Which quarterback do you like better, Kirk Cousins or Alex Smith? Cousins owns the larger contract, but Smith isn’t far back and didn’t have the benefit of being an unrestricted free agent. Jay Gruden says he expects Washington will be better at quarterback this year. “Without a doubt,” he says.
With both guys, I’m worried about their effectiveness around the goal line. They haven’t tended to be very good in that part of the field. Too many field goal attempts and not enough touchdowns.
Over the last two years, only six teams have scored on fewer than half of their red-zone possessions, and these are two them.
| RED ZONE OFFENSES (2016-2017) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Poss | TD | Pct |
| Tennessee | 90 | 57 | 63.3% |
| Dallas | 109 | 69 | 63.3% |
| New Orleans | 123 | 77 | 62.6% |
| Jacksonville | 90 | 56 | 62.2% |
| New England | 130 | 80 | 61.5% |
| Green Bay | 108 | 66 | 61.1% |
| Buffalo | 98 | 58 | 59.2% |
| Oakland | 90 | 52 | 57.8% |
| Philadelphia | 110 | 63 | 57.3% |
| San Francisco | 95 | 54 | 56.8% |
| Carolina | 101 | 57 | 56.4% |
| Atlanta | 117 | 66 | 56.4% |
| Detroit | 94 | 52 | 55.3% |
| Baltimore | 98 | 54 | 55.1% |
| Chicago | 82 | 45 | 54.9% |
| Indianapolis | 93 | 51 | 54.8% |
| Cincinnati | 97 | 53 | 54.6% |
| Pittsburgh | 112 | 61 | 54.5% |
| Miami | 85 | 46 | 54.1% |
| Arizona | 102 | 55 | 53.9% |
| LA Rams | 103 | 54 | 52.4% |
| Minnesota | 107 | 56 | 52.3% |
| Cleveland | 83 | 43 | 51.8% |
| NY Giants | 82 | 42 | 51.2% |
| Seattle | 101 | 51 | 50.5% |
| Tampa Bay | 107 | 54 | 50.5% |
| LA Chargers | 109 | 54 | 49.5% |
| Washington | 107 | 53 | 49.5% |
| Houston | 86 | 40 | 46.5% |
| Kansas City | 105 | 46 | 43.8% |
| Denver | 95 | 41 | 43.2% |
| NY Jets | 87 | 37 | 42.5% |
Do they have the chops to now turn things around? Maybe. It wouldn’t be surprising. But I wouldn’t say that either guy looks like a certainty to crank out 26-plus touchdown passes. Neither offensive line looks great. In Washington, I’m leery of the pass catchers – Jordan Reed always gets hurt, and the receivers aren’t top-level guys – Josh Doctson, Jamison Crowder and Paul Richardson (I don’t see a bad ass there, where defenses can’t stop Smith from connecting with him for touchdown throws).
Cousins has a nice pair of wide receivers and good red zone tight end, but he was awfully suspect in that part of the field in Washington. Over the last two years, he’s completed only 23 of 67 passes when inside the 10, with just 15 TDs (3 interceptions, 3 sacks).
These guys are fine. I wouldn’t mind drafting either. But I don’t see either as priorities. I wouldn’t draft either among the top-10 quarterbacks, but I think they both belong in the top 15.
—Ian Allan
P.S. -- look at the photo. It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. At first it didn't look quite.