Redskins QB Comparison: RG3 vs Cousins vs McCoy
After the 2014 season, the Washington Redskins were still left with question marks on who will be the starting quarterback of the 2015 season. RG3 performed well to start the season, but a dislocated ankle in the second week of the season opened the door to controversy for backup quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy. This breakdown will analyze RG3’s, Kirk Cousins’, and Colt McCoy’s 2014 season performances individually and then it will compare all three quarterbacks based on the characteristics that encompass a franchise quarterback in the NFL such as arm strength, accuracy and decision-making.
Stats
- RG3 - 147/214 (68.4%), 1694 yards, 7.92 ypa, 4 TDs, 6 INTs, 38 rushes, 176 yards, 1 TD in 9 games. Source
- Kirk Cousins - 126/204 (61.8%), 1710 yards, 8.38 ypa, 10 TDs, 9 INTs, 7 rushes, 20 yards in 6 games. Source
- Colt McCoy - 91/128 (71.1%), 1057 yards, 8.26 ypa, 4 TDs, 3 INTs, 16 rushes, 66 yards, 1 TD in 5 games. Source
RG3
Articles that were written about RG3 on a weekly basis:
In the beginning of the season, Redskins’ head coach Jay Gruden called a lot of quick passing plays and play-action bootleg rollouts similar to the play-calling of former Redskins’ offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. Like in previous years, this allowed RG3 to make quick reads and use his legs to escape the pocket to find receivers down the field.
Against the Texans and Jaguars, RG3 was very accurate with the football. He consistently made the correct read and throw on the play. This was expected as a lot of these plays were similar to Shanahan’s playbook. When asked to move past his first read, however RG3 struggled at times. He stared down the first receiver and then hesitated with the football not trusting his read or receiver to make the correct route. Additionally, RG3 lacked throwing with anticipation meaning he would wait for his receiver to fully make his cut and had clear separation before releasing the ball. This is a major problem seeing as the windows in the NFL are much smaller than they were at Baylor and would lead to missed opportunities even on routine throws like out routes.
RG3 also had a problem with taking too many sacks. In 214 passing attempts, RG3 was sacked 33 times which corresponds to 6.5 passes per sack. This is unacceptable. One might instantly blame the offensive line for these awful numbers, but many of the sacks were caused by RG3’s inability to progress past his first read and hesitation with the football. For comparison, Colt McCoy was sacked 17 times in 128 passes (7.5 passes per sack), while Kirk Cousins was sacked 8 times in 208 passes (26 passes per sack), while the offensive line remained mostly constant.
RG3 dislocated his ankle against the Jaguars in Week 2 after an impressive start to the season and didn’t return until he was healthy against the Vikings in Week 9. Versus the Vikings, RG3 showed continued improvement in the passing game going through his progressions which was a very good sign against a top defense. The Redskins ended up losing that game, but it was not RG3’s fault as the Redskins’ defense allowed the Vikings rookie quarterback and a suspect offense to score 29 points and a game-winning drive to seal the victory, while RG3 helped the Redskins score 26 points against their top defense. RG3 started against the Buccaneers in Week 11 and 49ers in Week 12 and performed miserably. Any sign of progression from the Vikings game was lost, as RG3 started taking more and more sacks with a lot of them being his fault due to his inability to progress through his reads and throw the football. Due to these performances, RG3 was benched in favor of Colt McCoy and only returned after McCoy was sent to the injury reserve with a neck injury.
After RG3 returned, he didn’t show the same mental ability like he did in the beginning of the season to diagnose coverages and throw to the correct receiver, because Gruden’s play-calling became more tradional as the season progressed. Nobody can honestly expect RG3 to suddenly become a great pocket passer overnight, but the end of the season was very disconcerting as you would have expected a 3rd year quarterback to be much futher in his development. RG3 has a lot to fix this off-season in order for him to be able to secure the starting quarterback position of the Washington Redskins in 2015 and the future.
