The Washington Commanders have what could be — and should be — a franchise-changing decision in front of them with the second pick in the NFL draft in April.
No one knows for sure what they will do — like all teams picking high in the draft, they have options — but the consensus is the team’s decision-makers will select a much-needed quarterback. They could do so with their existing second selection or make a bold move to trade with the Chicago Bears for the top pick in the draft.
Either way, with three acknowledged top-shelf quarterbacks available — Caleb Williams from USC, Jayden Daniels from LSU and Drake Maye from North Carolina — the Commanders will get their chance at an impact player, a quarterback who will be the foundation to build a championship team under the new ownership of Josh Harris and friends.
At least, that’s what the fans, the new coaches and the owners hope.
First-round quarterbacks generally come with those expectations — especially first-round passers selected in the top 10.
Washington hasn’t had much luck with those decisions over the franchise’s 92-year history. They’ve picked 15 first-round quarterbacks since the NFL began its draft in 1936 — 10 of them in the top 10.
Only one resulted in an NFL championship — two championships. Otherwise, Washington’s history of first-round quarterbacks has been dismal.
From 1936 to 1961, Washington selected nine quarterbacks in the first round — eight of them in the top 10. There was a time when Washington picking a quarterback high in the draft seemed like an annual futile affair.
Washington is in the history books in the NFL draft for picking the first player to actually play in the league. The draft began in 1936 when the Philadelphia Eagles selected University of Chicago quarterback Jay Berwanger, who was the first college player to win the Heisman Trophy.
But these were the early days of the league, when the money was not particularly attractive, and Berwanger refused to sign with the Eagles over a salary dispute. His rights were traded to the Chicago Bears, but Berwanger also refused the Bears’ offer and opted for a job with a Chicago rubber company and also became a part-time coach at his alma mater.
That left the Boston franchise — a year later, the Braves would move to Washington to become the Redskins — with what turned out to be the first pick. They chose all-purpose Alabama back Riley Smith, who played a good amount of quarterback for the team in 1936. He would be primarily a back and receiver when the franchise, in its first year in the nation’s capital, selected TCU star quarterback Sammy Baugh with the sixth pick.
Baugh proved to be the most successful and impactful draft choice in Washington football history, leading the franchise to two NFL championships and five title games from 1937 to 1945. Baugh wound up being one of the greatest players in the history of the league — he was part of the inaugural Pro Football Hall of Fame class in 1963 — and was a colorful figure away from the field. He did some acting and appeared as a Texas Ranger named Tom King in a series for Republic Studios.
Like Berwanger, Baugh nearly passed on the NFL opportunity. He had a chance to play baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. But owner George Preston Marshall needed Baugh, and he signed him to a contract that paid him $8,000 a year, more than twice what the average NFL salary was at the time. “When I found out what the rest of the players were making, I felt badly about asking for so much money,” Baugh told reporters.
After Baugh, picking quarterbacks in the first round for Washington was a dark hole of failure and futility.
Washington selected quarterback Ed Boell out of NYU with the eighth selection in the first round of the 1940 draft, but he chose to become a high school football coach instead. They drafted Jim Hardy out of USC with the eighth pick in the first round in 1945, but Hardy said he didn’t want to leave the West Coast. So Marshall traded him to the Los Angeles Rams for their inaugural 1946 season.
Washington had the first overall pick in the 1948 draft and selected Harry Gilmore, who had some solid years with the team as they transitioned from Baugh, but only two winning seasons.
In 1953 and 1954, Washington picked quarterbacks in the first round – Jack Scarbath out of Maryland and Ralph Guglielmi out of Notre Dame. Scarbath went to play in Canada after two seasons and Guglielmi lasted for four losing seasons in Washington, starting in 21 games.
They used another first-round pick in 1959 for Don Allard out of Boston College. But he went to play for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL, who offered Allard $6,000 more per year than Marshall was willing to pay.
It was another back-to-back first-round quarterback duo in the draft for Washington in 1960 and 1961. They selected Richie Lucas — “Riverboat Richie” — out of Penn State in 1960, but he chose to play for the Buffalo Bills in the newly-formed American Football League. He lasted three years in the AFL before he was out of football.
Finally, in 1961, Washington had something to show for a first-round quarterback pick since Baugh in 1937, selecting Norm Snead out of Wake Forest with the second overall pick. Snead, who passed away last month at the age of 84) would go on to have a long NFL career, selected to four Pro Bowls over 17 seasons (including two with Washington), but would be known in Washington for the 1964 trade deal with Philadelphia that brought Sonny Jurgensen here.
Most of you know the first-rounders that came after — Heath Shuler, Patrick Ramsey, Jason Campbell, Robert Griffin III and Dwayne Haskins — all of whom failed in varying degrees to fulfill the hopes of a first-round quarterback. It’s not a glorious history. New general manager Adam Peters hopes to change that.
You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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