Washington Redskins Must Have an Open Competition at Quarterback This Offseason

Somebody clearly forgot to tell the Washington Redskins the old saying that insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

How else do you explain the decision to anoint Robert Griffin III the starting quarterback four seasons running?

It's tough to justify that call when two of the last three seasons have been a jumbled mess of injuries, controversy and mediocre play under center. Actually, those performances were aspiring to be mediocre.

Yet it's Groundhog Day again at Redskins Park. The draft hasn't even been held, and Griffin already knows he has the job. In fact, he knew it even before free agency began.

That's despite a head coach who didn't draft him and has rarely seem convinced by him, as well as a new general manager. Scot McCloughan may be changing the way the Redskins do things in free agency and the draft, but it's same old, same old at quarterback.

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Tying fortunes to Griffin has done nothing for this franchise except earn it a prolonged negative news cycle. It's unhealthy to be so dependent on one player, particularly when that player's development is still an ongoing process, one where the dial is closer to zero than further away from it.

The healthier thing is to have a wide-open competition at the position.

It's frankly baffling that the Redskins have tripped over themselves to close that door. After all, this is a team that refuted the increasingly common practice of NFL teams by keeping three quarterbacks on the roster when they brought back Colt McCoy.

Retaining the three players who all started at various times last season seemed to be an obvious declaration of a competition. Griffin's firm footing contradicts that, a contradiction that runs throughout the organization, at least based on some of McCloughan's thoughts, per ESPN Redskins reporter John Keim:

The problems at quarterback loom like a specter over every attempt this franchise makes to gain progress. Consider the last two offseasons as prime examples.

This year has been all about revamping the defense. McCloughan has smartly committed to recruiting talent for the more aggressive, attack-first 3-4 Gruden and new defensive coordinator Joe Barry want.

But even if 2014's 30th-ranked scoring defense is significantly more stingy this season, will the offense do enough to supplement it? That should be a certainty with the players Washington boasts on the other side of the ball.

Last year, wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Andre Roberts joined Pierre Garcon, tight end Jordan Reed and prolific workhorse running back Alfred Morris. Niles Paul's breakout year in 2014 gave the offense yet another weapon.

As a supporting cast, this six-man-strong contingent is on a par with any of the NFL's best. It's an embarrassment of riches.

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Yet the real embarrassment is that even with skill position players this talented, the Redskins ranked 26th in points last season. That lowly ranking is rooted in the problems at quarterback.

Will it be any different in 2015? If Griffin is under center, the growing pains are likely to be severe. There's just too much to fix with his game.

Gruden spelled out the scale of his starter's problems at the recent owners' meetings, per Zac Boyer of The Washington Times:

"

Every quarterback in the National Football League, whether you’re 39 years old or 24 years old or 25, you have to continue to work on your fundamentals every offseason. He’s got to do that. Then, from the Xs and Os part of it, you know, that’s just something he’s going to have to work through and figure out how to do it.

"

"Figure out how to do" the X's and O's. Think about how scary that sounds for a moment.

Reading defenses, sound footwork and making quick, smart throws are core skills any competent quarterback needs to survive in the pros. They are the basics.

So is getting rid if the ball quickly to avoid pressure. Of course, pressure's always going to be a factor behind an offensive line that gave up 58 sacks last season.

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But how many of those sacks owed their origins to Griffin holding on to the ball for ages? It's telling the team has yet to make a move to upgrade last season's quintet of starters up front. That's a clear indication coaches don't hold the men in the trenches solely responsible for the pass-rushers' feeding frenzy in 2014.

Those 58 sacks are also a vivid example of how fundamentally flawed quarterback play wrecks an offense and a team as a whole.

That's the real problem with Griffin. Making it work requires building him from the ground up. It's essentially like working with a rookie, except Washington has been stuck in Year 1 for the last two seasons.

Maybe that's why talk of the Redskins drafting Marcus Mariota keeps gathering pace. McCloughan isn't even prepared to put a lid on it, per Keim:

B/R's Jason Cole has even revealed that the buzz regarding Mariota to D.C. is real:

Maybe replacing Griffin with Mariota would be best for the franchise—or perhaps building around another read-option quarterback would be repeating recent bad history.