Let’s take a look at some of RG3’s throws to illustrate a few points about his game:
1. Accuracy (Short/Medium/Deep)
a. Short-Medium Accuracy - Rank: #1/3
Play 8 - Tight window throw to hitch route. Great step into pocket and throw with accuracy to Garcon.
Play 10 - Great seam-route throw to Paul. Pefect placement.
Play 19 - RG3 throws the ball too far inside of his receiver for an interception.
b. Deep Accuracy - Rank: #3/3
Play 2 - RG3 scrambles to the outside and throws to Roberts running up the sideline. He needs to keep the ball in-bounds but throws it just outside for an incompletion.
Play 11 - Great deep ball throw to Jackson on the sideline. Could have been thrown slightly longer but still a good throw.
Play 15 - RG3 throws a beautiful long pass to Jackson on a post route. Amazing throw and he steps up into the pocket.
2. Vision and Decision-Making - Rank: #3/3
Play 21 - RG3 holds onto the ball way too long and scrambles backwards. Play resulted in positive gain, but not a good overall way to play the game in a west coast offense.
Play 32 - RG3 scrambling with three wide open receivers versus the Buccaneers.
Once RG3 escapes the pocket, he has a few options. Jackson is wide open on the left sideline. Roberts over the middle has a significant speed advantage over the LB who is covering him. Also, Garcon is wide-open over the middle. Instead, RG3 decides to keep it and rushes up the middle for a 10 yard gain.
RG3 holds onto ball too long and is indecisive. Gets hit in the process.
Play 34 - This was an infuriating play. RG3 has a perfectly clean pocket and can’t make the most of it. Jackson and Garcon BOTH get wide open yet RG3 doesn’t see them and he decides to scramble to the outside. This play should have been a 25 yard gain by any competent college QB, but RG3 decides to hold onto the ball too long causing the incompletion and gets destroyed in the process.
Play 45 - RG3 stares down his receivers and takes a sack. Awful vision and progressions on this play. Needs to continue through them.
3. Pocket Presence - Rank: #3/3
Play 3 - RG3 uses his mobility and pocket awareness to make a play using his feet to get outside to find a checkdown receiver. Great decision.
Play 37 - Great pocket presence to avoid the sack and move around the pocket for a completion over the middle underneath zone coverage.
4. Arm Strength - Rank: #1/3
Play 22 - Perfect sideline pass in-stride to Jackson on a go-route. Beautiful ball placement and great for looking off safety.
Play 29 - RG3 clearly shows arm strength in a 60 yard pass to the endzone. Just misses his target slightly in front of him.
Play 35 - Deep pass to Jackson just too far in front. This could have been a TD.
5. Anticipation - Rank: #3/3
Play 4 - RG3 throws a hitch route to Garcon with almost zero anticipation.
Play 91 - This is RG3’s weakest trait by far. He hesitates with the ball and rarely throws the ball before the receiver makes his cut. Only on design first-read passes does RG3 make his throw before the wide receiver cuts and even then it is still rare. Watch this play:
This was a snippet from my Week 17 RG3 versus the Cowboys analysis.
“In this play RG3 finds WR11 Jackson on the comeback route and hesitates throwing the ball. A brief moment later RG3 is taken down for a sack. This is the view of RG3 finding Jackson the sideline. This is literally the perfect moment where Jackson is starting to turn his hips to break free from his defender.
All RG3 has to do is release the football, but he hesitates and doesn’t trust his wide receiver. This is exactly what it is meant to “throw or not throw with anticipation.” RG3 SHOULD have released the ball, but he hesitates. If he threw threw it, this would have been a perfect decision. Instead he wants to wait for Jackson to fully break from his route. What a shame.”
RG3 NEEDS to fix this over the off-season. With windows getting smaller and smaller, RG3 has to improve on this in order to maximize his opportunities.
As you can see from the above plays, RG3 clearly has potential and the natural ability to be a great quarterback. He just is extremely raw in being a pocket passer. One thing that would help him tremendously is if he threw with more anticipation and just was more confident with his reads. He needs to trust his receviers to maximize opportunities.
