Quarterback is the most important position in football. The Washington Redskins got solid performance out of their group this year, but just how solid was it?
It’s always disappointing when a team fails to qualify for the postseason. That obviously happened to the Redskins in 2017. With the NFL playoffs getting underway shortly, the team is home in the D.C. area preparing for the offseason. One of the biggest areas they are going to have to address is the quarterback position.
Once again, Kirk Cousins is hitting the free agent market and the team’s only alternative to him currently is Colt McCoy. The 2017 season did little to establish what the long-term future at the position is, as there are currently more questions than answers about what the team can get from their signal callers.
While the Redskins season ended at a disappointing 7-9, it’s not entirely the fault of the quarterbacks. They do deserve some of the blame, but they also deserve credit given the supporting cast they were given to work with. Without further ado, here’s a look at the grades for the Redskins quarterbacks in 2017, starting with the backup.
Colt McCoy
It may seem strange to grade Colt McCoy given that he didn’t see the field for significant action in 2017, but there are a few factors that make him an important piece moving forward. So, he deserves a grade for this and based on some of the decisions that were made on the team that could directly connect to him.
In the preseason, McCoy saw a little bit of action in three games for the Redskins. In these performances, he went 21-of-35 for 186 yards, two touchdowns, and one interceptions. By no means was this a great performance for McCoy, but it demonstrated that he could be a serviceable option as a backup in the event that Kirk Cousins went down. However, the end of the preseason was more telling about what the Redskins coaching staff thought of McCoy.
During final cuts, the Redskins opted to release second year man Nate Sudfeld, a former sixth round pick who was expected to serve as the developmental backup and would possibly see action if Cousins got injured. Instead, the Redskins parted ways with him and trusted the 31-year-old McCoy as their lone quarterback aside from Cousins. Other teams would have kept Sudfeld as an insurance policy in case Cousins got hurt and McCoy played poorly. This was a vote of confidence that shows that the team won’t be afraid to play McCoy and doesn’t care what the consequences are if he sees the field.
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Moving forward, this could signal that the Redskins would turn to McCoy for a season or two if Cousins should leave. While Cousins has spoken of a desire to stay, the negotiations of the past couple of years have always been far apart. And Cousins isn’t going to sign a deal until March. So, the Redskins will have to plan on him possibly leaving. But given the way this season unfolded, it seems like McCoy would get a chance to start while the team develops a rookie in the wings.
All that said, it’s still hard to give McCoy an overwhelmingly positive grade. He had some good things happen in the preseason and the off-field signals from the front office are positive. But still, he threw no passes in 2017. Perhaps that will change in 2018, but for now, McCoy has to get an incomplete grade for the 2017 season. There’s just too much uncertainty surrounding him due to his lack of playing time.
McCoy’s Season Grade: Incomplete
Kirk Cousins
There are so many factors to consider when talking about grading Kirk Cousins. On the one hand, he did well to function after losing two 1,000 yard receivers and losing 20 players around him to Injured Reserve. On the other hand, Cousins came up short in some big games and didn’t do enough to consistently lead the team to victory. So where is the truth on Cousins? As usual, it’s somewhere in the middle.
Let’s start with the positives. At times this season, Cousins was simply brilliant. His best display came against the Raiders in their Week 3 battle that put the Redskins on the map with a signature win. In the 27-10 victory, Cousins showed masterful accuracy and excellent ball placement, going 25-of-30 for 365 yards and three touchdowns. This allowed the Redskins offense to thrive, and this was despite being without Jordan Reed, Rob Kelley, and the other weapons that the Redskins had lost in the offseason.
In that moment, it looked like Cousins was on his way to having another great season. And by the end of the year, he did put up very strong number. He completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 4,093 yards, 27 scores, and 13 picks. He looked better throwing outside the pocket and he demonstrated an ability to win games for the team. At the same time, that ability to win was inconsistent.
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When looking at a quarterback, win-loss record is obviously extremely important. While football is a team sport and not all losses can be pinned on the passer, especially the loss to New Orleans where the team’s defense blew a 15-point lead in six minutes, Cousins still only led the team to a 7-9 record. As Jay Gruden recently mentioned in a press conference, even though Cousins had a solid season, the team didn’t make the playoffs. That is a knock on his performance.
Part of the problem when Cousins was off was that he tried to force balls in to where they didn’t belong. In the final week against the Giants, Cousins stared down his receivers, misfired on key passes, and didn’t do enough to bring his team a victory against a weak Giants squad. Though the team was depleted by injuries, he was supposed to make them competitive. He didn’t, and that’s where the fundamental disconnect lies between Cousins supporters and people who think Cousins is mediocre.
More often than not this season, Cousins had solid to above average performances. His signature game was against the Raiders and that was a thing of beauty. At the same time, the lows were worse this year than they were in 2016, so he deserves a lower grade. Cousins is still an above average quarterback, so that will do enough to keep this grade in the B-range.
Cousins Season Grade: B-minus
Overall Grade
At the end of the day, the Redskins were one of the few teams across the league that kept only two quarterbacks on their active roster for a majority of the 2017 season. They obviously have confidence in their two quarterbacks, which is a great sign, but still, letting Sudfeld go before the season was still a surprise.
In an odd way, it seems like both Cousins and McCoy had good seasons. Cousins’ performance on the field was solid and McCoy seems to have won the hearts of the front office. McCoy was always going to be the backup, but now there’s a chance he could get a shot at starting if Cousins leaves. There’s no knowing whether or not that’s going to happen, but if someone wants to pay Cousins big for his B-minus level performance, McCoy may get a shot at stepping in.
One thing that wasn’t established at the quarterback position this year that the team really needed was clarity. Cousins had another up-and-down season and while there were more positives, it’s still hard to justify giving him a huge deal. One would imagine that the Redskins would have rather seen Cousins have a great year or a poor year so that they could determine the best course of action regarding his status. Instead, it was another middling year that was just above average enough to drive the price up.
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At the end of the day, the quarterbacks for the Redskins deserve the same grade that Cousins got. It’s simple. McCoy had a good offseason but didn’t play in the regular season. Cousins did and was above average but inconsistent. For that reason, they will keep a B-range grade and see if they can improve on it in 2018.