By Reagan Ahlquist & Garrett Athey
Over the past decade, the Washington Redskins have been in search for a franchise quarterback to lead the team. At times, the organization had all the parts of a good team filled, except for a defining quarterback. The franchise thought they had their leader in Robert Griffin III, the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner. The team drafted him in the first round and Griffin led the team to the playoffs in his first year, but never repeated the success in the following years. After Griffin, the team thought another draft pick, Kirk Cousins, was destined to lead the team to victory. Cousins led the Redskins to the playoffs in 2015, but could never do it again. Many fans questioned whether the team should move on from Cousins or keep him and see if he could repeat the success of that 2015 season. But now, the Redskins think they have their missing puzzle piece after entering a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Redskins recieve Pro Bowl quarterback Alex Smith from the Chiefs in exchange for a third round draft pick and cornerback Kendall Fuller. Smith is coming off the best season of his career and is getting a four year contract from the Redskins with $71 million guaranteed. Washington fans have mixed feelings about the trade. Some are thrilled with the addition of an experienced quarterback who is a proven winner. Others were satisfied with Kirk Cousins and hate to see star cornerback Kendall Fuller leave the team. As a Redskins fans we find the trade to be a poor decision. When we had first heard of the trade we was all for it; we thought that Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen had a plan for once. We thought we would trade a late pick for Alex Smith and then draft a rookie quarterback and let him sit the bench for a year as he developed. Then Alex Smith would retire or leave and then the Redskins have their quarterback of the future. But having a logical plan for the future is not the Redskins way, instead we give Smith an extension until he is 38 years old. Not only does Washington have Smith until he is an old man, but they traded away a third round pick and Kendall Fuller. We could live with a third round pick, but trading away Kendall Fuller was idiotic. Kendall Fuller was rated the top slot corner in the league by Bleacher Report, and he led the league in least amount of yards allowed per reception. Fuller was arguably the best defender for the Redskins this season, and now he is on the Kansas City Chiefs. We am not the only person that shares this opinion about the trade. Glenelg students, like Senior Glenn Brown, who said, “It was an awful trade because Alex Smith is getting old and they paid him for the next four years and let go of one of the top slot corners in the league.” Brown has the same opinion about the trade as me and for the right reasons because the Redskins are not thinking about their future. Other people have different opinions of this trade though. Glenelg Senior, Andrew Considine, said, “It was a good trade because the Redskins would have had to franchise tag Cousins and it would have been worth over thirty million a year and nobody is worth that”. We do agree that paying Cousins that much money would be unwise and damaging to the franchise. Cousins will most likely get the biggest offseason deal in NFL history, and the Redskins do not have to break the bank to get him anymore. But to replace him with a quarterback who will be with the team until he is thirty-eight is not the right plan. And to trade away a valuable defensive player was not worth it. The Redskins would of been better off signing a cheap veteran, or using Colt McCoy, the backup quarterback, for the year and draft a rookie and let him sit and develop for the future. As fans, we only hope this trade does not damage the franchise too bad. Comments are closed.
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