MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
The Washington Commanders, formerly known as the Washington Redskins as well as the Washington Football Team (my personal favorite) have a long history of quarterbacks.
The organization was long known for its quarterbacks, great quarterbacks, from 1937 through 1993 – Sammy Baugh, one of the greatest football players who ever lived and who was backed up by Allegany High’s Tommy Mont in 1948; Eddie LaBaron, former University of Maryland Hall of Famer Jack Scarbath, Norm Snead and Sonny Jurgensen (who were actually traded for each other), Billy Kilmer, Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien.
It used to be said that the President of the United States had one of the two most important jobs in Washington, D.C., with the most important one being quarterback of the Washington Redskins. Remember the “I like Sonny” and the “I like Billy” bumper stickers that adorned back ends of most vehicles in the D.C. Metro area? While Washington fans stood united in their devotion to their football team, they were evenly divided in their passion for the starting quarterback of their choice.
All of which was fueled by George Allen when he came to town as head coach and general manager of the team, as he clearly liked Billy. After all, he had brought Kilmer to D.C. from New Orleans because he preferred a quarterback who would manage the offense, not star in it, to allow his beloved defense to win the game.
While the fans feuded with each other, Sonny and Billy partied with each other. For if the starting quarterback was of the mind for a night on the town, which Jurgensen and Kilmer usually were, the finest tables and the poshest rooms had their names on them, tabs were paid and the town was their oyster.
When Allen brought in the young Theismann from Canada, Sonny and Billy became even more united to the cause of keeping the brash Notre Damer out of the lineup. To his credit, Theismann countered that by volunteering to return punts, which Allen signed off on, just so he could get onto the field and touch the ball. And just as he would be once he became the starting quarterback, Theismann was pretty good at it.
That’s how it was for the organization when it still played its games in old D.C. The defense may have been the strength of the team, but the identity of the team was represented by the man who was the starting quarterback.
Aside from the shenanigans of the previous owner as he ruined a great organization over the course of 24 painful years, the Washington organization is now known not for its quarterback, but for all of its quarterbacks, which, of course, is directly linked to previous ownership.
Yet as the second season of the Josh Harris ownership gets underway, the outlook and the enthusiasm for the organization remain bright, because the reign of terror of previous owner Daniel Snyder is still over, much in the same way of, “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.”
On Tuesday, first-year Commanders head coach Dan Quinn announced Jayden Daniels, the Heisman Trophy-winning rookie, would be the starting quarterback, which not only is unsurprising, but pretty exciting as well.
Thus, Daniels becomes the franchise’s 36th starting quarterback in the past 32 years. That’s right – 36 starting quarterbacks for the organization known for its great quarterbacks in the past 32 years.
Can you name them? Many of them you can, because several of them went on to have good careers in the NFL, just not for Washington. Some of them were just busts; a couple of them fell to gruesome injuries. Others brought promise and hope to Washington, yet either saw their careers ruined by the mismanagement of the team (RG3 comes immediately to mind), or made their careers elsewhere.
It’s quite a list, beginning with Super-Bowl winning quarterback and MVP Rypien in 1993:
Cary Conklin, Rich Gannon, John Friesz, Heath Shuler, Gus Frerotte, Jeff Hostetler, Trent Green, Brad Johnson, Jeff George, Tony Banks, Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel, Patrick Ramsey, Tim Hasselbeck, Mark Brunnell, Jason Campbell, Todd Collins,
Dononvan McNabb, Rex Grossman, John Beck, Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins, Colt McCoy, Alex Smith, Mark Sanchez, Josh Johnson, Case Keenum, Dwayne Haskins, Kyle Allen, Ryan Fitzpatrick,Taylor Heinicke, Garrett Gilbert (Garrett Gilbert?), Carson Wentz, Sam Howell and Jayden Daniels.
Some impressive names; some not-so-impressive names. Some has-beens; some never-weres. Some good quarterbacks; some bad quarterbacks. Some lucky quarterbacks (mainly the ones who got away from Snyder); and some very unlucky quarterbacks.
The most important name on the list, naturally, is the very last one, for as George Allen himself once said, “The future is now.”
After all they’ve had to endure, Commanders fans need Jayden Daniels to be the last name on that list for a very long future.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @MikeBurkeMDT