With a career that spanned 11 years in the nation’s capital and featured two Pro Bowl selections, an NFL MVP award and a Super Bowl title, Joe Theismann made a name for himself as a legend in the history of the Redskins franchise. Now with the Redskins widely-rumored as a potential landing spot for one of the NFL’s great quarterbacks in Peyton Manning, Theismann isn’t too thrilled with the potential pairing.
On a Washington, D.C., radio show last week, Theismann made his disapproval of a potential move public.
“It’s not a good idea, it’s not a bad idea — it’s a horrific idea,” Theismann said. “It would be one of the poorest things that we could do as a franchise. Are we gonna go find another guy for just a couple of years again? Haven’t we done this before? Haven’t we seen this act before? And by the way, if you get Peyton Manning, don’t you have a concern about protecting him? Don’t you have a concern about who he throws the football to?…
“We’re tired of looking for stop gaps,” he continued. “It’s time to draft one of your own, or make a deal for a young one of your own, and nurture him, and then put the players around him. If we’re gonna be 5-11, if we’re gonna be 6-10, let’s do it with somebody who’s [learning as he goes], instead of guys that have been here, making mistakes.”
Manning is expected to be released by the Colts after a 13-year career playing in Indianapolis. The Redskins are among several teams that have been widely-speculated as possible destinations for the four-time league MVP, along with the Cardinals, Dolphins and Jets, among others.
The Redskins, in their second season under coach Mike Shanahan, finished 5-11 while splitting starts between quarterbacks Rex Grossman and John Beck.
