Why the 'Skins should not draft Mark Sanchez

Dan Snyder's intrigue with Mark Sanchez is understandable. He's went to USC, he's already got the talent to make the NFL throws, he already looks good in burgundy and gold, and he got the star power that Snyder craves. So essentially there is nothing wrong with Sanchez but the Redskins still should NOT draft him. Wanna know why?
For one the Redskins do not need a QB at this moment. They have Jason Campbell who has yet to been a starter for two full years in any system dating back to high school. He may not be the answer but he still needs a chance to develop in a system that Jim Zorn has said takes at least two years to start to master.

The only reason Sanchez came out after his only year of starting at USC is because the top three QBs decided to stay in school. Tim Tebow doesn't have NFL capabilities yet but he's on his way with the way he played in the BCS Championship game throwing all over Oklahoma. Colt McCoy is a tremendous talent at Texas and plays against some of the best teams in the nation week in and week out. Then there is Sam Bradford who is by far the best in the 2010 class of QBs and sure as shit is ready to play at a high level in the NFL.

So the best thing for Snyder to do is let the Campbell experiment run another year. Campbell only has one year left on his contract and letting him play out his contract will give the Redskins an opportunity to see if he has what it takes to lead this team to the playoffs. Should Campbell not work out after the first half of the season, Snyder could force Zorn to play Colt Brennan and see if his preseason magic translates into the regular season. Should that work the 'Skins don't need to pick a QB as they have one waiting in the wings already. If Campbell does work out you can give him his deserving extension and all this talk of another QB is history.

But should Campbell not work out, the 'Skins would have more leverage with picks next year to move up in the draft to pick one of the three studs that will be coming out next year. This could also give Snyder the opportunity to toss Zorn aside and bring in a guy like Mike Shannahan or any other of the high quality coaches that are sitting out this year.

My opinion is to give Campbell a chance this year and wait to see if the 'Skins need to make a move in next year's draft to pick a better QB than Sanchez. It is nothing against Sanchez but he only came out this year because he knew that with only Matthew Stafford as the only other 1st rd QB he had the best chance to make his money this year as opposed to next year where he might be a late first rounder or early second round pick.

Dan Snyder needs to focus elsewhere on this team like the O-line, D-line, or Linebacker where the holes are glaring, rather than QB where the hole is only questionable.

Please Dan, don't pick Sanchez this year just because you like him in this year's draft. Next year there will be a better crop of players to trade up for and more leverage with the picks you haven't traded away yet. It'd be better for the team to focus on the non-glamorous players rather than the sexy pick. Do something smart for a change.

Jay Cutler to 'Skins?

Alright, so it may be obvious that I'm a 'Skins fan and have a bias towards writing about them in this blog. Well now with the rumors floating around that Jay Culter could be coming to the 'Skins in a trade that would send the incumbent QB Jason Campbell elsewhere I feel the need to show some stats and provide a view of why Cutler may not be the answer.
For a long time now I've backed Jason Campbell saying that he's been hamstrung by a front office that has made both coaching and personnel moves that are questionable. Now I did a little research this morning on stats from each players' 2008 season, which was arguebly the best in their short careers. Lets take a look;

Jay Cutler:

average rank of defense faced: 19.875

qb rating: 87.15

tds: 25

ints: 18

Jason Campbell:

average rank of defense faced: 12.9375

qb rating: 85.97

tds: 13

ints: 6

When you look at these stats you see that Cutler faced inferior defenses and had a higher rating. Cutler also threw 12 more TDs than Campbell but a caviat to that would be that he also threw 12 more INTs than Campbell as well.

Next lets look at the top 5 and bottom 5 games each had and their average QB ranking and the average rank of the defense in those games.

Jay Cutler:

Top 5

Avg Defense: 20.8

Avg QB Rating: 112.82

Bottom 5

Avg Defense: 17.4

Avg QB Rating: 63.82

Jason Campbell:

Top 5

Avg Defense: 18.2

Avg QB Rating: 109.82

Bottom 5

Avg Defense: 3.4

Avg QB Rating: 63.12

Now these statistics may be the most interesting. For Jay Cutler, his best five games last year on average faced a defense that was ranked 1-2 spots lower than Jason Campbell's five best games. Cutler did have a QB rating 3 pts better in these five games but can that be attributed to worse pass rated defenses? Maybe, maybe not. Now when you look at the bottom five games for each player something to me really stands out. On average Campbell faced defenses ranked 3.4 in his bottom five games and had an average QB rating of 63.12. When you look at Cutler you see that he faced defenses that averaged a rank of 17.4 and his QB rating was only marginally better at 63.82.

Maybe I'm reading way too much into this but most people are arguing over stats when comparing the two. But when you argue that Cutler is way better than Campbell a breakdown in stats shows that "way" better is only "marginally" better. I'm fine with Campbell and think that Zorn can make Campbell even better so giving up 2 first-round picks and possibly Campbell just to get Cutler doesn't make much sense. There are more important needs to fill on the 'Skins roster than QB. I guess we'll see how it all plays out.