Regardless of John Beck's Performance, It's Not Time To Judge Mike Shanahan

When Mike Shanahan announced publicly that John Beck would be the Washington Redskins’ starting quarterback in Week 7, he was simply making the call that needed to be the made. The move that was best for the Redskins.

However, just hours following the early Wednesday morning broadcast, people have already began to chalk up this week’s move to be one of Shanahan’s most critical as head coach of the Washington Redskins.

With all due respect to a columnist who I absolutely love–and I won’t mention names–the argument that this is an ideal time to gauge either Mike or Kyle Shanahan’s value as a talent evaluator is way off base.

In my opinion, Shanahan is working with what he has. He’s taking a business (Redskins) and attempting to make all the right moves in a positive direction without placing the company in a vulnerable position by overspending or basing critical decisions on speculation and forgotten pasts.

The benching of Rex Grossman and promotion of John Beck are in the best interest of both the Redskins football team and the Redskins fans. But this is far from concrete.

This move is temporary. Temporary in the sense of one, two or five seasons is yet to be determined, but it’s not the ultimate solution to the Redskins’ quarterback problem that has lingered for more than 15 years.

Shanahan knows this, and there’s a few good reasons why we shouldn’t try the head coach in the middle of town square for something that he’s handling better than anyone else could.

4. Don't Look at It as Going 0-3 at the Position

The Donovan McNabb trade was a disaster. Noted. The Rex Grossman experiment didn’t work out. We get that. But if John Beck happens to fail too, this isn’t solely on Shanahan.

Sure Shanahan came out and publicly backed Beck and said that he was the highest-rated passer on his board when he came out of college in 2007. But think about it.

First off, is Shanahan not going to embrace one of his own players, regardless of position?

And two, have you seen the 2007 quarterback class? The only passers taken before Beck were JaMarcus Russell, Brady Quinn and Kevin Kolb. If I had to guess, I’d say Beck was on the top of a few other coach’s quarterback lists too.

Touching back on Grossman for a minutehe was in Washington for two reasons. One, he was the only available quarterback with ample knowledge of Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Other than Houston starter Matt Schaub, Grossman was the only guy that even knew the playbook (and Dan Orlovsky doesn’t count).

And the second reason is because there appears to be some sort of friendship between Rex and Kyle. Is that documented or cited? No. But I know I’m not the only one with the feeling that Kyle and Rex get together at least one weekend a month outside of football.

McNabb seemed like a good move at the time. Of course giving up numerous draft picks for an older veteran quarterback isn’t ideal, but admit that you were excited when you heard Donovan was coming to D.C.

In retrospect, maybe the front office should have known something was up when Eagles head coach Andy Reid was looking to dump his favorite quarterback within the division. Maybe not.

3. What Have the 'Skins Given Up for These Guys?

When I say “these guys”, I’m referring to McNabb, Grossman and Beck (better known as Larry, Curly and Moe). If you look back at what was actually given up for these guys, or what it cost the Redskins, it was a few draft picks, a couple dollars and a Dutch.

Starting with the most costly, the Redskins traded a second-rounder in 2010 and a fourth-rounder in 2011 to the Eagles for Donovan McNabb. Once in Washington, it’s my understanding that McNabb received $17.5 million in 2010 and then another $3.75 million with that whack-ass contract extension that he signed late in the season.

Keep in mind that the Redskins traded McNabb to Minnesota a few months ago for a sixth-rounder in the upcoming draft and a sixth-rounder in 2013. In terms of net loss, I’m not losing any sleep over a project/situation that could have resulted in much worse.

In a close tie with the third, the Grossman contract is probably the second most costly. Last year as McNabb’s backup, I have no idea what Grossman’s contract was, but I’d be willing to bet that it wasn’t much (somewhere in the $800,000 – $1.5 million range). This season, as a “starter,” Grossman is making about $800-some thousand with incentives and bonuses that bring the contract up to about $1.15 million.

To you and I, this is a lot of money (hell, I get excited over a washed-out $5 bill that I find in my laundry), but in football, this is pocket change. For a 3-2 start to a season that no one was entirely sure about, Rex has probably already earned the million bucks.

And finally, the least costly of the three stooges, there’s John Beck. Before coming to the Redskins, Beck was riding pine in Baltimore while clinging on to offensive coordinator Cam Cameron—his former coach in Miami.

