Redskins 2011 Starting QB Options Are Horrifying (Courtesy of Football Outsiders)

There may be something awesome going on with the Redskins this offseason. There has been plenty of bad news with Brandon Banks getting stabbed, Cam Newton lined up as our projected pick (twice), and Fat Albert Haynesworth becoming completely untradeable.

But letting Santana Moss's contract void, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent, sends a clear signal that this team may finally be ready to fully commit to rebuilding. I'm not holding my breathe, but Tana is still a good player and letting him walk will hurt the team next year, so this move can only be seen one way. As much as the Redskins have done their best to destroy every ounce of rational hope in me, I still have my optimism.

This brings us to the QB position. Football Outsiders (FO) has been writing a 'Plugging the Holes' piece on espn.com covering each teams' offseason, and yesterday the article covered the NFC East (Insider only alert). As they point out, Sex Cannon was not impressive, posting a -19.4 DVOA, whereas Donovan McNabb managed a 0.1 DVOA. 0.0 is average, so yeah.....

They also note that Shanahan has never started a rookie QB, so even if we take Cam Newton (I feel like my kidney is being twisted), he will almost certainly not start next year. McNabb looks like he is on the way out, particularly if the team is rebuilding, so who are the options out there? FO presents three options:

"One is Kolb, but it's hard to imagine the Redskins trading more draft picks for yet another Eagles quarterback after the McNabb failure.

The second is Matt Hasselbeck. His contract with the Seattle Seahawks is up, and Seattle will likely choose to go with Charlie Whitehurst or a drafted quarterback of its own. Hasselbeck had a -9.8 percent DVOA last year while struggling with injuries, but the Redskins would provide him with the best offensive line he's played behind since the halcyon days of Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson.

The other candidate with significant experience in the West Coast offense? We hesitate to say his name for fear that he'll appear again. Let's just say he holds a lot of records, is really fond of one particular brand of jeans and recently retired again. Few organizations would be willing to take on the sort of circus that he brings to the table, and even fewer teams would actually get an upgrade from his likely level of play. The Redskins are perhaps the only organization that would fit in both categories, and with Brett Favre, retirement is just a state of mind. Oops."

So to recap, we have awful Sex Cannon, never going to be good Newton, overpaid mediocre McNabb, reasonably paid mediocre Jason Campbell, costly to obtain Kolb, washed-up Hasselbeck, and, well......'ooops'

(Image courtesy of www.examiner.com)