Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Did Shanahan Jump the Gun?

This past Sunday, Redskins Head Coach Mike Shanahan officially declared Robert Griffin III the starting quarterback of the Washington Redskins. That move led many analysts and fans to question whether or not Shanahan jumped to that conclusion to quickly.

I'm here to tell you that Mike Shanahan simply had no other choice. Let me explain...

Do people honestly think that they gave up four draft picks, including three first rounders, to move up just FOUR spots in this years draft to select RG3 and then have him on the bench to start the season? Of course not!

Robert Griffin III was selected to be the starting quarterback of the Washington Redskins. The days of Grossman vs Beck are over.

If anything, Shanahan took a while to officially declare RG3 the starter. He waited till the end of the rookie mini-camp! What was he waiting for?

Let's look at this from a PR point of view. Would you, a "loyal" Redskins fan, really pay 80 bucks a ticket to go watch Rex Grossman start at quarterback? Nope. Not one "faithful" fan would ever pay that much to watch a terrible quarterback start when there is a first round draft pick sitting on the bench.

What about Shanahan's reputation? How would that make him look if he sold the house to pick this guy and then had him on the sideline the whole game week one versus the New Orleans Saints? That would make him look pretty bad and would lead every single Washingtonian to question his coaching ability.

It is an absolute insult to Mike Shanahan's coaching intelligence to say that he jumped the gun in declaring RG3 as the starter. After how all of us ranted and complained about Rex Grossman, now people are saying that he may be a better option to start the season?

That is ridiculous. Robert Griffin III is the face of the franchise for the next 10 years. Why not start him week one? Throw him to the wolves and have him learn even quicker. He's not going to be great from the get-go, obviously, but give him some reps and he'll be a star before you know it.

Shanahan is also saving himself and RG3 a lot of media drama by declaring him the outright starter early on. Now we won't have to speculate all summer who the starting quarterback of the Washington Redskins will be.

Mike Shanahan is absolutely making the right move in declaring Robert Griffin III the starting quarterback. Many times Shanahan has been called a quarterback guru. I think the decision between Griffin, Cousins, and Grossman is a no-brainer.

**For what it's worth, a brief note about Kirk Cousins. Former Redskins superstar quarterbacks Sonny Jurgensen and Joe Theisman were also fourth round draft picks in their respective drafts...just a thought.


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