Now that the Super Bowl has commenced, the off-season has officially started for NFL teams, which means it is time for my team, the Washington Redskins to shine. I just read a report on ESPN recently where Adam Schefter said this: "If Peyton Manning is released, Redskins are anticipated to pursue him. Redskins also willing to pursue free agents Matt Flynn and Kyle Orton." Which begs the high dollar question for Redskins fans: When the Redskins pursue Peyton Manning?
It's a tough question to answer because nobody knows for sure yet if he is going to come back fully healthy or just a shell of his former self. But for this post, I am just going to assume that in the next couple months he proves that he is healthy and back to where he was pre neck surgery. With that in mind he is still about to turn 36 in a month and a half so you think he might have 3 more elite to good years in him. A lot of people forget how good this guy actually was when he was healthy, but I think the showing of this years' Colts team tells you everything you need to know. So on the Peyton side of things what I am saying is that if he is healthy (big if) than I think he is a top 3 QB in the league and I am going to say he has 3 good years left in him.
Which leads us to the Redskins side of things. Now to advocate the Skins going after Peyton Manning, I would have to believe that if we got him we would turn into a contender. While I understand the Redskins were 5-11 last year, I think that he would. I said all last year that I thought we were one good QB and WR away from being a playoff team and once you get into the playoffs anything can happen (see Giants). I am sure I come off as a delusional Redskins fan, but if you can win 5 games as a team with Rex Grossman to Santana Moss as your best option, I could definitely see us winning 9 or 10 games with Peyton Manning throwing to Justin Blackmon? (but that's for another post) I say all this because if I did not believe he would turn us into a contender I would not go after him, because in professional sports to be successful, a team must be doing one of things: 1. Rebuilding and getting younger for the future. 2. Doing what they can to add the piece(s) that will get them over the top and be a contender. There is no point in being average in the NFL or any professional sports franchise because you still don't make the playoffs and you get a worse draft pick. For the last 2 years under Mike Shanahan we have been rebuilding and getting younger, getting rid of a lot of the old Redskin standbys, and bringing in new blood. But in the NFL the shelf life of these players are very small and 2 years is enough time to rebuild and even though they have not been very successful these last 2 years (like most rebuilding teams), I think they set themselves up pretty well to be contenders by just adding a few pieces this offseason.
Before I totally commit to Manning (you see where I am going with this post), I wanted to go through some of the other Redskins options first. As you can see above they said they are going to for other veteran QB's as well including Matt Flynn and Kyle Orton. These are two very interesting options as they both are still in the prime of their playing careers, ages 26 and 32 respectively, and both are thought fairly highly of. Nobody is saying these guys are All-Pro or anything but Kyle Orton has a track record of at least being decent in Denver and Matt Flynn while not getting a lot of time behind Rodgers in Greenbay has gained a decent reputation over there for being pretty good as well. The last major option is through the draft and getting Robert Griffin III (probably by trading up, but he could potentially fall to 6). Each of these guys has their pros and cons. Orton is the oldest of the 3 and has the longest track record, he is kind of the guy you know what you are going to get from, not a high ceiling, but not a low floor either. With Flynn he is the middle man in this group, you really haven't seen much of him (other than his record-breaking performance against Detroit this year), but you still have seen more of him at the NFL level than Griffin. He has more potential than Orton but less than Griffin, but much like Griffin you don't have much to go off of. And that brings me to the last candidate Robert Griffin III, the Heisman winner. He definitely has the highest potential of any of these 3 guys but also as a rookie you will have to expect him to go through his bumps and bruises and really can't expect him to be at his best for another 5 years. To get Griffin you would also probably have to trade up to number 2 to get ahead of the Browns and probably lost your number 1 pick this year and next year for it.
So it all brings us back to the point of where the Redskins are as an organization now. Are they good enough to go for a guy who will turn them into a title contender or are they in rebuilding mode. I said above that I think the Redskins are one QB and WR away from being a contender. Saying that, I think the Redskins should go after Manning as he is easily the best QB of that group if healthy as presumed in this post. If you really think you are one or two good players away from being a contender, there is no point in going halfway and placing Orton or Flynn as your QB when you can have one of if not the best in the game in Peyton Manning. Even if it is only for 3 years, windows for Super Bowl titles are small in the NFL and I think you need to go for it when you can. Here are how I would rank my priorities in terms of potential Redskins Quarterbacks this off-season:
1. Peyton Manning- If healthy, ultimate win now guy. Top 3 QB in league. I believe with a good WR as well will turn Redskins into contender for next 3 years.
2. Matt Flynn- 26 years old, would be Redskins QB of the future but would be able to produce now as well, not as good as Manning but I believe he is the 2nd best QB on this list and could be our QB for the next 10 years as well.
3. Kyle Orton- 32 years old, not as old as Manning or as young as Flynn, consistent average QB, know what you will be getting with him. Probably would be our QB for next 5 years but, don't think he would be as good as Flynn or Manning for those years.
4. Robert Griffin III- I think he our last priority because he is the ultimate rebuilding guy. This year (and the next couple as well) he is going to through some bumps and bruises as all rookies do and wont be at his most productive for another 5 years. He could very well be a great QB someday but as of next season, I think he will be the worst QB on this list.
I am sure as a Redskin fan advocating Peyton Manning I will come off as the typical Redskin fan who wants Daniel Snyder to throw all his money at an aging big name guy just like he did with Haynesworth, Mcnabb, Deion, etc.. And that is fine and fair, but what I am saying with all of this is that I think the Redskins are ready to win now and Peyton Manning if healthy is a top 3 QB in this league and would be the best option to put them over the top. Now whether Manning wants to come to the Redskins is for a whole nother post... (probably tomorrow).
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