins, and he has the talent to take the offense into the top half of the league. If Haskins is competitive, or just slightly worse than the other two, then he is the starting quarterback and the decision is a relatively easy one. If Haskins is overwhelmed, we are looking at Case or Colt for at least five weeks.
The starting quarterback for 2019 has yet to be decided, but Haskins is the starting quarterback in 2020. As long as the Redskins can maintain a stable offensive line in front of the youngster (More coming on that in the near future) then I don’t perceive the damage that befell the likes of David Carr during the inaugural Houston season or Patrick Ramsey here in Washington during the Steve Spurrier era, and Haskins will start from day one.
There are sure to be growing pains during Haskins’ development, but if Jay is going to keep his job he will need Haskins to perform before the end of the season. Regardless of which quarterback is named the starter the Redskins offense will be predicated on running the ball. The best unit on the team is the running back group, and keeping the quarterbacks in favorable match ups is the best chance this team has at finishing with a winning record.