Shanahan couldn't be happier about the prospects of landing RG3. (AP) |
The Browns may still be on a search for a franchise quarterback, but come Thursday, April 26, the Redskins, thanks to a blockbuster trade that catapulted them to the No. 2 pick, will have their quarterback of the future. The only remaining question: will it be Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III?
The Colts have the first-overall selection and the consensus is that they'll take Luck. Owner Jim Irsay says his team has yet to settle on a player, but either way, from Washington's perspectiveit's a win-win proposition.
"That's a decision, when you get to the second pick, you've got to feel great about both guys,'' Shanahan said at Wednesday morning's NFC head coaches media breakfast according to SI.com's Don Banks. "There can't be any, 'Oh, I hope I get this guy, I hope I get that guy,' because you don't know what's going to happen. You know what's reported, but you just don't know, especially with this process. But when we did move up to that position, we had to feel great about both of them before we gave up what we gave up.''
Banks then pointed out to Shanahan that the conventional wisdom had the more athletic RG3 as the better fit in Washington's scheme.
"I say both of them [fit], because they're both very athletic,'' he said. "You take a guy who's 6-4 and 240, and can run a 4.6 40, that guy can move pretty good. And obviously with Robert, who can run 4.4 or under, usually guys that are that fast can't throw. He can do both.''
Shanahan is also quite familiar with the risk of putting a team's hopes and dreams into one player. In two years in Washington, Donovan McNabb, Rex Grossman and John Beck have all taken turns under center and, to varying degrees, failed miserably. That explains Washington's decision to go get RG3 (or Luck).
“Obviously, you look at the film and you like what you see on film,” he said. “As we all know, from the collegiate level to the pro level there are growing pains. Every quarterback goes through it. But [Griffin's] got such a big upside.”
That's why the Skins gave up two first-rounders, swapped another, and included a second-rounder along with additional picks for the right to take Griffin. The team they outbid, the Browns, might have to settle on Ryan Tannehill, widely considered the third-best quarterback in the draft class.
But here's the thing: RG3 is supposed to be the best fit in Shanahan's offense because of this athleticism, but NFL Films' Greg Cosell considers Tannehill a better on-the-run passer than either Luck or Griffin.
"One benefit of Tannehill’s three-quarters delivery is it allows him to throw very well on the move, both to his right and impressively, to his left. In fact, he’s a better, more accurate passer on the run than either Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin. Tannehill was very efficient off the boot-action pass game. That will translate very well to the NFL."
This isn't to say that Tannehill is a better overall player than Griffin, but to suggest that maybe the Redskins might have been better off staying put at No. 6 and using those picks that they sent to the Rams to address other needs.
Put differently: a statistical analysis of the trade by Kevin Meers of the Harvard College Sports Analysis Collective found that "for the Redskins to get the equivalent value from RG3 as they spent acquiring him, he must produce at least as much as Tom Brady."
Meers' conclusion: "Regardless of the rationale behind this move, the Redskins lost a tremendous amount of value in this trade, potentially setting the team back for years. If RG3 does not pan out – whether because of talent or injury – Washington would be left with no quarterback and no first round draft picks for the next two years."
Which again makes us wonder if, three or four years from now, we'll look back and wonder why Washington just didn't sit tight and take Tannehill. Then again, maybe in four years' time, other teams -- like the Browns -- will lament their inability to move up and get RG3 when they had the chance.
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