Roundtable: The Jason Campbell Question

This is what the Post Sports Bog says today: The Redskins' offensive line has been in tatters since Pro Bowl left tackle Chris Samuels and right guard Randy Thomas suffered season-ending injuries early in the schedule. Campbell has been sacked 30 times - the league's third-highest total. "Not to knock the line, because they are trying their hardest to protect him and give him an opportunity to throw the ball," Sherman Smith said. "Those guys are trying. But Jason - he's a man. "He's a very good football player, and if he wasn't making the plays that he's made, heck, we wouldn't have the three wins we have. He gives us a chance on Sunday. It means something to him. And that means a lot to us." Steve and I were hashing out all of the issues surrounding Campbell's future, and agreed it probably doesn't matter what the current coaches think. But I'm thinking the chances are fair/solid that a new coach will look at the totality of the circumstances with this team and decide Campbell is the best option.








Yep, that's where I come out. He's the best we can get under the circumstances. I would stay with him. Get him some help up front, and on the edges and see what he can do. And, dump the WC offense. He does not have the skills to succeed in that.





And to regurgitate what I told Dan, I can't fathom a scenario in which a new GM/new coach would assess the quarterback situation and conclude, after reviewing six years worth of Jason Campbell footage under Gibbs (decent O-line protection) and Zorn (patchwork, porous O-line protection) that Campbell merits another year as a starter. And I'd be stunned if he accepted a demotion to back-up on our team, because he could presumably be a backup on a lot of other teams, and why would he choose ours after we publicly humiliated him three times? While Dan's position is tenable - that a new GM/new coach could evaluate our dire QB situation and decide that Campbell is the best option at the moment - I sincerely doubt it will happen. There are three scenarios, as far as I'm concerned: 1) Snyder hires a new GM who hires a Shanahan/Holmgren type of a coach to install a West Coast offense not dissimilar from the one we ran the past two seasons. Is there ANY chance they look at Campbell and determine that his skills suit a West Coast offense? He's got a big windup, he doesn't get rid of the ball quickly, he has horrible pocket awareness, and takes too long to process information/make reads/execute throws generally. So in that scenario, Campbell is out. In the 2nd scenario, Snyder hires a new GM who, in turn, hires a new coach in the Gibbs/Norv Turner mold, a coach who installs a power run/play action style offense. I think we would all agree that Campbells skills are best suited to that style of an offense, with the big arm, big windup, relative accuracy, etc. OK, great. But Campbell had his shot to excel in that offense under Gibbs/Saunders, and he was just average. And he actually regressed from 2005 to 2007 if you think about it. Now, I suppose Campbell could experience a renaissance under that system if it's reinstalled, but after 7 years in the NFL, does he really deserve that shot? And would a new coach eschew an opportunity to acquire a more reliable, more established QB in Year 1 of his tenure for the small chance that Campbell suddenly has a break out year? I say it's unlikely. And the 3rd scenario, also known as the nightmare scenario, is if Snyder retains Cerrato as puppet-GM. In that case, I say there's a 0 percent chance Campbell is resigned. Cerrato tried to move Campbell multiple times last offseason, and has seen first-hand what Campbell can't do, and there's just no way.
So, Campbell is a goner.







Well, I agree with all of your building blocks analysis, but to be a goner, the Skins have to have a replacement. You can't replace him with nothing. And, I don't see how they can do better than Campbell in either the free agency market or in the draft; so, I think we are stuck with Campbell as the best we can do at the moment, and whoever the coach is next year, he's gonna have to install an offense that maximizes Campbell's strengths and minimizes his weaknesses, which at bottom has to mean the WC offense is gone. No matter what we do, we have so many holes on offense that I see no chance for big improvements there. We are going to continue to struggle on offense; Any success will come by having a defense that allows a mistake free offense to score a few points on short fields.

Also in response to Steve: 6 years?

2005--on the bench all year
2006--started/played in 6 games
2007--started/played in 13 games
2008--started/played in 16 games
2009--started/played in 11 games

Assuming he finishes out the year--that's a tiny bit more than 3 seasons. 3 seasons with 3 systems, and 1.5 seasons with a JV offensive line.

