Next Man Up: The Past, Present and Future for Washington Redskins Quarterbacks

Frerotte started 46 games over his five seasons with the Redskins, compiling a 19-26-1 record as a starting quarterback, which is actually the ninth-most wins all-time among Redskins quarterbacks. In those 46 games, Frerotte threw for 9,769 yards, 48 touchdowns and 44 interceptions while making zero trips to the playoffs and one Pro Bowl appearance that he couldn’t attend after suffering a neck injury by headbutting a padded cement wall while celebrating a touchdown.

Frerotte lost his starting job to Trent Green in 1998 and, after the season, asked to be traded or released if he wasn’t going to be the starter. The team would eventually release him after the 1998 season.

Mark Brunell (2004-2006)

After playing four seasons for the University of Washington – starting 33 games in those four years – Brunell was selected in the fifth round of the 1993 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. Brunell’s teammate with the Huskies, quarterback Billy Joe Hobert, was also drafted in 1993 – two rounds ahead of Brunell – making 1993 just the second time two quarterbacks from the same school were selected from the same college in the same draft.

The Packers already had a starting quarterback in eventual Hall of Famer Brett Favre, who was entering his second season as the starter in Green Bay when Brunell was drafted. Instead, Brunell spent his first pro season competing for the backup job with Ty Detmer.

After playing in two games with Green Bay and completing 12 passes over two years, Brunell was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he would be the team’s starting quarterback for eight of his nine seasons with the team. During his nine years in Jacksonville, Brunell was a three-time Pro Bowl selection, the 1997 Pro Bowl MVP and led the Jags to four consecutive playoff appearances, including one AFC Championship Game.

Brunell was traded to D.C. before the 2004 season, but started just nine games for his new team due to a nagging hamstring injury. In his three seasons with the Redskins, Brunell started 33 games, winning 15 of them.

Brunell’s most successful season in D.C. would come in 2005, as the Redskins would go 10-6 and make the playoffs for the first time since 1999, backed by a strong season from Brunell. The 35 year old threw for 3,050 yards, 23 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions in 15 starts that season, but was a non-factor in the team’s wild card round victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, throwing for just 41 yards in the game with one interception. The Redskins’ win over Tampa Bay in 2005 remains the team’s most recent playoff victory.

The next season, Brunell was benched in favor of 2005 first-round pick Jason Campbell after winning just three of the first nine games in 2006. Brunell would undergo surgery on his throwing shoulder in January 2007.

Brunell was released by the Redskins after losing his spot as the team’s backup quarterback to Todd Collins ahead of the 2007 season. He would go on to play for two other teams, winning a Super Bowl in 2010 with the New Orleans Saints, and retiring in 2012 after two seasons with the New York Jets.

Jason Campbell (2006-2009)

After trading for Brunell, who was 34-years-old at the time of his trade from Jacksonville to Washington, the Redskins attempted to find his successor through the draft, selecting Jason Campbell out of Auburn with the 25th overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.

Despite trading a third-round pick in 2005 and first and fourth-round selections in 2006 to draft Campbell with the Denver Broncos’ first-round selection, the quarterback would sit his rookie season as the third-string quarterback behind the aforementioned Brunell and backup Patrick Ramsey.

Campbell would make his first start for the Redskins Week 11 of the 2006 season, on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Brunell led the team to just three wins in nine games. Campbell wouldn’t fare much better, throwing for just 196 yards and two touchdowns in a 20-17 loss. He would pick up his first career win one week later, defeating the Carolina Panthers, at home, 17-13.

Campbell would start 52 games for the ‘Skins in four years (not counting his inactive rookie year.) He would finish his tenure in D.C. with a 20-32 record, throwing for 10,860 yards, 55 touchdowns and 38 interceptions. The Redskins made the playoffs one time during Campbell’s tenure in D.C., but he didn’t start the lone postseason game due to a knee injury. He ranks seventh all-time in passing yards among Redskins quarterbacks and eighth in touchdowns. The Redskins would trade Campbell to the Oakland Raiders in 2010 for a 2012 fourth-round pick after acquiring…

Donovan McNabb (2010)

The quarterback the Redskins traded for to replace Jason Campbell, then 34-year-old Donovan McNabb was sent to Washington from the Philadelphia Eagles – where he spent 11 seasons and made one Super Bowl appearance – in exchange for two draft picks.

