Campbell's Value Over Cutler

In the aftermath of the Jay Cutler trade saga, the Washington Redskins are currently in the middle of repairing the relationship with their current starting QB Jason Campbell after rumors were floating around the league that they were trying to shop him for the pro bowl Denver QB. While Campbell is taking the professional, and anti-Cutler route, and claiming that everything is fine, sources from within the team are, not surprisingly, saying that he is extremely "pissed" about the whole situation, according to profootballtalk.com The Redskins have been drawing heavy criticism for failing to land Cutler and thus alienating their young QB, very similar to how Denver got themselves in their situation with Cutler in the first place. While Cutler is a star in the league and Campbell is still developing, I think it would have been unwise to deal Campbell in the first place.

Jason Campbell has had to learn a different offense every single year that hes been in the league thus far. Cutler has had the same offense in place since his rookie year. Yet Campbell managed to match Cutler completion of record of 62.3% while learning his new offense. Campbell had a very respectable QB rating of 84.3 while Cutler narrowly edged him out with an 86. If QB rating is an accurate measurement of quarterback production, then the Redskins would have been crazy to give up Campbell and numerous first round draft picks. The main reason Cutler had the higher rating was because he had more attempts because he played on a team that is extremely pass happy, and thus had more yards. Cutler gained 4,526 yards on 616 attempts, whereas Campbell had 3,245 yards on 456 attempts. Also, although both played in a west-coast system, Washington's style features many more shorter passes compared to Denver's. Thus Campbell had an average completion of 6.3 yards compared to Cutler's 7.4 yards. This then leads to the one potential knock on Campbell in that he probably should have had a higher completion percentage, but one must remember that he was learning a new offense and does not have the personnel that Denver has on the line and in their receiving corps which I will touch on later.

What is most important to look at though is their touchdown-interception ratio. Cutler had a little less than twice as many touchdowns, 25 compared to Campbell's 13, but actually had three times as many interceptions, 18 compared to Campbell's 6. Cutler makes way too many mistakes with the ball, which thus leads to interceptions. His offense was more wide open than Campbell's, which naturally leads to more interceptions, but this really should have led to more touchdowns too, especially given the fact that his receivers can really stretch the field and make plays with field with the ball in their hands.

This then brings me to the next topic, the teammates surrounding them. Cutler had an elite receiving corps in Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal who have amazing YAC ability, whereas Campbell's is really only average at best. Also Campbell's offensive line was dismantled the whole year basically. LT Chris Samuels and RT Jon Jansen once again suffered serious injuries midway through the season. The Broncos offensive line was elite with rookie LT Ryan Clady giving up only half a sack the entire year.

Luckily for the Skins, they did not win in the Jay Cutler sweepstakes and get to keep their first round picks, and maybe more importantly, Jason Campbell. Look for him to have his best year this year with not having to learn a new playbook for the first time in his career and also with second year WRs Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly and second year TE Fred Davis going into the season with a year of experience under their belts. Look for Cutler to put up some of the worst numbers in his career with a Bears team that focuses on running the ball much more than the Broncos. He will also have to deal with a below average receiving corps and average offensive line this year. I strongly believe that this trade proposal will seem trivial at the end of this year and Campbell will finally emerge into the elite quarterback that Washington has been waiting for him to become.