All good points, dad, but I challenge your assertion that they can't do better than Campbell in free agency or the draft. What has Campbell done??? Sure, he's acted professionally in difficult circumstances, and he's likeable, has strong biceps and triceps, etc. but there will be a few aging QBs that will get cut from their teams, and there will be QBs available in the draft. Keeping Campbell around will prolong the inevitable, and potentially stunt the rebuilding process. And make no mistake, this team NEEDS to rebuild.

In response to Dan: OK so next year would be his 6th year, not 7th. My point is, he's been in the league 6 years! That makes him a middle-aged QB, and what has he done? Granted he didn't start each game in each of those seasons....so what?! There are some rookie QBs who have entered the league in the past few years who've played well, much better than Campbell played in this, his 5th season. Clearly, if Campbell was NFL-ready, he would have played earlier. It took him awhile to grasp things, and when he finally had a sufficient grasp of the offenses to merit playing time, he was just OK. And he plateaued very quickly, and then arguably regressed.

Also, remember how smooth the offense looked with an aging, girly-armed Todd Collins? Those guys are a dime a dozen, and they're STILL more efficient QBs than Campbell.







You're still not buying the "if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with" idea. First of all in football years, it would be his 4th year. And Those rookies that step in and do great--Ryan and Flacco--the chances of that happening are always teeny-tiny. Again, its nice for other teams who have found success in the draft, but the chances of a draft pick being better than Campbell? Small.

I 100% agree, the chances of draft pick being better than Campbell for NEXT SEASON is small. But we're talking long-term strategy here, aren't we? it makes absolutely no sense for either Campbell or the redskins to extend the dysfunctional marriage. campbell shouldn't do it because he knows he's not in our long term plans, and he's an unrestricted free agent, meaning htis could be his last chance for a payday and will seek greener, more functional pastures. and the redskins shouldn't do it because campbell could delay the rebuilding process. we need a fresh face, new QB. change for change's sake. look how well that worked with OBAMA!!! :(

Uh oh, you lost me on OBAMA.

Actually he is a restricted free agent--Skins can match offers I'm thinking long term too! I'm thinking we need two new offensive tackles to protect an average/good QB for 10 years. Putting Jimmy Clausen in there or Bradford in there to be protected by Stephon Heyer and Levi Jones would cause another Patrick Ramsey syndrome.

all I know is, if I have to watch Jason Campbell play football again next year, I'm going to have an epic meltdown. He makes football miserable.

Well, Steve, that's a pretty good standard. If you look at football as entertainment, which I certainly do, there is very little that is entertaining in Campbell. He doesn't make the plays he should, then he makes some plays he shoudn't, but not enough to overcome his failures on the nuts and bolts stuff; completing an 8 yard button hook for a first down.

ok, like who? Assume the Hasselbeck option is not possible.

Kurt Warner (admit it, it's possible), Jeff Garcia, Matt Hasselbeck (I will not assume what you want me to assume!), Kyle Orton, Todd Collins, David Carr, Marc Bulger, Jake Delhomme (eww), Sage Rosenfels?, David Garrard?, other people. I don't know, but there are always surprise releases at the end of the year. it's a great time to unload pricey QB busts because of the cap ramifications. An opporutnity to shed salary. Let's swoop in!

I suppose anything is possible, but how many of these guys would mean improvement?


Warner could retire, Garcia could be the perfect stop gap if he is still in shape, Hasselbeck would be great for a little while, Orton is going nowhere, Bulger is probably going nowhere, and the rest of the guys are not improvements in my opinion.

Campbell is going nowhere! He's not good! He's not good at football!!!!!! That's what your either forgetting, or refusing to admit. Like dad said he misses wide open throws and never seizes big play opportunities. occasionally he makes plays that exceed our expectations, but they're always followed by more shitty plays. name me a quarterback in the NFL, starter or backup, who can't do that? And campbell comes at an extraordinarily high cost to me: the cost of not being able to enjoy football.

So your official stance is:


1. Don't re-sign Campbell

2. Don't draft a QB with 1st round pick

3. Hope somebody falls off of a truck and starts for at least 1 year, and then draft a QB in 2011?

:)