The John Beck Files

Yesterday the Redskins and Ravens completed a trade that brought quarterback John Beck to DC and shipped cornerback Doug Dutch to Baltimore.

Almost immediately after the trade was announced Redskin's head coach Mike Shanahan released quarterback Colt Brennan. The move clearly shows that Shanahan is not happy with the backup situation behind Donovan McNabb and should serve notice that no one's job besides McNabb's is secure.

Many fans were probably saddened by the departure of Colt Brennan on Monday. Brennan had to have the most jerseys sold for a quarterback who never started an NFL game. Brennan, who has had multiple surgeries since entering the league without even playing a game, was having a bad camp this year. While Brennan was an exceptional college QB, he wasn't cutting it at this level. Even if it's third string, the third string QB is only two snaps away from playing meaningful snaps for the team and there has to be someone behind center that can at least manage the game.

So what does John Beck bring to the Redskins that interested Shanahan in making this trade? Beck hasn't played meaningful minutes since he was with the Dolphins in 2007. It may not be worth looking at stats from that far back, especially considering that Beck was a rookie that year and started only four games. But in those four games Beck completed 56% of his passes and threw for a touchdown. Unfortunately his longest completion was only 22 yards and he threw three interceptions.

Still, Beck wasn't a second round pick for nothing. He had a stellar career at BYU, and while his numbers weren't great in his short stint in Miami, he was still a rookie who wasn't supposed to be starting at all. He's had three years since to learn from other great QB's and will now get to learn from Donovan McNabb. At 28 he's not the youngest QB out there to bring up, but if he can fill in off the bench then that's all the Redskins are looking for at this point.

The oddity of this trade though is that Shanahan typically only carries two quarterbacks. One has to wonder if he will now carry three with this trade or if Rex Grossman is performing that badly in camp that there are questions of whether he could fill in if McNabb goes down. Either way Grossman should be looking over his shoulder at John Beck coming up from the rear.