How the Commanders should address the QB situation
By Jonathan Eig
Commanders QB Draft Targets
Washington will not be able to draft Bryce Young, Will Levis, or CJ Stroud (should he declare). Those guys will be gone by the fifth pick. Even if Chicago and/or Arizona is willing to trade down, there are at least seven teams sitting between them and the Commanders who want a quarterback, which means there are at least seven teams who can make better offers. It’s not happening.
The biggest question mark for the Commanders is where Florida’s Anthony Richardson is going to land. Personally, I would not take him in the first round, but I guarantee that someone will. In fact, once we get through the combines, where Richardson’s athletic gifts are going to gob smack those who haven’t seen him up close and personal, I predict he’s going to skyrocket, and will eventually be drafted higher than Washington’s 16th pick. I mean, Mac Jones was drafted 15th two years ago.
That means Washington would have to actually trade up to get him. I look at Richardson and I see Fields. His build is different. So is his throwing motion. And footwork. But he is a runner first and foremost. He is a phenomenal runner – the only quarterback who I have ever seen accelerate the way Richardson can is Michael Vick, and Richardson physically dwarfs Vick. He just isn’t very accurate. He is even closer to Josh Allen than is Justin Fields, and he may one day grow into that good a quarterback. I don’t want to spend a badly needed 1st round pick to find out.
There are only a few humans in the world that can make this play and Anthony Richardson is one of them. pic.twitter.com/d8LDXuNQ5U
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) January 6, 2023
I admit – no quarterback is a sure thing. But accuracy is a big deal – maybe the biggest. Taking a chance on a one-year starter with huge talent and limited accuracy is a bad bet.
There are other guys worth looking at, and it all depends on where you can get them. Hendon Hooker in the 4th? You have to think long and hard about that. Tanner McKee could go anywhere from the second half of round one to round three. If he’s sitting there when the Commanders pick in the second… again, you have to think about it.
But neither Hooker nor McKee, nor anyone else Washington may select on days 2 or 3 will supplant Howell early on. They will be there to sit and watch, and be ready to step in should Howell falter.