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Originally Posted by GTripp0012
I collected some single season stats from the post Rypien era from some of the QBs who played here. Comparing Brunell's stats from 2005 the rest of these guys, I see many similarities. ....
All of these guys (except Shuler) went on to have considerable success other places. Gannon and Green have been pro bowlers many a time, and Johnson won a SB. Brunell, of course, had considerable success in Jacksonville, before coming over here.
Here's the big question: with all the journeymen who came through here with considerable success, why were none of them ever retained through long term contract.
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First, my compliments, Gtripp, on your well researched question.
I don't think we have to explain why Heath Schuler did not last here. But, he was part of the Redskins dream draft. The plan was to have Schuler throwing passes to scoring threats Desmond Howard and Michael Westbrook. You are maybe too young to remember this, but Schuler, Howard and Westbrook were
highly regarded college players. People spoke of them the way they talk about Bush, Lienert and Young today. Important to remember that the draft is a great way to build your team,
when it works. But it works best when you have time to develop young players. In today's free agency period, you are less likely to keep your stars, especially if they are skill players. It makes more sense to draft linemen and pick up skill players through free agency.
Gus Frerotte was adequate, but was not going to lead anyone to a title.
Trent Green was a salary cap casualty. The team might have kept him if John Kent Cooke was not preoccupied with keeping the Redskins in the family. He lost the Skins to Daniel Snyder. We lost Trent Green to Dick Vermeil and the St. Louis Rams.
We lost Brad Johnson to ownership arrogance. Daniel Snyder had his own ideas about how to build a team, despite absolutely
no experience in doing so, and no competent advisor who he respected. He drove GM Charlie Casserly out of town and did not replace him. Evidently, Snyder felt you could win NFL games through big plays all day, just like on Madden Football, and that you build teams by stocking big names rather than carefully matching your talent to your offensive and defensive schemes. So he undervalued the solid Johnson for ol' whatshisname, the forgettable QB with a big gun that
no other team in the NFL would touch.
Snyder was churning the roster big time with the imfamous $100 million team. Big names, big plays, big duds.
Gannon was just too early in his career. A new coach (Turner) and new offensive schemes didn't help. It takes a season or two for a new offensive or defensive scheme to jell. Gannon only had one really, really good season -- the year he led Oakland to the Super Bowl, where they lost to Brad Johnson and Tampa.
Incidentally, Johnson considered playing for Brian Billick and the Ravens instead of the Redskins. Billick was his offensive coordinator on the Vikings. Had he joined the Ravens, Johnson would have led them in the 2000 Super Bowl and Baltimore would almost certainly have returned before 2004 with Johnson at QB rather than Boller.