The Redskins' Future: Now AND Later - Part Six

Deep into the draft board

Into any draft a few oddballs are tossed. Up until now the Redskins 2008 draft proceeded apace to stock the team. Curly R's series on the Redskins' changing draft philosophies continues.

Part One: Draft Picks Are Free But Not Without Cost
Part Two: The Y Axis
Part Three: Round Two
Part Four: Round Three
Part Five: Round Four
Part Six: Round Six
Part Seven: Round Seven and Wrap Up

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Round Six
Durant Brooks, P

Play now or your ass is out Bit of an anomaly here, the Redskins picked the only punter in the entire draft. Durant has a strong strong leg so it makes sense to pull the trigger if you are stocked everywhere else or are in a dead spot in your draft board. But the Redskins really weren't and previously the Dan Snyder Redskins have not really attended to the punter position, so what changed? This is quite possibly Vinny Cerrato Effect.

Bottom line: teams do not carry two punters so either Durant converts well to the pro game or he is out, some other team will pick him up off waivers and give him a shot, he was too good in college not to get chances at the next level. Derrick Frost has his work cut out for him.


Kareem Moore, S
The future is bright After the experiences of Sean Taylor (RIP) and LaRon Landry, it is difficult for me to see the Redskins going after quote average unquote players at the safety position. Almost as though the team had established itself as the team that goes out of its way to procure and maintain the meanest sons of bitches in the backfield, kind of how Pittsburgh was at linebacker for a decade. So that may mean there is something to this Kareem guy.

Reed Doughty improved last season in an extremely adverse set of circumstances and if he continues on that path then the team will be in good shape for starters at the position. The backups to the starters are journeymen and the team needs to get some insurance against Reed not improving so let's see what we can find.

Bottom line: seems like he has a good upside as Reed's backup, he really needs to concentrate on making the team, things will sort themselves from there.


Colt Brennan, QB
The future is bright A guy this prolific deserves a look. Colt became a pitch it all over the field quarterback under June Jones at Hawaii, a style that would have suited former Redskins coach and Heisman winning quarterback Steve Spurrier and will almost certainly excite new Redskins head coach Jim Zorn. Quick release, spread offense, force the defense to stop the pass on every play.

Add to that the subjective notion that Colt is now a Jim Zorn QB and not a Joe Gibbs or heritage coach QB, Colt will know only one system for the forseeable future and as long as he has the basic skills will always be worthy of a shot in the coach's eyes. By contrast, Jason Campbell was someone else's quarterback who may or may not ever be able to run Jim Zorn's system and Todd Collins is nuttin but a seat warmer in the grand scheme.

Despite Colt's accolades, more than 30 NCAA I-A football records, Colt has some downside. He's not huge and there are the usual concerns about whether Colt's success is a product of his own talents or if Colt is a quote system quarterback unquote, rollicking all over the field against inferior competition and unable to translate into success in the NFL for lack of arm strength, timing against faster opposition and all the pre snap decision making a quarterback does all day after every huddle.

The argument that Colt is a system quarterback can be made. He comes from the University of Hawaii run & shoot system spread offense implemented by head coach June Jones. June adopted it from Jerry Glanville when they were together on the Atlanta Falcons staff. Jerry learned it from Jack Pardee, the original father of the run & shoot, while they were together on the Houston Oilers staff. Jack brought it over to the Oilers from the University of Houston where he coached in his system David Klingler and Andre Ware, two extremely prolific college quarterbacks, neither of whom enjoyed great success at the next level, yada yada we kind of already went over this once. It was David Klingler's record for passing touchdowns in a season (54, 1990) that Colt broke in 2006 (58 though to be fair postseason TD passes did not count in 1990 and they did in 2006 and Colt threw five in his bowl game). The circle is complete.

So there you have it, a non prototype NFL quarterback, too small and in too narrow a system to go higher but too successful not to get a shot.

Bottom line: barring a complete breakdown at the pro level Colt should make the team as the third quarterback thus bringing the Redskins into age compliance with the Rule of QB Backups (more on this later). Colt likely will not see significant action in 2008 unless the the Redskins bomb massively and Jim Zorn wants to assess talent.


The Redskins' Future: Now AND Later concludes tomorrow with part seven, Round Seven and Wrap Up.



Refuel Cafe & Bar sign from here.