Will the Next John Elway Please Stand Up?

The Redskins are a team with myriad needs.  They need offensive line help.  They have a bunch of free agents.  They need their wide receivers to step up. Plus, they are still transitioning from the 4-3 to the 3-4.  They also have an owner in Daniel Snyder and a coach in Mike Shanahan who love high profile quarterbacks, which makes them likely to draft one.
They have two veteran quarterbacks in Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman, who have taken teams to a Super Bowl.  Fans are lukewarm on both men.


If they really want to take a quarterback, they should move the aging McNabb and re-sign Grossman. McNabb showed in Philadelphia he’s not exactly the guy you want to have grooming a young quarterback.  The coaching staff certainly seemed to have more faith in Rex than Donovan late last season.

Maybe they could get a team like Cleveland to take McNabb and ask him to groom Colt McCoy.  Former Eagles' quarterbacks coach Pat Shurmer is the Browns' new head coach.  He has worked with McNabb, Mike Vick, Keven Kolb, and Jeff Garcia to name a few.  However, it seems McCoy's clipboard-holding days are over in Cleveland, so McNabb would likely signing on to be a back-up there.  So far the Browns have not moved Jake Delhomme or Seneca Wallace, so a lot would have to happen to bring that scenario to light.

While quarterback isn’t really as big of a need as, say, wide receiver, guard, linebacker, running back (although Ryan Torrain looked good for stretches),  and possibly even defensive back, with free agency looming it’s a given that the Redskins are looking quarterback.

But which one?  Which one is the most Elway-esque ?

Missouri's Blaine Gabbert has the big Arm but isn’t the most mobile in the pocket.  Arkansas' Ryan Mallet has the most big game experience to go with his big arm but not a ton of mobility. Then there’s Washington's Jake Locker.

Locker may not be John Elway.  Physically he’s very similar to the last quarterback Mike Shanahan wanted badly enough to spend a first round pick on:  Jay Cutler.


He is mobile; he’s accurate on the move. He’s the kind of quarterback who has put his team on his shoulders for short periods of time.  He’s a Shanahan kind of guy.

Get away from the hype, and if this team decides to go QB it should be Locker.