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Originally Posted by That Fat Bastard on ESPN Insider
In a city where a sitting president actually debated the meaning of the while under oath, and where people study every inflection and nuance of every syllable, Washington Redskins quarterback Patrick Ramsey and coach Joe Gibbs turned very political last week. Ramsey denied, sort of, a report by ESPN's Chris Mortensen that he had asked to be traded following his Monday demotion from the starting lineup. Gibbs followed up by insisting Ramsey never made a trade request. But take this to the bank, courtesy of a pretty unimpeachable source: Ramsey, upset at being yanked after less than one half of football, and replaced by Mark Brunell, asked to be traded.
Oh, he might not have used the precise term trade, and that was convenient, since it then permitted him and Gibbs to publicly banter semantics. Ramsey might have said something like, "I think it's time to move me." Or maybe, "It would be best for everyone, Coach, if you dealt me to another team." In sports lingo, those buzzwords are tantamount to asking for a trade. C'mon, guys, we aren't rubes. Among the several admirable traits of Ramsey is his unflagging loyalty. Or at least his ability to bite his tongue. Under the current coaching staff, which traded for Brunell in the spring of 2004 and then swapped three draft choices for the opportunity to select Jason Campbell as the quarterback of the future, Ramsey has been nothing but screwed over. To be fair, he hasn't helped his own cause with his inconsistency and turnovers, no denying that. But the Gibbs staff has systematically undermined Ramsey, and eroded his confidence, and now it's made him the scapegoat for an offense that remains out of touch.
Gibbs was looking for any crack in Ramsey's armor to make a quarterback switch, and Ramsey provided it Sunday, first with a turnover, and then with a neck injury. Why the Redskins even started the season with Ramsey at the top of the depth chart, especially after Brunell had played markedly better in camp and preseason, is pretty amazing. Clearly, he was on about the shortest leash in NFL history. More like a choke collar, it seems, in retrospect. The best thing for all parties involved would be a trade. The problem there is that Ramsey's market value now has been diminished. A year ago, when the Redskins dealt for Brunell, five or six teams would have taken Ramsey, among them the Miami Dolphins, who subsequently acquired A.J. Feeley. But now, with the season having begun, the Redskins would find it difficult to trade Ramsey, period, let alone get anything remotely resembling market value. Which means Ramsey, unless he changes his mind and publicly pressures the franchise into a corner, figures to be little more than an expensive clipboard jockey for the balance of the season.
It will be interesting to see what transpires if (when?) Brunell is injured at some point. Even some in the organization privately concede the odds of his making it through the rest of the season unscathed are not good. Would the Redskins go back to Ramsey or simply begin the Campbell era? For now, Ramsey is working with the second unit. But we're hearing it won't be much longer until Ramsey is actually No. 3 on the depth chart. And it's a good bet that once the Redskins are eliminated from playoff contention, Campbell is going to get some starts.
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