On the next page we will look at Kirk Cousins.
Kirk Cousins
Cousins stepped in for RG3 early in the second week against the Jaguars and looked phenomenal. A lot of his plays were attributed to poor coverage by the Jaguars secondary, but he constantly made quick decisions with the football and threw the ball accurately to his wide receivers all afternoon on some truly incredible throws. He started the next four weeks with mixed results. Against the Eagles (Week 3) he was phenomenal again dominating the air hitting his wide receivers consistently with well thrown balls, but against the Giants (Week 4) he played horribly throwing four interceptions due to inaccuracy, staring down his receiver, and not reading the coverage properly. Against Seattle (Week 5), Cousins consistently threw behind his target and tried to force throws over the middle of the field. Cousins regained some of his accuracy versus Arizona (Week 6), but he still tried to force throws and still didn’t fully see underneath zone coverage. Cousins started against the Titans (Week 7), but was benched in favor of Colt McCoy due to the offense’s inefficiency and Cousins’ turnovers.
The interesting thing about Cousins’ is how similar he reminds me of Rex Grossman, but a better more controlled version of him. Say, Rex Grossman 2.0. Grossman throughout his career was immaculate throwing the crossing routes and slant routes over the middle of the field, but struggled with touch passes and way too often forced the ball into covered receivers. Cousins shares a lot of similarities. He tends to force throws just like Rex, but his deep ball is a lot more accurate and even in his young career has shown clearly more potential than Grossman due to his underrated arm strength and release on the throws.
Let’s take a look at some of Cousins’ throws to illustrate a few points about his game:
1. Accuracy (Short/Medium/Deep)
a. Short-Medium Accuracy - Rank: #3/3
Play 3 - WR12 Roberts runs a post route underneath Cover 2 and Cousins finds him over the middle for large gain on the play.
Play 12 - TE84 Paul on a crossing route. Cousins does a great job of airing the ball out to him to avoid the linebacker underneath.
Play 34 - There were times in the Seattle game where Cousins did not look confident. Like this play, that he would routinely complete.
Play 41 - Cousins throws behind Roberts. This is also a play similar to Play 34 where Cousins is usually excellent at completing.
Play 45 - WR11 Jackson runs a banana route. Cousins does a good job of looking off the safety and finding him for a perfectly lofted ball on Sherman.
b. Deep Accuracy - Rank: #1/3
Play 1 - Deep post route to Jackson. Ball was placed only in a spot where Jackson could get it.
Play 9 - Great deep ball accuracy, but Garcon can’t hold onto it.
Play 22 - One of my favorite passes by Cousins. Perfect deep ball placement on go-route to Garcon.
Play 28 - My other favorite throw by Cousins. Perfect lob pass to Paul over the middle of the field between Cover 2 and a linebacker underneath.
Play 43 - Deep pass to Jackson on post-corner. Amazing throw, but stares down receiver.
2. Vision and Decision-Making - Rank: #2/3
Play 21 - Here Cousins tries to force the ball and doesn’t see the safety. Lucky only an incompletion.
Play 29 - Cousins locks into Garcon and it’s almost intercepted. Had TE and RB open instead, but doesn’t see them.
Play 33 - Throw to Jackson in Cover 2 where Cousins had skinny-post down middle open, but locks into one receiver.
Play 42 - Cousins stares down Garcon and lets the ball sail. He doesn’t see the safety over top as well. Lucky this wasn’t picked.
Play 49 - Cousins tends to force passes when he feels pressure. Here he forces it to RB46 Morris when Cousins is getting rushed. Should have just thrown it to his feet instead.
Play 56 - This is my least favorite play by Cousins all season. He completely missed the underneath zone cornerback for a pick six and throws across his body.
3. Pocket Presence - Rank: #2/3
Play 40 - Cousins feels the pressure and scrambles outside the pocket finding his TE over the middle. He did have Paul on the out-route as well.