McNabb’s lone season in the nation’s capital was up-and-down, to say the least, as the quarterback was on-pace to exceed the 4,000 yard mark for the first time in his career before being demoted to third string by head coach Mike Shanahan – one month after signing a five-year extension worth $78 million to stay in D.C.

Overall, the six-time Pro Bowler threw for 3,377 yards, 14 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 13 starts with the Redskins, leading the team to a 5-8 record. He would be traded to the Minnesota Vikings the following summer after agreeing to restructure his newly-signed contract.

Robert Griffin III (2012-2015)

The Redskins would make another attempt at a homegrown talent at quarterback in 2012, trading four first-round picks to the St. Louis Rams to move from sixth overall up to number two to select the Baylor standout.

Viewed as the savior of the franchise, the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner immediately brought a jolt of energy to Washington, D.C., something the team needed after years of failure at the position. Griffin started 15 games his rookie season, throwing for 3,200 yards, 20 touchdowns and just five interceptions while rushing for 815 yards and an additional seven touchdowns. His impressive rookie year won him 2012 NFL AP Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and a spot on the 2012 NFL All-Rookie Team. Behind Griffin’s play, the Redskins qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2007, winning the NFC East with a 10-6 record.

Injuries would derail Griffin’s career with the Redskins, first suffering a knee injury in Week 14 of his rookie season against the Baltimore Ravens, suffering a Grade 1 LCL sprain. He would miss one game, play the remaining two games on the schedule and start the team’s wild card matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. He would re-injure his knee in the loss to the Seahawks, requiring surgery on his LCL and ACL. His knee injury kept him from participating in the Pro Bowl.

Griffin’s time in Washington only went downhill from there, as the quarterback was unable to get back to the explosive form he displayed during his rookie season – before the injuries. Griffin would suffer several other injuries after his rookie season knee injuries; including a dislocated left ankle in 2014 and a concussion during the 2015 preseason. Backup quarterback Kirk Cousins was named the starter in place of Griffin for the 2015 season, and Griffin ended up as third string upon his return, behind Cousins and Colt McCoy.

Griffin wouldn’t dress for the entirety of the 2015 NFL season and was cut by the Redskins in March 2016. During his time in D.C., Griffin would go 14-21 as the starting quarterback, throwing for 8,097 yards, 40 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.

Kirk Cousins (2012-2017)

Washington’s other quarterback drafted in 2012, the team selected Kirk Cousins out of Michigan State in the fourth round after playing four seasons with the Spartans.

It would be a waiting game for Cousins, as he was an afterthought behind rookie phenom Robert Griffin III that year. But as injuries derailed Griffin’s career, Cousins officially took over as the team’s starting quarterback before the start of the 2015 season after making eight starts total in the three prior seasons.

Cousins’ first season as a starter would be his most successful in Washington, leading the team to a division winning 9-7 record and a playoff appearance for the first time since Griffin did it in 2012. Cousins threw for 4,166 yards in his first year as a starting quarterback, along with 29 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Cousins would play two more seasons as the starting quarterback for the Redskins, throwing for more than 4,000 yards both years. Where the team failed with Kirk Cousins, however, was the inability to sign him to a long-term contract. Following the 2015 season, Cousins was set to be an unrestricted free agent during the 2016 off-season, but the ‘Skins used its non-exclusive franchise tag on him, serving as a one-year, $20 million contract. The team would try to negotiate a long-term contract with Cousins during the 2017 off-season, but again couldn’t come to an agreement with the quarterback, opting to franchise him for a second consecutive year – making Cousins the first quarterback in NFL history to be franchise tagged in back-to-back years. His second franchise tag would pay him nearly $24 million for the 2017 season.

