Jim Turner

Turnersportsdesk.com

March 15, 2010

According to most mock drafts the Redskins are either drafting a QB or an offensive lineman. Noted Draft Guru, Mel Kiper remains high on Clausen but the equally noted draft guru, Todd McShay rates him as a second round talent but that’s not even the scary part. McShay has stated on several occasions that Clausen has both intelligence and maturity issues.

Wait a minute! Whenever you draft a QB in the top 10 that guy instantly becomes the face of your franchise. I do not know Jimmy Clausen personally but if I were GM or Coach of the Redskins and someone was saying anything remotely close to that I’d take that as a red flag. The other issue is this alleged immature kid would be coming into a situation where the expectations are always sky high. If they draft him that high he is starting no matter what the coach says about bringing him along slowly. So now you have an immature and intelligence challenged QB behind a patchwork offensive line. How do you spell Chernobyl meltdown C-L-A-U-S-E-N.? I have nothing against this kid but if he is drafted at four that is a recipe for failure for both the player and the Redskins.

Can you imagine the press conferences with a young, immature Clausen versus Washington’s media hounds especially if the team is not doing well? We could be looking at Ryan Leaf meltdowns if this kid can’t handle all comes with being the starting QB of the Washington Redskins. Jason Campbell to his credit represents himself and this franchise well even in the face of adversity. 

The Job of starting QB for an NFL franchise is much bigger than throwing tight spirals and reading defenses. It is also about leading men under the most dire of circumstances on occasion. On that note, when Campbell was getting murdered he never lost his composure and he earned the respect of that locker room through adversity.  The Redskins brass (or at least Dan Snyder) seems to be enamored with cocky QBs (see Sanchez, Cutler, Quinn and Clausen) but I’ve seen plenty of cocky QBs fail spectacularly. Quiet confidence is a much more desirable attribute (see Joe Montana, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees). None of these QBs career’s started out great but they all got better as the teams around them got better.

The common sense factor says that the truth is somewhere between both experts which puts the realistic Clausen draft value range from the lower portion of the first round to the top 10 of the 2^nd round.  The Redskins would be much better off drafting an offensive tackle to better protect whoever the QB is and taking Clausen or Texas QB, Colt McCoy early in the second round. At least they are addressing the offensive line issue and saving a TON of money by not picking a QB in the top five of the draft. Not to mention picking the QB in the 2^nd round takes the pressure off Clausen or McCoy to produce immediately. 

If someone takes Clausen the Skins are just as well off or better with Colt McCoy considering no one questions McCoy's leadership or intelligence. The smart play is the guy you already have [Campbell] while you allow whoever you draft to challenge for the job when they are ready both mentally and physically to lead the team. Aaron Rodgers is a good example of allowing a young QB to learn how to be a pro first.