OPINION:
Washington Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan, as we are all well aware, wants “football players.”
Yet as the team whittled down its roster to the final 53 last week, they said goodbye to some potential “football players” while still seemingly in desperate need of “football players” where those “football players” are generally needed the most — along the foundation of the offensive and defensive lines.
Right up to last week, this team did everything but post want ads on Craigslist for centers and defensive linemen.
Yet, when cutting time came and went, McCloughan and coach Jay Gruden decided to keep a sixth-round draft pick most people believed would be fortunate to find a place on the practice squad when he was drafted in April.
Nate Sudfeld is one of the final 53 players the Redskins decided to keep on the active roster.
What does that tell you?
AUDIO: Redskins defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois with Thom Loverro
First, despite McCloughan’s proclamations of his affection for “football players,” it really means, at least to some extent, that he means “football players” that he picked — and in particular, quarterbacks that he picked. Sudfeld is the only quarterback on this roster that McCloughan shopped for and purchased. He inherited Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy. He may like them — he may love them. But GMs are especially fond of the players they draft, and if you didn’t think they were going to keep Sudfeld, then you don’t understand the dynamic of player personnel and front office personalties.
Sudfeld may fit the abstract criteria of what McCloughan wants when he says “football player” — he told reporters after the draft that it refers to the “personality, the competitiveness. The passion for the game. Understanding it’s about team. Understanding we’re going to take care of each other, no matter what. It’s huge to me.”
But when you think of “football player,” are you thinking about the third-string quarterback or are you thinking about the players along the defensive line, or the interior of the offensive line where you want to protect the first-string quarterback you have on your team — both areas, based on the comings and goings of late at Redskins Park, are areas of need.
A rookie sixth-round, third-string quarterback kept on the active 53-man roster would not be an area of need. A team that has been running along on win-mode for years can afford to carry a rookie third-string quarterback on the active roster, a team that doesn’t have areas of desperate need. It’s a luxury a team like that can afford.
For a team that is a long way from running on winning, a roster spot for a sixth-round rookie quarterback would appear to be a luxury — especially when your starting quarterback is 28 years old and going into his fifth NFL season and coming off a year where he set franchise passing records.
Pass rushers would seem to be more important. Center would seem to be more important.
The presence of Sudfeld on the active roster announces to the world that he is more important than it would appear, at least to McCloughan and perhaps Gruden as well, who has sung Sudfeld’s praises since they drafted him out of Indiana.
“We thought that Nate showed enough in the preseason where somebody might give him a chance,” Gruden said in response to a question about the decision to keep Sudfeld on the 53-man roster. “I think he’s in a good spot, man. He’s going to develop here on this roster and learn from Kirk and learn from Colt how to be a pro and just continue to develop. Having three is important nowadays.”
Really? The Redskins had three last year — the third being Robert Griffin III. How important was it to keep Griffin on the roster last year, other than to appease the owner?
The Pittsburgh Steelers — Washington’s opening game opponent Monday night — have three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster: Ben Roethlisberger followed by Landry Jones and Zach Mettenberger, who was drafted in the sixth round by Tennessee in 2014 and cut two years later.
Jones was the team’s fourth-round pick in 2013 — Roethlisberger’s 10th season in the league, selected by a team that had not had a losing season since 2003, was one year removed from a 12-4 season, two years removed from an AFC championship and three years removed from a Super Bowl title. He was the third quarterback on the Steelers roster in his rookie year, but for that team, it hardly seemed like a luxury to keep a fourth-round rookie quarterback on that roster. It seemed like good planning for the future of a team with an aging, often-battered quarterback.
In other words, planning for a day when Roethlisberger wasn’t the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
So what, then, does the presence of Sudfeld on the final Redskins roster — after Washington cut four defensive linemen, five offensive linemen and three linebackers in the final slice and dice? Is McCloughan planning for the day when Cousins isn’t the quarterback for the Washington Redskins? Or is he just one of the “football players” that the GM loves?
Sudfeld’s presence on the roster is worth noting — and watching — as Cousins plays this season on his one-year, $20 million franchise tag contract. Year one of the Nate Sudfeld era?
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.