Following the 2017 season, the writing was on the wall for Kirk Cousins, as the Redskins had already traded for his successor before free agency began. Cousins would sign a three-year, fully guaranteed $84 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings during the off-season – the first fully guaranteed contract and highest paying contract in NFL history at the time of signing.

Cousins ranks sixth among all Redskins quarterbacks in touchdowns with 99, fourth in passing yards with over 16,000 and finished his Redskins career with a 26-30-1 record as a starting quarterback.

The Present

At the moment, the Redskins have three quarterbacks under contract heading into the 2019 off-season: Alex Smith, Colt McCoy and Case Keenum. While they have three quarterbacks collecting a paycheck, it doesn’t mean they have three quarterbacks healthy enough to play football.

Alex Smith

The Redskins made a splash ahead of the start of the 2018 league year, trading promising cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third-round pick to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for the veteran quarterback. President Bruce Allen then inked Smith to a four-year, $94 million contract extension, handing him the keys to the team’s offense and replacing Kirk Cousins.

While the offense wasn’t as explosive as it was under Cousins, they were still able to get it done and started the 2018 season with six wins in the first nine games, with Smith only throwing three interceptions. The former first-overall pick was playing safe with the football, until a sack against the Houston Texans landed him on injured reserve midway through the season.

🚫CAUTION🚫

Alex Smith gruesome injury pic.twitter.com/UDk4O1SGZN

— Tailgate Sports (@_TailgateSports) November 19, 2018

Smith suffered a compound fracture of his right leg, which ended up with an infection following the original surgery, requiring additional work to be done. It’s unlikely Smith will take the field at all during the 2019 NFL season, with the rest of his career currently in jeopardy as well.

In Smith’s 10 games as a starter for the Redskins, he totaled 2,180 yards passing, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Colt McCoy

McCoy joined the Redskins in 2014, originally slated to be the team’s third string quarterback heading into the season. But after starter Robert Griffin III dislocated his ankle and backup Kirk Cousins struggled, McCoy made his Redskins regular season debut on Oct. 19, 2014 against the Tennessee Titans, leading a game-winning drive to win 19-17. McCoy was then named the starter over Cousins, which only lasted two games until Griffin was healthy enough to return.

The Texas native would serve as the backup to Kirk Cousins during his three years as a starter and then to Alex Smith, not starting a game again until 2018 following Smith’s season-ending injury. McCoy went 0-2 as a starter in 2018 before fracturing his own leg. He threw 372 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions last season and, currently, is expected to battle newcomer Case Keenum for the starting role.

Case Keenum

Speaking of Keenum, the Redskins agreed to acquire him from the Denver Broncos on March 7, along with a seventh-round draft pick in exchange for a sixth-round pick. With only one healthy quarterback on the roster and Alex Smith’s career up in the air, the need for a new signal caller in D.C. was an obvious one.

Acquiring Keenum was a cheap cost for president Bruce Allen after the Broncos had already traded for former Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco to replace Keenum in Denver. Keenum made his way to Denver after having success in Minnesota, signing a two-year, $36 million contract with the Broncos after the Vikings decided to chase after Kirk Cousins.

In Keenum’s lone season as a Bronco, he went 6-10 as a starter with average numbers, throwing for 3,890 yards, 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Those numbers are a drop-off from his previous year with the Vikings, however, where he went 11-3 in 14 starts, with 22 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.

While Keenum (and McCoy) is only under contract through the 2019 season, at a cap hit of just $3.5 million, it’s unlikely the 31 year old is the long-term answer in D.C.

The Future

The goal for president Bruce Allen and his staff at Redskins Park should be a simple one: find a long-term solution at quarterback. The problem with that, it’s not always that simple.