But why's it even being discussed if the Redskins already have their starter? Probably for the same reason the team is holding off on securing Griffin's long-term future, according to McCloughan, via CSN Washington's Tarik El-Bashir:

It's those contradictions again. The same contradictions that have Gruden handing Griffin the keys to the kingdom but not sounding too confident about it.

Real Redskins blogger Rich Tandler carried one more telling Gruden sound bite from the owners' meeting: “He’s got the starting job right now. Hopefully he takes it and runs with it.”

A coach doesn't sound convinced when he's hoping his choice for starting quarterback makes the grade. Gruden might as well have made this statement while crossing his fingers on one hand and using the other to toss some salt over his shoulder.

A starting quarterback should have the full confidence of his head coach. The fact Griffin doesn't is just one more indication that the Redskins are handling their most important offseason decision the wrong way.

Everything about the way they're handling it is backwards. Consider this scarcely believable quote from Tandler's article:

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As Griffin takes the first-team snaps, McCoy and Cousins will share the others, Gruden said on Wednesday. Although it won’t be a quarterback competition in the traditional sense, with two QB’s splitting the first-team reps and the coach declaring a winner at some point, there still will be very much a competitive situation. If Griffin plays his way out of the job, whoever is deemed to be ahead between Cousins and McCoy will move into the starting quarterback job.

"

"Plays his way out of the job?" Come again?

Griffin should be expected to play his way into the job, rather than almost being positioned to fail. If the onus is on him to lose the job rather than claim it, how can he develop?

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The answer is he can't, not when every mistake he makes, mistakes that are inevitable for any developing quarterback, could serve as the death knell for his time as starter.

If there's this lack of confidence in his overall chances, why isn't Griffin part of a wide-open competition? After all, both Kirk Cousins and McCoy showed they could win for Washington last season.

It's not as if every member of this trio doesn't offer qualities Gruden would welcome in his eventual starter. Griffin's athletic dynamism is still enticing, even after some serious injuries.

Yet McCoy has a knack for winning and an excellent understanding of the playbook. Meanwhile, Cousins, for all his inefficiency and fragile confidence, is the best fit for the pocket-based attack Gruden favors.

Keith McMillan of The Washington Post recently asked why Cousins isn't being given a longer look. He lamented the idea that Cousins' propensity for interceptions condemns him permanently while Griffin's fundamental woes can apparently be cured.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

McMillan referenced some key numbers to make the case for the passer on this roster who he believes may have the "highest ceiling":

"

When you look at the three quarterbacks’s numbers side by side, none clearly emerges. But Cousins stands out by a couple measures: He took just eight sacks in 213 dropbacks, a sack rate of 3.76%. McCoy took 17 sacks in 150 dropbacks, for an 11.33 sack percentage, and Griffin was sacked 33 times in 265 dropbacks, a 12.45% rate (Dropback numbers are from ProFootballFocus; pro-football-reference has Griffin with a 13.4 sack percentage). ...

Cousins threw as many interceptions as McCoy (3) and Griffin (6) combined, but he also threw more touchdown passes (10, to four for each of the other two) combined. In fewer attempts. He has a high interception percentage, but the highest percentage of touchdown throws. Cousins’s passing yards per game (285) far outpaced McCoy (211.4) and Griffin (188.2).

"

Those numbers shouldn't guarantee 2012's fourth-round pick the job, not with his habit of connecting with the opposition more than any coach would like. But those positive indicators should at least grant him more of a chance to earn starting reps.

Gift-wrapping the job for a player who still has so much to learn won't magically make Griffin a better quarterback. It also won't free this team's fate from being determined by one player's progress.

A true, open competition is what's best for every quarterback on this roster. It would also be best for this franchise moving forward.

Instead, the Redskins seem content to repeat the worrying pattern of leaning on a quarterback who cost a king's ransom in 2012 but has held progress hostage for the last two seasons.

All statistics, player information and team rankings via NFL.com, unless otherwise stated.