Play 48 - Poor pocket presence in this play. Cousins needs to shift away from RT74 Polumbus who got blown up on the bull-rush.
4. Arm Strength - Rank: #2/3
Play 25 - Overthrown deep ball to Paul. Missed opportunity.
5. Anticipation - Rank: #2/3
Play 5 - Hitch route thrown with great anticipation Grant.
Play 14 - Another hitch route with great anticipation to Jackson.
Play 15 - Outside curl route to Jackson showing accuracy and great timing.
As you can see from the above plays, Cousins certainly has potential. He has surprising dowfield accuracy, makes ridiculously quick decisions, and actually does a good job as a pocket passer in our system. If he can clean up his turnovers and not force throws like in Play 49, he could make for an interesting case at starting quarterback next season.
On the next page we will look at Colt McCoy.
Colt McCoy
Articles written about Colt McCoy on a weekly performance basis:
Kirk Cousins lost the quarterback job after McCoy led the Redskins to a comeback victory against the Titans in Week 7. The following week, McCoy led the Redskins to a Monday night upset victory over the Cowboys in AT&T stadium. It must be noted that the defense played exceptional all evening led by rookie cornerback Bashaud Breeland’s stellar play. RG3 returned from injury to reclaim the starting quarterback position in Week 9 against the Vikings, but was benched in favor of McCoy after two horrible games against the Buccaneers and the 49ers. McCoy made some good throws and probably would have kept the starting quarterback position for the rest of the season, but he suffered back-to-back neck injuries against the Rams and Giants in Weeks 14 and 15, respectively, and was put on injured reserve for the remainder of the season.
Against the Titans, McCoy threw with anticipation on short routes like in his first pass of the game. It was a simple hitch route that was excellently thrown to Garcon that resulted in a 70 yard score due to Garcon’s running ability. In Week 13, McCoy looked very impressive against the Colts defense. He started the game shakily missing some routine throws, but ended up putting a good game together even though the Redskins were blown out by Luck. The same can not be said about the Wweek 14 matchup versus the Rams however.
Against the Rams, McCoy missed a lot of easy throws and was generally inaccurate. A very dissapointing performance that ended early with a neck injury. McCoy was cleared by the medical staff, but suffered a second neck injury at the end of the first quarter against the Giants (Week 15) and was placed on injured reserve shortly after.
Let’s take a look at some of McCoy’s throws to illustrate a few points about his game:
1. Accuracy (Short/Medium/Deep) - Rank: #2/3
a. Short-Medium Accuracy
Play 2 - McCoy has trips right and finds Roberts on an out-route for the first down. Excellent ball placement to make sure Roberts was the only player that could come down with the ball.
Play 5 - Play-action bootleg to the left, McCoy finds Jackson over the middle on a crossing route for what could have been a huge gain. Instead, McCoy places the ball inaccurately behind and low not allowing Jackson any yards after the catch. This is a throw that McCoy NEEDs to get better at. Very dissapointing as this was an easy opportunity.
Play 17 - Quick slant route to Reed. Excellent short throw over the middle.
Play 20 - Easy drag route pass that McCoy misses high and behind to Garcon.
Play 25 - Overthrown ball over the middle to Grant on a post-route that was intercepted.
b. Deep Accuracy - Rank: #2/3
Play 9 - McCoy throws off his back-foot deep left to Jackson on a go-route. Underthrown ball from backfoot. He was about to be hit though.
Play 25 - Excellent inside shoulder deep go-route throw to Jackson. Davis was beat off of the snap, but was overpursuing so the underthrown, short throw was actually well placed.
2. Vision and Decision-Making - Rank: #1/3
Play 6 - McCoy led the Redskins to a victory against Dallas, but it wasn’t all pretty. In this play, McCoy stares down his receiver and completely doesn’t see the safety in Cover 2 when he should have thrown short to Jackson in the flat. Awful decision and throw.
Play 10 - McCoy trips in the backfield and is able to scramble up the pocket for 7 yards. Excellent recovery and decision showing his very underrated mobility.
