The Washington Redskins were badly in need of a backup quarterback because their starter Alex Smith broke his leg a couple of weeks ago during a game. Then his replacement Colt McCoy broke his leg during a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Meanwhile, Colin Kaepernick has been keeping in football shape since he’s been seemingly ousted by the NFL for taking a knee during the national anthem, so Redskins coach Jay Gruden said they considered him.
In the end, however, the team decided to pass, and they signed 32-year-old Mark Sanchez two weeks ago and 32-year-old Josh Johnson as a backup on Wednesday. But Gruden said the decision had nothing to do with the controversy surrounding Kaepernick, it was purely a football move and the offense being more familiar with style of play of Sanchez, the new starter.
“He’s been discussed for sure,” said Gruden about Kaepernick. “It’s just going to be a matter of which way you want to go. … There’s not a lot of time to get a brand new quarterback and system installed in a couple of days. He’s been talked about, but we’ll probably go in a different direction.”
“[The decision was] just football, strictly football,” he continued. “When you’re talking about a backup quarterback this late in the game you want someone with a similar skill set to the quarterback you have. Not that Colin can’t do some of the things we’ve talked about, but we want someone with a little more familiarity.”
Gruden then explained there would be a “great possibility” of signing Kaepernick if it were the beginning of the season, but at this late stage the transition would be too challenging.
Of course, some will say Gruden is hiding the fact that he doesn’t want the controversy that would come with signing Kap, but the coach insisted the call was strictly about the x’s and o’s of football and nothing else.