Redskins quarterback jersey in Dallas tonight pic.twitter.com/kcpFZHZQIb

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 22, 2018

Like the Cleveland Browns, the Redskins have struggled for years to find a young franchise quarterback to build around. They almost had one in Robert Griffin III and again in Kirk Cousins, but haven’t been able to lock up one guy to lead the team’s offense.

Alex Smith looked like he could suffice as a stopgap until a young quarterback came along as the heir to the position, but it’s unlikely he returns to action anytime soon, if at all.

With a cloudy future surrounding the team’s quarterback situation, here are some options the front office could explore:

The Trade Market

The trade market is as busy as ever across the NFL, with players such as former New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. being shipped off to Cleveland and Kansas City sending pass-rusher Dee Ford to San Francisco, and the rumors don’t stop there.

The Arizona Cardinals hold the first-overall pick in this year’s draft, and it’s been widely reported that rookie head coach Kliff Kingsbury is very intrigued at the idea of taking Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray first overall; meaning something would have to be done about last year’s first-round pick, quarterback Josh Rosen.

Rumors are swirling about Rosen’s future in the desert, with the Redskins being linked to the young quarterback. Rosen’s rookie year with Arizona wasn’t one to write home about, but that might have more to do with the team around him than his own skill. Rosen started 13 games for the Cardinals last year, throwing for more than 2,200 yards with 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He was also sacked 45 times last year and dealt with a new offensive coordinator coming in mid-season.

Redskins now the odds leader in trading for Josh Rosen pic.twitter.com/nP2SpU8Pdr

— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) March 5, 2019

The best part about Rosen? His cheap contract, something Washington needs with such little cap space available. With three years remaining on his rookie contract, Rosen is only owed $7 million total over those three years.

The 2019 NFL Draft

Kyler Murray is the quarterback likely to go first, and it would take a Robert Griffin III-like haul for the Redskins to trade up to draft him if the Cardinals were to pass on the phenom.

Behind him, there are still a few first-round quality quarterbacks available to be drafted. The big names this year are Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, Missouri’s Drew Lock and Daniel Jones out of Duke.

The Redskins aren’t alone in needing a quarterback for the future, with the New York Giants likely looking for a successor to 38-year-old Eli Manning, as well as the Denver Broncos and recently acquired Joe Flacco, who turned 34 in January. Both teams have a higher draft pick than the Redskins.

If one of the remaining three quarterbacks after Kyler Murray drop down to the 15th pick, it would be wise of Bruce Allen and his staff to select the best quarterback on their board.

The Waiting Game

While there are several options available in the 2019 NFL Draft to select at quarterback, that doesn’t make any of them the best option.

Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon’s Justin Herbert will be entering the draft in 2020, meaning the next two draft classes are expected to have quality passers available as well. Beyond those two, however, is the real prize out of Clemson.

Trevor Lawrence is only a freshman, but scouts and coaches say he has the ‘once-in-a-generation’ talent to knock Alabama off its throne https://t.co/PaMLW0c5Ta pic.twitter.com/2kNewGG2yJ

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 4, 2019

With just one season of college football under his belt, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence is already being called a generational talent, especially after his dominant performance against Alabama in this year’s College Football Playoff National Championship.

Lawrence completed 20 of his 32 pass attempts for 347 yards and three touchdowns in Clemson’s astounding 44-16 victory over the Crimson Tide. As a freshman, Lawrence won’t be eligible for the NFL Draft until 2021, but he might be worth the wait for a quarterback-hungry team like the Redskins.

What’s the Verdict?

The Washington Redskins have plenty of routes the team can take to find its quarterback of the future, but after so many failed attempts to find the long-term solution at quarterback, the team needs to choose the right route this time around.

While fill-in quarterbacks such as Alex Smith and Case Keenum might get the job done for a year or two, it’s becoming more and more evident that successful teams are able to build around franchise quarterbacks on cheap rookie contracts. The future stars of the NFL are already beginning to emerge in Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold, and it’s time for the Redskins to finally catch up.

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Stats courtesy Pro Football Reference, contract information courtesy Spotrac.com.