Beck didn’t have a shot at playing, and it was obvious. With the quarterback position very much up in the air for Washington, Shanahan made an offer that anyone could have refused. For some reason, Baltimore didnt.

The Redskins traded cornerback Doug Dutch to the Ravens, straight-up, for Beck. Now I don’t know about anyone else, but when you can trade an undrafted nickel back from your practice squad for a former second-round draft pick that you already had a liking for in the first place, I’d say go ahead and do it.

2. Look Beyond the Quarterback Position

Since we’re on the topic of critiquing the head coach and trying to find just how knowledgable he is in terms of scouting talent, why not look around at the rest of the team? After all, Shanahan was the key decision maker in those moves as well.

For instance, the Redskins snagged 12 picks in the 2011 NFL draft. Without Shanahan, this doesn’t happen. And when you look back at the players that were selected and their effectiveness, it’s not hard to argue that 2011 was one of the best Redskins’ draft classes in quite some time.

How about the defense? Without guys like Josh Wilson, Barry Cofield and Stephen Bowen, this defense doesn’t rank as one of the best in the league, and it’s very likely that the Redskins aren’t 3-2 right now. Shanahan stuck with the 3-4, found the personnel that he promised, and he now has the Redskins labeled as one of the league’s most threatening units.

And let’s not forget about the one-sided trades that landed the Redskins two starters in return for a bag of marbles.

It was Shanahan that traded veteran defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday to Arizona in exchange for a starting running back by the name of Tim Hightower. Regardless of Hightower’s role on the team as a starter or complementary back to Ryan Torain, it was a one-sided trade in favor of the Redskins. Hightower is a good running back that fits the scheme and is easily the Redskins best back in pass protection.

It was also Shanahan that traded 4-3 defensive lineman Jeremy Jarmon to Denver in exchange forstarting wideout Jabar Gaffney. Becoming one of the more reliable and trusted receivers on the team, Gaffney is one of my favorite pickups by the Redskins this offseason by any form. Getting rid of a guy that doesn’t fit your defensive scheme and landing a guy that is on pace for career-highs seems like a win for the ‘Skins.

Whatever happens with John Beck this Sunday, and beyond, would not undermine the roster moves that Shanahan has made elsewhere.

1. The 2012 Draft Class Is Time for Judgement

It was said that Shanahan didn’t take a quarterback in last year’s draft because he didn’t think any of them were better than what the team already had. Seeing as how the Redskins had only Grossman and Beck, that sounds extremely bad for the 2011 quarterback class. But, in all honesty, I think Shanahan was spot-on in terms of initial contribution to the team.

I think Shanahan would have had a hard time passing on Auburn’s Cam Newton if he were there at No. 10, and Shanahan admitted after the draft that he would have taken TCU’s Andy Dalton in the second round if he had stuck around. From the looks of each young man’s production thus far, either guy would have been a solid pickup in their own regard.

However, the anticipated 2012 quarterback class is much deeper than its 2011 counterpart and it’s almost a guarantee that Shanahan picks up a passer with “franchise” qualities in this year’s draft.

Over the years, Shanahan has been deemed as one that has a knack for finding quarterbacks. Although running backs may have given him more of a label, it’s the quarterback position that Shanahan is respected for. He groomed John Elway, worked some sort of wonders with Jake Plummer and he ignored critics when he drafted Jay Cutler 11th-overall in 2006.

Those were Shanahan’s “guys.” Before we start to assess Shanahan in Washington, we have to let him get “his guy.”

With the way the defense is playing, it doesn’t appear that the Redskins will pick high enough to land an Andrew Luck, Landry Jones or Matt Barkley. However, guys like Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins and Ryan Lindley are all quarterbacks that have sky-high potential and could very well be available for the ‘Skins in the middle of the first round or later.

I understand that the quarterback position is arguably the most important position on the field, but we’ve all seen what happens when you throw your franchise quarterback into the fire when the rest of the team isn’t prepared for the big lights (see: Sam Bradford in St. Louis).

Shanahan is making all the right moves, and there’s bound to be bumps along the way. There always is. But at this point, there’s no reason to doubt the moves by Shanny or the direction of the Redskins franchise.

Until Shanahan drafts a flop and the Redskins are in the toilet, let’s try to keep the beheadings to a minimum.

In addition to being a Redskins Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, Shae Cronin is also the founder and lead writer at BetBigDC.com. You can also follow him on Twitter, @BetBigDC