The Redskins will report to training camp on July 25. Over the next five weeks they will undergo the process of cutting their 90-man roster down to 53. Which players will get those coveted spots and which will join the ranks of the unemployed? Over the next couple of weeks we’ll go through position by position and try to predict what decisions Mike Shanahan and company will make.
So far we’ve covered the running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers (see below for breakdowns). Today, it’s the quarterbacks.
There are four QB’s on the roster, the Redskins will keep three.
In: Robert Griffin III, Rex Grossman, Kirk Cousins
Out: Jonathan Crompton
Changes from 2011: John Beck (3 starts in 2011) out, Griffin and Cousins in; average age drops from 30.5 years to 25.4
Breakdown
This has been pretty well set since that controversial moment when the Redskins took Cousins with a fourth-round pick. That was two days after Washington drafted Griffin with the second overall selection.
As Mike Shanahan announced in the early going, Griffin is “the starter, period.” He will take the vast majority of the first-team reps in camp and will be behind center when the Redskins open at New Orleans on Sept. 9 and, everyone involved hopes, for every game for the next decade or so.
Grossman is likely to start the season as the second-team quarterback but Cousins could push him for the position as the year goes on. The Redskins and their fans fervently hope that the identity of the second-string quarterback is only a matter of semantics and that RG3 will live up to the hype and remain healthy.
Last year they carried only two quarterbacks on the roster, Grossman and John Beck, who has been released. The addition of the third signal caller will have ripple effects through the roster as there will be one fewer player at another position.
Crompton spent last year on the practice squad and although he is eligible to do so again that is unlikely. With three QB’s on the roster there is no room for a fourth.
Projections to date (click for details and breakdown):
In: Roy Helu Jr., Tim Hightower, Evan Royster, Darrell Young
Out: Tristan Davis, Alfred Morris, Antwon Bailey, Lennon Creer
In: Fred Davis, Niles Paul, Chris Cooley
Out: Logan Paulsen, Richard Quinn, Beau Reliford
In: Anthony Armstrong, Pierre Garçon, Leonard Hankerson, Josh Morgan, Santana Moss, Aldrick Robinson
Out: Brandon Banks, Terrence Austin, Darius Hanks, Brian Hernandez, Lance Lewis, Samuel Kirkland
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