Play 15 - McCoy stares down his first wide receiver and ends up taking a sack. His receiver was covered the entire play, he needs to continue through his progressions.
3. Pocket Presence - Rank: #1/3
Play 4 - McCoy senses the pressure coming from the stunts between the RT and RT so he scrambles outside avoiding the sack. If McCoy could have kept the ball in-bounds this would have been a touchdown.
4. Arm Strength - Rank: #3/3
Play 7 - Underthrown deep ball to Jackson on a deep-post route. Jackson had the etnire defense beat. This needs to be thrown 5 yards longer for Jackson to catch it in stride.
Play 14 - McCoy throws the ball to Jackson on an out-route. The ball is left underthrown for what could have been an easy completion based on Jackson’s separation from his defender.
5. Anticipation - Rank: #1/3
Play 1 - McCoy’s first pass of the season after replacing Kirk Cousins was to Garcon on a hitch route. Garcon’s YAC-ability should definitely be noted, but it was McCoy’s excellent anticipation on this throw that allowed Garcon to make a move unimpeded after the catch.
Play 22 - Excellent anticipation on comeback route to Jackson.
As you can see from these plays, McCoy made good decisions most of his plays. Automatically, based on Gruden’s system of short passes and crossing routes, McCoy will look better due to his excellent anticipation and surprising mobility, but his lack of arm strength and inconsistent accuracy especially in the Rams game does not give the Redskins a chance to win in the long run unfortunately.
On the final page we look at a full comparison between the three quarterbacks.
Quarterback Comparison
In the previous three pages we looked at each quarterback individually, but on this page we will compare all three quarterbacks based off of desired traits that are necessary to be a starting NFL quarterback.
1. Accuracy (Short/Medium/Deep)
a. Short-Medium Accuracy
1. RG3
2. Colt McCoy
3. Kirk Cousins
b. Deep Accuracy
1. Kirk Cousins
2. Colt McCoy
3. RG3
Accuracy is the most important trait of a starting quarterback in the NFL. The ability to perfectly place throws across the field, on target, and in-stride can’t be understated. The game of football is getting more and more complex with timing routes, backshoulder passes, and plays that require even more practice and perfection. Gruden runs a west coast offense that relies on short passing routes and then occasional deep shots down the field. Short accuracy usually refers to passes under 10 yards, which are typically quick outs, slants, and hitch routes. Medium accuracy refers to 10-20 yard throws which routes like in-routes, out-routes, and seam routes. Lastly deep accuracy refers to anything greater than 20 yards which are typically your go, post and corner routes. Here are ProFootballFocus’ passes by direction for each quarterback. Note: Scouts usually create similar tables when analyzing quarterbacks for the NFL Draft.
RG3 (from ProFootballFocus)
Cousins (from ProFootballFocus)
McCoy (from ProFootballFocus)
Looking at these charts you can see that short passes (less than 10 yards) were thrown most by RG3 (76.9%) of his passes, while Cousins (65.1%) and McCoy (71.8%) of his passes. For medium passes (passes between 11-20 yards), RG3 threw the least (12.6%), Cousins threw the most (21.9%) and McCoy was in the middle (18.5%). For deep passes (greater than 20 yards), Cousins attempted the most (13.0%) and completed the highest percentage (48%) while RG3 and McCoy threw similar numbers (~10%) yet RG3’s deep ball only was completed 28.6% versus McCoy’s 41.7%. RG3’s deep ball accuracy was the biggest surprise dropoff. Coming from Baylor he had one the best deep balls and completed 16/37 (43.2%) his 2012 rookie season. So clearly something happened to his deep ball.
In 2014, Cousins had the best deep ball and it showed on multiple occasions where I was left in awe analyzing his perfect accuracy, but Cousins also struggled with inconsistency especially if he lost confidence or felt rushed. McCoy was one of the most inconsistent players in terms of accuracy across the middle. He’d throw a perfect comeback route, then miss a wide-open drag route. RG3 was typically good at hitting short throws and the vast majority of his throws were short, but once he switched to a more traditional multi-read pocket-passer, his accuracy suffered as did his confidence.
