What Do the Redskins Do If Robert Griffin III Does Not Declare for the NFL Draft

The deadline to declare for the NFL draft is rapidly approaching.

For some college players, it's an easy decision on whether or not to participate in the NFL draft, but for others, it's much more difficult.

An almost guaranteed top-five pick, Robert Griffin III still has not decided on whether or not he will leave college and go to the NFL.

His decision over the next five days could potentially cost him millions of dollars. If he decides to stay at Baylor and gets injured or has a terrible season, it could lower his draft stock in next year’s draft.

If Robert Griffin III decides to stay in school, then another potential franchise quarterback will not be available in April.

So what do the Redskins do if Griffin does not declare for the draft? I have outlined a few possible options that the Redskins can take if this occurs.

Best Player Available

The Redskins pick sixth in the upcoming draft. Ahead of us are the Colts, Rams, Vikings, Browns and Buccaneers. Assuming that no trades occur, the top five picks are outlined below:

Team	Selection	Commentary
1) Colts	Andrew Luck, QB	Colts need a new franchise QB if Manning does not get over his multiple neck surgeries.
2) Rams	Matt Kalil, OT	Could be Justin Blackmon, but finding protection for Sam Bradford is crucial as Jason Smith should not be a left tackle in the NFL and can be moved to left guard.
3) Vikings	Morris Claiborne, CB	Vikings need a left tackle, cornerback and a wide receiver. I think the Vikings will trade down unless Matt Kalil is available, but that's not considered in these selections. Morris Claiborne is the best player available on this board outside of Justin Blackmon.
4) Browns	Justin Blackmon, WR	Mike Holmgren says he needs to find some “playmakers.” Justin Blackmon fits this build to a tee after having a monstrous Fiesta Bowl performance.
5) Buccaneers	Dre Kirkpatrick, CB	Bucs desperately need two cornerbacks with Ronde Barber likely to retire, and Aqib Talib going to prison soon.

Matching the Redskins needs to Mel Kiper’s Big Board, Riley Reiff (OT—Iowa), Jonathan Martin (OT—Stanford), Luke Kuelchy (MLB—Boston College) and Alshon Jeffery (WR—South Carolina) are available.

Either of the two offensive tackles would be preferred as our offensive line is one of our weakest points, but right tackles are rarely taken in the top 10 (Tyron Smith was an exception). However, if we drafted one of the two tackles, we could have a great pair of tackles to protect our future, franchise quarterback.

Selecting Luke Kuelchy is not necessary as Perry Riley stepped up this past season, and first-round draft picks are used to immediately fill major need positions. So this selection would not make sense.

Alshon Jeffery (WR—South Carolina) is a possibility to improve our passing attack. Alshon Jeffery has the size to be a prototypical NFL wide receiver at 6’4”, 229 lbs, but his numbers declined significantly from last season.

NFL scouts are concerned his route-running ability and speed are not good enough to get the separation required for his play style in the NFL.

Trade Down

The Redskins have many needs. Outside of quarterback, multiple upgrades to the offensive line are needed, a No. 1 wide receiver has been desperately needed for a long time, upgrades to our secondary are needed, and multiple players need to be drafted to increase the overall depth of our team on both sides of the ball.

Since multiple positions on our team our needed, we could trade down in the first round to draft Texas A&M’s Ryan Tannehill. Although Tannehill is athletic and has a strong arm, he has only started one full season as a quarterback and has only started about 20 games in total as quarterback in his career as an Aggie. His other two seasons with them have been at wide receiver.

He will need much more development at the next level to compete and normally in a deeper quarterback class, he would be a second-round prospect. But with Matt Barkley, Landry Jones and potentially Robert Griffin III staying in school for another year, he could shoot up the draft boards just like Christian Ponder did last year. With this being considered, we would need to draft him before Seattle and Kansas City both get a chance by Pick 10.

If Shanahan likes any of the other quarterback prospects, we could continue trading down and fill our other positions while selecting a later-round quarterback such as Nick Foles or Kirk Cousins in the second or third round. This would allow us to build depth and fill starting positions elsewhere to give our future quarterback a chance to compete.

Trade Up for Luck

Another option we should continue to explore is the possibility of trading up for Stanford’s Andrew Luck.

Although this would be very expensive, and there are doubts as to whether the Colts would be willing to trade him, he would definitely be a huge upgrade for our biggest need on the team.

After watching some of Shanahan’s interviews, attempting to read between the lines, and after reading what London Fletcher wrote about Luck’s performance in the Fiesta Bowl makes me thing something is in the works already.

Although I may be overly optimistic or in denial, I can’t help but agree with Fletcher that Luck would look awfully good wearing the No.12 in Burgundy and Gold!

Sign a Free Agent QB

If the Redskins were not in love with any of the quarterbacks in the draft outside of Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, we could sign a free-agent quarterback such as Green Bay’s Matt Flynn.

Some may argue that the Packers might franchise Matt Flynn and ask for a heavy bounty in return. Although this is a possibility, it probably will not happen. 

For one thing, the cost to franchise Flynn will be roughly $14 million. For perspective, Aaron Rodgers gets paid $8 million per season. What happens if Green Bay can't find a trading partner for Flynn?

Although this probably won't happen, teams will know of their financial situation and will be able to use it as leverage to lower the price. Additionally, the Packers need the cap space to resign starters like Jermichael Finley in order to keep their team intact. 

Outside of Flynn, another free agent QB could be Vince Young. Young is a mobile quarterback that many had linked us to him before he signed with the Eagles last season. However, a question arises from this. 

If we had the chance to sign him last offseason, why would we wait until this offseason to sign him? It’s simple. The decision to go with Rex Grossman and John Beck could have already been made by that point from the front office.

Stick with Rex

Another option we should consider is resigning Grossman to another one-year deal and bringing in another veteran to compete for the job this season. This would allow the Redskins to pursue a quarterback in the now very deep quarterback class of next year.

In the 2013 NFL draft, Matt Barkley, Robert Griffin III, Landry Jones, Tyler Wilson, Aaron Murray and Tyler Bray could all be available. Next year could be one of the deepest, most-talented quarterback classes in history.

Although this option has less than a one percent chance of happening, I think we should consider it.

If we traded down our sixth pick and built our offensive line, wide receiving core and secondary, we would be a quarterback away from seriously competing for a Super Bowl in the 2013 season.

At that point, trading a bunch of picks for one of the top QBs next year would not be that big of a deal because most of our needs would be taken care of.

I know many people are groaning at this suggestion, but if we gave Rex Grossman a good line, wide receiving core and a defensive secondary that could be relied on, we would be the 2006 Chicago Bears, and maybe this time, he wouldn't lose the Super Bowl.

A Combination of Things...

Finally, we could do a combination. We could trade down to the end of Round 1, acquire a bunch of picks in the process and fill our quarterback position by signing a free-agent quarterback.

Whatever happens this offseason, Mike Shanahan will do what’s best for the team, and I am confident he will give us the best chance to win next year.

I, for one, am happy that the "Suck for Luck" campaign is finally over, so we can actually focus on some old fashion football and none of that nonsense ever again!

Let me know what you think, and I thank you in advance for your comments.