ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Should the Washington Redskins find Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota still on the board when they’re set to make their first-round selection during the NFL draft next month, they’ll find themselves in quite a unique situation.
Scot McCloughan, the new general manager, strongly believes in drafting the best player regardless of position — a stance he has frequently made known since he was hired on Jan. 6.
And if McCloughan is to keep true to his convictions, drafting either player would be a curious decision for a franchise that, over the past three months, has finally begun to make correct ones.
After physical therapy and coaching turnover derailed his progress the last two offseasons, Robert Griffin III is finally being given a chance to settle into the starting quarterback role this spring.
That responsibility, though, is in name only. Someone has to take the majority of the snaps during offseason workouts, and Griffin, who finished last season in that role, was a more logical choice for coach Jay Gruden than Kirk Cousins or Colt McCoy.
Plus, at the very least, the move serves as a public show of confidence from the coach — something that can only lift Griffin after he endured a constant barrage of well-intentioned, and accurate, nitpicking last season.
Adding a highly regarded rookie quarterback, then, would disrupt the peace that Gruden has worked so hard to craft in recent months. And, it’s not such an implausible scenario.
Winston is almost certain to be the first player selected on April 30, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who hold the top pick, have repeatedly made their courtship of the Florida State quarterback public.
Assume, then, for argument’s sake, that Winston does end up making the four-hour drive down Florida’s gulf coast to Tampa, and it’s Mariota, from Oregon, who remains available. The Tennessee Titans, who hold the No. 2 pick, could very well choose to fortify their line with the addition of USC defensive end Leonard Williams, and the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders, who hold the next two picks, seem to have found their quarterbacks in last year’s draft.
That would give the Redskins no more than 10 minutes — the length of time between first-round selections — to shape the direction of their franchise.
“I’m walking in from the outside saying, ’OK, I’ve been around a world championship team,’” McCloughan told reporters during an impromptu discussion at the owners’ meetings in Phoenix last week. “I’ve helped build another one that made it there, but didn’t win it. I have a feeling what it’s supposed to look like. In [San Francisco] and Seattle, we understand that we’re not a real deep roster, so let’s not just focus on a certain position. Let’s focus on the best player, because we’re not just talking about Year 1. We’re talking about Year 3 [and] Year 5.”
“But,” McCloughan continued, “because it’s a quarterback sitting there at [No.] 5 — and say it is — and that’s the best available player, we’re going with it. You can never have enough. I was in Green Bay, where he had Brett Favre, who won three MVPs in a row, and every year, we drafted a Matt Hasselbeck, an Aaron Brooks — not that early [in the draft], but we still took quarterbacks.”
On any other team, a new coach and new general manager would be quick to wash their hands of Griffin, who has, on the whole, underperformed since he first put on a Redskins uniform in 2012.
The problem in Washington, though, is that Griffin’s acquisition runs deeper. Owner Dan Snyder and team president Bruce Allen remain so loyal to the quarterback that it’s plausible they could pick up an option on Griffin’s contract by the May 3 deadline that would see him account for a suffocating $16.5 million against the salary cap next season.
In one way, drafting Mariota would signal McCloughan has the independence required to adequately carry out his job — a persistent concern considering the Redskins’ operating history. And though neither McCloughan nor Gruden are wedded to Griffin, they both know such a move could have lasting, troubling effects.
“It’s just something we have to talk about in-house,” Gruden said in Phoenix last week. “If we think it’s worth the risk to hit the ’reset button,’ if he’s that good of a football player, if we decide in the building that he’s that good of a football player and that we should do that, then we should do that, you know?”
“But we haven’t come up with that determination as a whole group, as an organization yet, and it’s something that we’re working towards,” Gruden continued. “Based on what I’ve seen so far, both of [the college quarterbacks] are very talented people.”
Mariota would likely be given an opportunity to compete for the starting role, and given his lack of familiarity with a pro-style offense — he reportedly took only five snaps under center this past season — there’s no guarantee he would beat out Griffin, despite all his troubles, or Cousins or McCoy, who are also not under contract beyond the season.
Still, considering the investment made despite other needs, it would be hard to fathom Mariota remaining Griffin’s backup for the entire season. If Griffin were to remain healthy and play well, he’d enter 2016 as the unquestioned starter or, without the option, could likely earn a new contract from the team in a brash, I-told-you-so type of move from the powers that be that would again relegate Mariota to the sidelines.
Handling a No. 5 pick in that manner, especially considering all of the Redskins’ needs — they did finish 4-12 last season, after all — would be abnormal, yet there may be an escape clause in McCloughan’s theory. Gruden said last week that the team will look for a starting offensive tackle and a starting outside linebacker in the draft, and the Redskins should have their pick of players at those positions.
Brandon Scherff, the 6-foot-5, 319-pound left tackle from Iowa, moves remarkably well for a player of his size. Nebraska’s Randy Gregory has the athleticism, if not the experience, to be a game-changing pass rusher. McCloughan could justify his selection of either player by noting that those traits make each player a transcendent talent.
Of course, there’s a good chance the quarterback discussion never advances beyond the what-if stage. Tennessee coach Ken Whisenhunt spoke in fairly certain terms about Mariota last week and said he’d be atop the team’s depth chart when he’d be acquired.
McCloughan isn’t some wide-eyed, nebbish, first-time general manager. He knows how to navigate these situations. Though the team will reportedly host Mariota for a visit at some point in the next month, McCloughan can’t be faulted for trying to leverage the draft pick into obtaining additional assets from teams who need the quarterback more desperately.
That may be the most responsible outcome of them all.
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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