Cousins likely will battle Grossman in order to back up RGIII. (US Presswire)
When the Redskins made their selection with the No. 102 overall pick in the fourth round, it was the biggest head-scratcher since the Jaguars selected a punter the round before. Washington had drafted Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins, and considering the Redskins had taken assumed franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III with the No. 2 overall pick the day before, the move to grab Cousins was, well, strange.

It made a bit more sense later in the day when the team released John Beck, meaning Cousins would battle Rex Grossman for the right to back up Griffin. But still, why take one of the best prospects in the draft, only to turn around and grab Cousins?

“We have to have depth to win,” said Shanahan, via Rapid Reporter John Keim. “Hopefully [an injury to Griffin] doesn't happen but you want to be prepared. I thought it was a steal for us at that position.”

Shanahan also said he talked with Griffin about the decision to draft Cousins. And when the Redskins turned in their decision, we weren’t the only ones surprised by the move. So was Cousins.

"I was trying to forecast which teams will be looking at a quarterback and did not see the Redskins thinking along those lines,” he said.

The Redskins move to draft two quarterbacks in the first four rounds isn’t unprecedented, but, as the Washington Post points out, it’s also been 23 years since another team pulled that maneuver (the Cowboys in 1989 with Troy Aikman and Steve Walsh).

The last the time the Redskins drafted two quarterbacks in the same draft was 1994 when they selected Heath Shuler with the No. 3 overall pick and Gus Frerotte in the seventh round. Shuler was terrible, and Frerotte ended up as a Pro Bowler. So, that draft didn’t work out so well for the franchise.

Will this move work any better? We’ll have to see, but as Keim writes, “In the best-case scenario, fourth-round QB Kirk Cousins never plays.”

And for an early fourth-round draft pick, I’m not sure that’s a great plan.

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