An idea whose time has come? Some still aren't on board. (AP)
Given a quarterback battery that features John Beck and Rex Grossman, it's understandable that fans of the Washington Redskins would be looking with a sharp eye at the Peyton Manning situation in Indianapolis -- a drama that looks more and more like one in which the hero leaves at the end.
Manning wouldn't necessarily be a lead-pipe lock fit for whatever offense Mike and Kyle Shanahan seem to be running these days (we're still not sure what it might be), but the healthy version of the future Hall of Famer would orbit the team's current quarterback class several times over.
[Dan Wetzel: Feud between Peyton Manning and Colts owner gets uglier]
That said, some in the nation's capital aren't convinced that Manning would be the best fit for a team that seems to be in Permanent Rebuilding Mode. Among those opposed are Washington Mayor Vince Gray, who recently told TBD.com that the 'Skins should probably go a different way.
"You know, I think it depends on what role he would play. But I really think the Redskins need a quarterback that they can build with for the future. You know, Andrew Luck is probably going to go to the Colts, but there's Robert Griffin III, and there's a couple other promising quarterbacks that are out there. We've kind of been down this pathway with quarterbacks who've been great but maybe are in the back end of their career, and even if he comes in and plays a year or two, where do we go from there?"
NewsChannel 8's Bruce DuPuyt then asked the mayor if it would be worth a few more bad seasons if the rebuild was done intelligently, around that ideal young quarterback.
"That's exactly the direction I would go. You look at some of the teams that are up-and-coming, I mean, you look at Atlanta, you look at what San Diego did with Philip Rivers ... the 49ers. Every team now that is really moving forward has done it by building with a quarterback of the future."
And with that, Mayor Gray showed more football moxie than most of the people occupying the Redskins' front office over the last decade. We wouldn't worry about it, though -- given their modus operandi, the Shanahans seem more likely to overpay Matt Flynn than to take a flyer on Manning, a quarterback who would demand a certain amount of organizational control.
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