Redskins picking Cousins a real head-scratcher, more Day 3 Snaps Story Highlights
The Redskins raised eyebrows by selecting another quarterback after taking RGIII
Washington has plenty of other areas it should have addressed with the pick
The Steelers enjoyed a productive draft; the top part of the Bucs draft impresses
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By selecting Kirk Cousins, the Redskins became the first team to take two QBs in the first four rounds since 1989.
Bill Frakes/SI
2012 NFL Draft
More Coverage
BANKS: Redskins' strategy puzzles
PAULINE: Draft steals, reaches
BANKS: Rams have big second day
KING: Cowboys shock Claiborne; more
BANKS: Trade flurry dominates first round
VIDEO: Breaking down the trades
VIDEO: Trades, Tannehill rule first round
BYRNE: Analysis of each first-round pick
PAULINE: Analysis of each first-round pick
VIDEO: Prospects arrive on red carpet
Catch up on every first-round trade
Video Interviews
Andrew Luck
Robert Griffin III
Trent Richardson
Justin Blackmon
Ryan Tannehill
Michael Floyd
NEW YORK -- Musings, observations, and the occasional insight as we wrap up the NFL's entire three-day draft extravaganza at Radio City Music Hall ...
• I keep trying to discern the master plan in Washington's pick of Kirk Cousins, but I just can't see the wisdom of it. It strikes me as the wrong move, at the wrong time, by the wrong team.
Just when they were enjoying a wildly successful and well-reviewed offseason, the Redskins stunned the rest of the NFL Saturday afternoon by selecting the Michigan State senior quarterback in the fourth round, with pick No. 102. It came exactly 100 draft slots after Washington had taken Baylor's Robert Griffin III, a player the franchise gave up a king's ransom for in that early March trade with St. Louis.
What in the name of Gus Frerotte is going on here?
On the surface, I understand the investment in the future rationale. But this wasn't Green Bay or Philadelphia making its usual move of drafting a quarterback to develop in the middle rounds every few years or so, on the thinking that he might just develop either into your starter way down the road, or some handy trade bait in a couple of years. This was Washington, a team with plenty of needs and a relative scarcity of draft picks this year and in the near future thanks to the blockbuster RG3 trade, spending a second of its first three choices this weekend on a quarterback.
According to ESPN's reporting, the Redskins braintrust sees this as a similar situation Atlanta was in early in the Michael Vick era. The Falcons drafted Matt Schaub out of Virginia in the third round in 2004, played him only when Vick was hurt, but developed him enough to ship him to Houston in the spring of 2007 for a pair of second-round picks in a deal that was widely hailed as a coup for Atlanta.
But a couple key differences need pointing out: Vick was well-established as the face of the franchise in Atlanta and entering his fourth year in the NFL by the time Schaub was drafted in 2004; the two didn't break in as rookies together like Griffin and Cousins will do. And it took Atlanta three years to cultivate a trade market for Schaub, before the payoff came via trade in return for its investment. A similar timetable could be in the offing for Cousins and Washington, and that might be the best-case scenario.
That's why puzzling doesn't begin to describe the call. The Redskins simply aren't in the position to take that sort of nonessential gamble at this point in the Mike Shanahan coaching era, and I don't care how highly they had Cousins graded, it's at best sending a confusing and mixed message just when Washington seemed to at last have a clarity of vision. This was going to be RG3's team, RG3's town, and RG3's time. Case closed. Or not.
Don't get me wrong. I don't really believe Cousins is in any way going to pose true competition for Griffin. Not with the talents Griffin has, and not with the price Washington paid for him.
But what's the point of having the coaching staff expend any energy or time trying to develop two rookie quarterbacks simultaneously? What's the point of handing the team's rabid fan base and the media any other storyline at quarterback other than Griffin is the guy, the franchise, the future? This is D.C. after all. They've specialized in quarterback controversies there since Sammy Baugh retired.
And what's the point of putting even a shred of doubt in Griffin's mind about his status on the depth chart or what Shanahan might be thinking? Griffin at least watched from afar as the Donovan McNabb-Shanahan marriage fall apart quickly in 2010 when the head coach back away from the QB he had so enthusiastically embraced and given up much to acquire only months before.
Again, that's not going to be Griffin's experience in Washington. I'm confident of that. But I just don't see enough upside to warrant opening the can of worms the Redskins opened Saturday. The risk-reward ratio is out of whack on this one.
Sorry, but Shanahan tried to be too smart by half this time. It's not even as if Washington was desperate for a decent backup behind Griffin, because as No. 2's go, you could do a lot worse than veteran and onetime Super Bowl starter Rex Grossman. You don't want Grossman starting, as we learned again last season, but he can win you a game or two in relief on his Good Rex days. As for the Redskins' other 2010 starting quarterback, Godspeed, John Beck. Washington released him Saturday after drafting Cousins.
In Cousins, you have a fourth-round investment tied up in a quarterback who might require two or three years of preseason play and development in order to get your value back out of him on the trade market. With an 11-21 won-loss record so far in Washington, and Year 3 of the Shanahan era looking so potentially pivotal, was fleecing some needy team in the backup quarterback trade market in 2014 really that high up on the Redskins' priority list?
It shouldn't have been. By any measure, the question of whether a developmental quarterback/insurance policy was really the best possible use of the Redskins' fourth-round pick in 2012 becomes almost laughable. How could it be? With Griffin, the time is now in Washington. Adding Cousins to the mix only served to potentially muddle the Redskins' focus. And Washington already has endured plenty of that particular problem for the past 12 frustrating years.
Cousins might some day be a successful starting quarteback in the NFL. But him becoming a Redskin now, on the heels of RG3's arrival in D.C., is a case of the wrong move, at the wrong time, by the wrong team.
• Judging from this year's draft, it's pretty clear who's being chased and who's doing the chasing in the NFC East. The New York Giants are coming off their second Super Bowl championship in a five-season span, putting Washington, Dallas and Philadelphia all in serious lean-forward mode.
The Redskins, of course, swung the deal of the century in moving up to No. 2 to land the franchise quarterback they've lacked for decades in Griffin; the Cowboys got bold in jumping from No. 14 to No. 6 in order to acquire LSU cornerback Morris Clairborne and hopefully fix their shaky secondary; and the Eagles get busy on the defensive front, trading up from 15th to 12th to nab Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and solidify their front seven.
New York, with the luxury and latitude that perhaps comes with winning a championship, got to sit tight with its No. 32 draft slot, picking off a player in Virginia Tech running back David Wilson who both fit its needs and its draft grades. No big, splashy trade up forthcoming from the G-Men. None were necessary.
It's still a tightly-clumped division, as always, but the NFC East is the Giants and three Giants wannabees.
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