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The Washington Redskins are in desperate need of a quarterback after losing both Alex Smith and Colt McCoy to broken legs. Smith suffered a compound fracture, breaking his fibula and tibia on Nov. 18 against the Houston Texans. McCoy suffered his injury Monday in the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite the dire situation, the Redskins won’t be signing Colin Kaepernick.
“Not a lot of time to get a brand new QB and a system installed and taught in a couple days. He’s been talked about and discussed, but we’ll probably go in a different direction,” Redskins head coach Jay Gruden told reporters, per John Keim of ESPN.
Mark Sanchez replaced McCoy in Monday’s 28-13 loss to the Eagles. Sanchez was signed on Nov. 19 following Smith’s injury to backup McCoy. Now, he will be thrust into the starting position with two weeks of preparation.
Despite the short time with the Redskins, there is some familiarity for Sanchez who worked with current Redskins quarterbacks coach Kevin O’Connell while he was a teammate with the New York Jets. Additionally, Redskins current offense coordinator Matt Cavanaugh was Sanchez’s quarterbacks coach from 2009-12 with the Jets. However, Kaepernick had O’Çonnell as his quarterbacks coach in 2016 while with the 49ers. That season, Kaepernick started 11 games, completing 59.6 percent of his passes for 2,241 yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. He posted a 90.7 quarterback rating but the 49ers had a record of 1-10 in the games he started.
Gruden’s explanation was sufficed for some, like Keim.
that's fine… you can call BS on it and I'm fine with that… but i don't know why people don't get how much they'd have to change O to get him to help in this sort of situation. they didn't change O for him. Also: doesn't mean KOC liked him. would have some insight
— John Keim (@john_keim) December 4, 2018
However, Mark Bullock of the Athletic begged to differ, calling Gruden’s explanation “nonsense.”
This is nonsense from Gruden. Just finished writing a piece that shows Kaepernick is familiar with a number of concepts that the #Redskins ran with Smith at QB. He’d give them a clear plan of attack and a run game foundation to build from. https://t.co/WneIQDbBtW
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) December 4, 2018
Whenever a team is need of a quarterback, outside interest rises for Kaepernick, but like so many other teams, the Redskins will pass on signing the polarizing quarterback.
Nonetheless, Sanchez is the only remaining quarterback on the Redskins roster, and they’ll be in need of signing someone to backup him up at the very least.