2. Vision and Decision-Making
1. Colt McCoy
2. Kirk Cousins
3. RG3
Vision refers to the ability of the quarterback to see the field and find the open receiver on the play. This is done by route separation by the wide receiver, or by the quarterback throwing the wide receiver open with route anticipation. A quarterback needs to be able diagnose coverages and determine who should get the football based on how the defense presents itself during the play. This is a very difficult job which is why many rookie quarterbacks tend to throw a lot of interceptions due to their inability to read coverages and how it relates to game speed.
This was a difficult thing to compare. It’s easy to see that RG3 has the worst vision and decision-making of the group while Cousins’ decision-making is so quick that it produces interceptions by forcing balls. McCoy made the correct decision with the ball the vast majority of the time and made a quick choice, not as fast as Cousins, but still acceptable to move this fast-paced offense. The only reason why Cousins is behind McCoy is because of his tendency to not see underneath coverages. If Cousins can improve on that, he could be an excellent quarterback. RG3 switching from Baylor’s three-zone offense to a standard pocket passer is going to be a rough transition. We’ll see what happens after this off-season.
3. Pocket Presence
1. Colt McCoy
2. Kirk Cousins
3. RG3
Pocket presence is the trait of a quarterback to sense and feel pressure coming from the pass rushers. A quarterback needs to be able to move fluidly around the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield all while sensing the pressure with his peripheral vision. It’s a difficult task, but this trait separates the average from the elite.
McCoy typically does a good job of avoiding pressure and moving around the pocket. Cousins is a close second but that’s mainly due to him being so quick with throwing the ball. RG3 is the worst of the group, even though he definitely has improved on his ability to step into the pocket and stand poised as he delivers a pass downfield.
4. Arm Strength
1. RG3
2. Kirk Cousins
3. Colt McCoy
Arm strength is important, but way too often overrated by fans. The difference between throwing the ball 65 yards and 62 yards is not what will make or break a quarterback. What will make-or-break a quarterback in the NFL is the ability to throw the ball with velocity and be able to put “touch” on the football when necessary. The difference is small, but important. If a window is closing, can a quarterback see the hole and throw it to the wide receiver before a safety or cornerback breaks on the ball? It’s this ability to squeeze a football threw tight coverage while maintaining speed is the important thing to watch for. For example, an 18 yard out route is one of the most difficult throws to make due to the speed of the cornerbacks and the safeties, due to the time necessary for the ball to travel to the sideline. An underthrown ball gives the defense an opportunity to intercept it.
RG3 can fling the ball downfield at the flick of his wrist even with poor footwork, while falling backwards. His arm is extremely impressive at times with the ability to just rip the ball across the field or over deep safety coverage to hit a wide-open DeSean Jackson go-route. For most people, that throw would take a lot of arm strength, but in fact if RG3 is going to miss a deep ball throw it is because the ball is usually overthrown and not underthrown.
Cousins has surprising downfield throwing ability and can successfully squeeze the ball into tight windows. His problem is that he often lets the football sail on him which causes turnovers or incompletions.
McCoy clearly has the weakest arm of the group and leaves the ball underthrown at times. This is what led him to be drafted in the 3rd round as opposed to an earlier round due to his decreased ceiling as compared to other quarterbacks in that draft class.
5. Anticipation
1. Colt McCoy
2. Kirk Cousins
3. RG3
Anticipation is an extremely underrated trait, but still only fifth most important when analyzing a quarterback. Throwing with anticipation refers to the quarterback’s ability to throw a receiver open or ability to predict where the ball should be placed before the wide receiver makes his cut. On a hitch route, for example, the ball should be thrown before the wide receiver even makes the cut back to the quarterback at the top of the stem. This is why a major wide receiver training drill is when they practice turning and catching a ball with the jugs machine in practice.
