The drama in D.C. over the past couple seasons has been among the most interesting things to keep tabs on around the NFL. That all may have come to a culmination Monday afternoon when Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden made a stunning announcement.
You read that right. The Redskins, attempting to create some sense of stability at quarterback, just named Kirk Cousins the starter for the entire season. This comes on the heels of the team continually indicating Robert Griffin III was the man to lead the team.
Sadly, everything seemed to change over the course of the past week-plus. RGIII apparently suffered a concussion in the Skins Week 2 preseason outing against the Detroit Lions. And after initially clearing him to play this past weekend against the Baltimore Ravens, it was deemed that RGIII wasn't ready to return to the field.
None of this played a role in Gruden's decision. Instead, the head coach, who has been publicly critical of RGIII throughout the past year, is simply prepared to move on from the much-maligned signal caller.
The interesting dynamic here is that Washington picked up the $16.2 million option for RGIII next year, meaning that it's going to be incredibly hard for the team to trade him. Based off Monday's news, it's also going to be hard for the team to keep him as a backup.
Stay tuned, somehow I don't think this is the end of the drama.
Fantasy Slant
None of the Redskins three quarterbacks were standard league options in the first place. Because of his past success, RGIII was likely the one we'd keep tabs on through the waiver process early in the season. Based off his performance last year and thus far this preseason, Cousins isn't rosterable in standard 12-teams leagues. He's likely not even a daily option unless faced with an extremely favorable matchup — something that will likely occur at times in an NFC East filled with bad secondaries.