Friday, August 17, 2007

Vision Quest: Brunell vs. Collins May the Least Horrible Win.

Well we are the Washington Redskins after all. We can’t go a whole pre-season without some kind of quarterback controversy. And this fan base sure loves its QB controversies. Jurgensen vs. Kilmer, Schroeder vs. Williams, Humphries vs. Rypien, Schuler vs. Ferrote, Johnson vs. George, Any of the Gator Qbs vs. a dead peanut vendor. And now we have another QB controversy brewing and it involves our old friend and Joe Gibbs’ favorite son Mark Brunell.
Brunell’s acquisition by the Redskins in 2004 has been waste deep in controversy his whole tenure here. First it was with Patrick Ramsey who he lost the starting job to in 2004, and then won it back in 2005. Then last year it was with Jason Campbell who eventually took the starting job from him in late 2006. Now just as it looked like Brunell would settle into the #2 role and look toward retiring in the next few years, a new controversy surrounds him regarding the #2 QB position.

Todd Collins, who last year split the #2 position with Jason Campbell before being relegated to the third string QB position is all of a sudden vying for the #2 job again this year. After leading the team to it’s only touchdown drive last week against Tennessee resulting in the go-ahead score, Collins is going to get more playing time against the Steelers as he prepares to assume the #2 role.

I am not a fan of Todd Collins. Ever since his arrival in camp last year I felt he was taking away valuable snaps from Jason Campbell as we went through the pointless exercise of splitting the #2 duties. While I will grant that Todd Collins knows the Al Saunder’s system better then anyone on the team not named Al Saunders (and after last year’s play calling maybe better then him too), that does not amount to much if you can’t make the throws.

Now before you start throwing around the stats from the Tennessee game let me remind you of who he was playing against. Tennessee had their third and fourth string players in the game. Collins SHOULD look good going against these players, many of whom will not be in the NFL this or any other year. Collins is an NFL veteran of 12 years; if he can’t whoop up on undrafted rookies then what good is he?

If further proof is needed all you have to do is look at last year’s pre-season. Collins and Campbell flipped flopped at the #2 spot each game. Collins was an all pro- when coming in at the #3QB when playing against 3rd or fourth stringers and incredibly pedestrian when coming in as the #2Qb when playing against players that will make an NFL roster. For example here are his stats in the games where he was #3QB (NY Jets & Ravens): 35/40 315 yards 2 TDS 1 INT. Impressive? Sure. But take a look at him against teams where he was the #2 QB and actually going against NFL talent: 7/14 79 yards 0 TDS 1 INT. Pretty underwhelming.

The question you have to ask is Mark Brunell any better? I am the first to admit that Brunell is not the player that he was in early 2005. He has lost more then a few steps, his arm is weaker and he looks unsettled on the football field. And sure Mark Brunell is old, but so is Todd Collins. In the NFL experience does count for something as well. Mark Brunell has appeared in more NFL games (35) in his tenure on the Redskins then Todd Collins has attempted passes in the NFL (27) since 1997.

So if Collins wants the support of this writer to be the #2 QB then he needs to prove it on the field. I have seen him mow down the opposition against the camp fodder of the league, if he is going to be one injury away from starting for our squad; I want to see proficiency against the second stringers and real NFL talent he will face Saturday night. Otherwise I have seen it all before and it sucked then too.

Cap Ramifications

If Collins somehow wins the #2 spot, I can’t see the team keeping Mark Brunell as the #3 QB. OF course I am of the opinion that the team should part ways with Todd Collins if he is the #3 QB as well. I see no reason to keep both aging vets as the likelihood BOTH are gone next year. Collins contract is up and he is too old to resign for long. Brunell’s cap charge of over $6.5 million in 2008 is too much for a reserve.

So if Brunell is going to be the #3 QB perhaps then the Redskins should think about cutting him and using the cap savings on extensions for Cooley and Taylor. Releasing Brunell this year would save an immediate $2 million on this year’s cap and though there will be $3 million in dead cap charge in 2008, which is still saving over $3.5 million from what he was scheduled to charge.

Collins is much cheaper and probably not going to be released if he was the #3 QB. If for some reason he was released the Redskins would receive an immediate savings of $1.25 million on this year’s cap. Since he is contract ends after this year there is no cap Ramifications for 2008. (cap figures courtesy of Scout.com)

This is all pie in the sky thinking though as I doubt the redskins will release either of them this year, even if they should. Unless Jordan Palmer is brought into the next 3 pre-season games and does remarkably well, I doubt they will risk giving a roster spot to the rookie over 2 Vets that have supporters on the coaching staff. Not what I would do, but then again I don’t get to see these guys in practice day in and day out.

Of course talk about who is backing up Jason Campbell is all well and good, but this very sobering fact remains: If any of our reserve Quarter backs sees significant time this year then the season is in the toilet or soon will be. I for one am praying for the health of JC every night.

And you should be too

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