McCoy leads this category and usually does an excellent job throwing with anticipation. He clearly releases the ball before the cut and does a good job of placing it the vast majority of the time. Cousins could be better at this by releasing the ball a quarter or half second sooner, but he still does a good job overall. I wouldn’t discredit him in this category. This is RG3’s weakest trait by far and something that needs to be fixed over the off-season.
6. Mobility
1. RG3
2. Colt McCoy
3. Kirk Cousins
Mobility is becoming more and more important in the NFL as read-option and play-action bootleg passing becomes more popular especially with the speed of the pass rushers. Quarterbacks with little to zero mobility with great other traits like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning are still the most preferred, but the threat of a running quarterback like Russell Wilson is still extremely appealing to offensive coordinators.
RG3 clearly has the best mobility of the group but needs to be more controlled with his movements. He did a much better job this year than the previous two years of getting to the ground and out-of-bounds to avoid unnecessary contact.
RG3 sees the entire side of the field wide-open and scrambles outside.
McCoy’s mobility is very underrated. He is surprisingly quick on read-option plays and can move around once he scrambles outside the pocket. Watch this play against the Colts found in my Week 13 Colt McCoy breakdown.
Cousins has the ability to scramble but rarely does. His MO is mainly throwing a very decisive pass sometimes forcing the ball before he ever scrambles. This is actually one of his best traits even though it does lead to turnovers.
7. Upside
1. RG3
2. Kirk Cousins
3. Colt McCoy
Upside is not as important for veteran football players as it is for NFL Draft prospects due to the wear and tear both physically and mentally on the player. However, it is still important to look at for the complete picture of a player. RG3 is the youngest at 24 with 3 years of NFL experience, Kirk Cousins is 26 with 3 years of NFL experience, while Colt McCoy is the oldest at 28 with 5 years of experience. Age is a very basic statistic and as all members are still under 30 years old, you need to look at potential development.
RG3 has clearly shown throughout his career that he has a very talented arm, and has the mobility to make big plays on the ground, but mentally he isn’t anywhere near where he should be three years into his career. He has played in 37 games in his first three seasons, but his extensive injury history and inability to be solely a pocket passer is what hurts him.
Cousins has shown flashes of absolute brilliance, it’s just way hard to ignore the predictable turnovers that is associated with starting him. He NEEDS to do a better job of protecting the football. Outside of this, and occasional mistakes with inaccuracy, he really only played in a total of 14 games while starting just 9 of them in his three year career, so he still has plenty of room to grow. Personally, I want to see him get another chance to lead the Redskins, because if he can clean up the turnovers he is literally a perfect fit for Jay Gruden’s offense and it showed at times in his five starts.
Colt McCoy has played in 33 games in his first five seasons in the NFL, and has shown to be a relatively safe, above-average player at the most important position. The journeyman quarterback has limited upside due to his age, lack of arm strength, and inaccuracy at times that make him a stop-gap starter or as a very talented backup. Based on these traits, I really hope the Redskins re-sign him as an insurance poicy to whoever wins the starting quarterback spot on the team of Cousins versus RG3.
RG3 is ranked number one in this category, but it’s suprisingly close with Cousins right behind him. McCoy is clearly third-best in this category.
Overall
Each of these three quarterbacks offer a different skill set. RG3 offers the most potential, Kirk Cousins is the best fit for the team’s offense currently, while McCoy is the most consistent of the group in terms of quarterback development. I would like to see Kirk Cousins be given another shot to lead the team. I think with another off-season of practice and a fair quarterback competition he could win the job outright even though the Redskins and fanbase have devoted so much to RG3 over the past three seasons. With that being said, it honestly makes sense why RG3 is so much more behind in terms of development due to his Baylor offense and his first two years in the league whereas Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy were both in pro systems in college.
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Colt McCoy, Film Breakdown, Football Breakdowns, Kirk Cousins, NFL Breakdowns, QB, RG3, Washington Redskins
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