Posts tagged JasonCampbell at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...
New look offense! Out with Al Saunders and Joe Gibbs and in with Jim Zorn's high-powered west coast offense. The offense Zorn is installing is the one used in Seattle under Mike Holmgren and has made fantasy stars of numerous players through the years, including Brett Favre, Shaun Alexander, and Matt Hasselbeck. This has caused everyone to expect that Clinton Portis -- since he's arguably more talented and much tougher than Alexander -- to become an absolute beast. That's all well and good ... just remember that Portis isn't following Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson on one side of the line.

The Breakout
Jason Campbell has shown flashes of being a productive QB, but been derailed by injuries and inconsistency. He has plenty of tools and weapons to become a fantasy starter (top 12ish) in this offense. The Skins even tried to overload the receiving corps during the draft by selecting TE Fred Davis and WRs Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly with upper round selections. He did throw for 215, 348, 301, and 216 yards in the last four full games before he was injured. Be ready to pounce on Campbell as a quality backup with the chance to become a starter at some point in '08.

As you're probably aware by now, Redskins tight end Chris Cooley has a blog. So far it's been fairly well received by football fans, mostly because in an era when too many professional athletes follow a safe PR script in all public comments, Cooley will say anything.

But has he gone too far with his latest post? It's an interview with Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, and when their Q&A delves into the subject of Campbell's relationship with Redskins center Casey Rabach, it gets, well, disgusting:

3. Jason, have you ever smelled the back of your left hand (the one that's securely lodged under the center's sweaty butt crack the entire game) after a game? I would imagine that hand would have to go through a thorough decontamination process after every game and practice.
For everyone to know if you don't take a bath your butt crack stinks and I think that's what Rabach does to me. Imagine sweating for 2 hours and you're Casey Rabach and you're really hairy and stinky. Rabach has even farted on my hand which is a feelin that never really wears off. I can actually feel it while we're doing this interview right now. After each practice and game the first thing I do is wash my hands of all that chaotic stuff running off his sweaty, nasty body.

I've heard it said that athletes' blogs will take fans inside the locker room in a way they've never been before. If that's what it's going to be like, I'm perfectly content to remain outside.

It is a bit unusual when a head coach is actually pleased when he starting quarterback gets hurt. Well, that just happened in Washington as new coach Jim Zorn isn't too bummed about QB Jason Campbell tweaking his hamstring during practice.

"He was feeling his hamstrings all along, and I think it was because I have him sinking down a little bit," Zorn said. "It's the change. I was kind of excited about it. Not that I wanted him to tweak his hamstring, just the fact that different things are happening to his body. He's going to be fine."

Zorn was a quarterbacks coach (uh, and a quarterback) so I'm sure he sees the bumps and bruises as a sign of Campbell following his direction. One of the most important keys in the 2008 season for the Skins is how Campbell performs in the new West Coast Offense.

However, it isn't encouraging to see the Redskins' skill players dropping like flies. Campbell's hammy will hurt his development in the new offense. Running back Clinton Portis hurt his hip in a race against LaRon Landry; Antwaan Randle El had surgery to remove some cartilage from his knee.

The Washington Redskins took Colt Brennan with the 186th pick in last weekend's draft. He was the tenth quarterback selected, and although Brennan seemed like a potential franchise player last fall, he'll struggle to make the 53-man roster behind Jason Campbell and Todd Collins. So what happened? According to the Honolulu Advertiser, it was all about timing:

The former University of Hawai'i quarterback's decision to return for his senior season will cost him about $1,378,500 over a three-year period.

Brennan, who was projected to be a first- or second-round pick after the 2006 season, saw his value drop after a poor outing in the Sugar Bowl, an illness that caused his weight to drop to 185 at the Senior Bowl, and a recent hip surgery

Brennan confirms as much, and his college coach, June Jones, suggested that by returning for his senior season, Brennan was turning down $25 million.

A confluence of events torpedoed Colt Brennan's draft prospects -- a horrid Sugar Bowl (which wasn't entirely his fault) and some subpar off-season workouts -- but he's now been drafted in Round 6, some three or four rounds later than a lot of folks anticipated back in the fall, which is something Andre Woodson still can't say.

Brennan's new employer: the Washington Redskins, who took Carson Palmer's brother (now his legal name) on Day 2 last season (that obviously didn't work out). Jason Campbell is the starter (head coach Jim Zorn said so!) and Todd Collins is firmly entrenched as the backup, but Collins, who came into the league when Brennan was seven, can't play forever.

So what does this pick mean? Well, that Brennan will be battling for a roster spot, and best case, eventually graduate to Jason Campbell-backup status. No way that happens in 2008 -- the West Coast Offense isn't something you pick up while you're waiting for Domino's to show up -- or, hell, 2009, but I'm guessing that was the thinking behind the selection.

So what does NFL Network's Mike Mayock think?

Pros: "Slides naturally in the pocket, finds throwing lanes, in-breaking routes he does a great job on."

Cons: "Anytime he has to drive the football to the outside of the numbers, he will struggle; he looks like a centerfielder crow hopping to throw the football home.

He's also had well-documented off-field issues; he didn't deal with them very well at the Senior Bowl and [NFL] Combine ... but I will say that getting hurt didn't hurt him."

Mayock adds that Brennan will go on injured reserve, and that he's a developmental prospect. So, yeah, maybe the 'Skins should've held onto Carson Palmer's brother.

Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell seems like a decent human being, but he's seemingly -- and unwittingly -- forever in the middle of something. You'd need two hands to count the number of offensive coordinators he's had since college, he's suffered the indignity of having to backup Mark Brunell for a season and a half, and then suffered two semi-serious knee injuries during his first year as the starter.

Head coach Joe Gibbs ups and re-retires, and Campbell now hears rumors that he may not be in new guy Jim Zorn's long-term plans.

"He told me it wasn't true. He told me this is my team," Campbell said after workouts this week at the complex. "He made it clear that I'm the quarterback the Redskins are going to grow with. He told me that I'm still developing as a young quarterback, but that he thinks I have it all. . . . I have what it takes to take us to where we want to go. That was a confidence-builder."

This should be obvious, but it's hard to blame Campbell for being paranoid. It was just last season that some fans were wondering if career backup Todd Collins had earned the right to the starting job because of how he played during Campbell's absence.

With each pick of the FanHouse mock draft, we get into the head of an NFL general manager and let you know who he'll pick and why.

With the first pick in the Jim "Z-man" Zorn era, the Redskins will look for a receiver. Currently, the Skins have two fast receivers who are excellent in the open field ... but lack the kind of move-the-chains guy you need in the West Coast Offense.

Enter Malcolm Kelly. Kelly is big (6'4, 220 lbs), has great hands and has the ability to break tackles and turn a 7-yard slant into a 50-yard TD.

Remember that Washington's QB is Jason Campbell, who has just about one season worth of starts under his belt. Having a big target like Kelly who can catch bad passes is quite a find. Imagine adding a guy like Kelly to a receiving unit that has Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle El and Chris Cooley ... with Clinton Portis coming out of the backfield.

Did I mention Portis? Kelly is an outstanding blocker in the Hines Ward mold who is sure to help the Redskins running game.

(Hat tip: Hogs Haven)

The five finalists for the Halas Award were announced recently, with an entire team making the list. The Washington Redskins become the first team (by most accounts) to be nominated for the Halas Award ... which awards a player(s) for overcoming adversity.

The Redskins made the playoffs despite having All-Pro safety Sean Taylor murdered during the season. Washington had to play two games in a five day stretch with Sean Taylor's funeral sandwiched in between. The Redskins would win their last four games and grab the final playoff berth in the NFC. As Skin Patrol from HogsHaven said, what the Skins did was quite a feat:

The run is even more impressive viewed in context. We lost our starting quarterback (Jason Campbell) and faced an impressive run of teams, including: 1) the Vikings, in their hood, and they missed the postseason by one game, 2) the Super Bowl winning Giants, in their hood, when they could have clinched a playoff spot with a win over us, and 3) the Cowboys who were in a position to set a franchise record..

Kevin Everett, the Buffalo Bills tight end who has made a remarkable comeback after being paralized on a tackle in the season opener, is the other favorite to win the award. Honestly, what he's done in mere months after that scary injury is the reason the Halas Award exists.

Other nominees include the Cowboys Greg Ellis (the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year), and the Giants Eli Manning and Plaxico Burress.

In a somewhat surprising development, quarterback Todd Collins will stay in Washington as the Redskins' backup QB. Collins will continue to be second string to Jason Campbell.

Last season, Collins took over for an injured Jason Campbell and led the Redskins on a four-game winning streak and a playoff berth. He made his first NFL start in 10 years.

In a remarkable showing, Collins completed 67-of-105 passes for 888 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions to close out the regular season.

It isn't shocking that he stayed, just a bit surprising. Many experts had Collins at the top of a very, very, very poor free agent class of quarterbacks. With openings around the league, you'd figure someone would throw a shot at a starting gig in front of him. The fact that he waited ten years between starts and then played so well led many to believe that he wanted one last shot to be the man before he hangs 'em up.

Also, Al Saunders is now gone in Washington and one of the main pluses of Collins was that he knew Saunders' offensive system like the back of his hand.

For the Skins, this is a big get. Collins is exactly the veteran leader this team needs, especially in a time of a coaching and offensive philosophy changeover.

And Vinny Cerrato continues to remake the Redskins into a championship football team. According to Mr. Sports Bog, the Washington Redskins announced today that they have released wide receiver Brandon Lloyd.

And so ends another chapter in the forgettable 2006 Redskins off-season. Safety Adam Archuleta barely made it through one season before getting shipped to Chicago (after collecting $10 million in guarantees, of course), and now Lloyd, the guy some Redskins coach/front-office type thought would complement Santana Moss nicely and give Jason Campbell another deep weapon, is free to work on his freestylin' skillz 24/7.

That Lloyd didn't work out came as a shock to exactly no one outside of Redskins Park. Lloyd ends his Washington (and maybe NFL) career with 25 receptions over two seasons and zero touchdowns. And just like Archuleta, Lloyd got $10 million in guaranteed dough, although it's hard to say who was less deserving.

For Washington, the most amazing thing isn't that they even considered Lloyd a legitimate NFL wide receiver, it's that they're holding on to this weird misconception that the quickest way to the Super Bowl is through the wideout position. They've not-so-secretly coveted Chad Johnson this off-season. And while Johnson's roughly a billion times better than Lloyd, he'll have minimal effect on the 'Skins final record.

Which should make it all the more entertaining when Mr. Cerrato works his magic to acquire Mr. Cinco.