Johnson (?!) lands Redskins backup QB gig
Who needs Colin Kaepernick as an emergency backup quarterback behind Mark Sanchez when — like the Washington Redskins did on Wednesday — you can instead sign a guy like Josh Johnson, who in the NFL: hasn’t taken a snap since 2013; hasn’t started a game since 2011;
has a career record as starter of 0-5;
has a terrible career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 5-to-10; has a lowly career passer rating of 57.7;
has lost 10 fumbles and been sacked 17 times against just 177 pass attempts;
and has failed to last more than a few hours, days, weeks or months since 2011 following tryouts with Cleveland, Cincinnati (twice), San Francisco (twice), both New York teams, Buffalo, Baltimore, Houston and Oakland?
Johnson puts the journey in journeyman. In that time he did score some pro football playing time, with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League in 2012. And until the middle of this week he was the property of the San Diego Fleet of the yet-to-launch Alliance of American Football. Yet the Redskins believe the 32-year-old Johnson would give the them a better chance to win than Kaepernick — and is a better fit in their offence than Kaepernick — should anything happen to Sanchez over the season’s final four weeks.
Bear in mind that Washington, at 6-6, is still very much alive in the hunt for both the NFC East division title and a conference wild-card playoff berth.
Thing is, the Redskins are about as quarterback-desperate as any NFL team in recent years. Their starter this year, Alex Smith, was lost three Sundays ago to a broken leg. And his backup, Colt McCoy, went down himself with a broken leg this past Sunday.
So Sanchez — who signed just two weeks ago — is the new Redskins starter. And of the QBs the club tried out to serve as Sanchez’s replacement earlier this week, Johnson won out.
Kaepernick didn’t so much as receive a call.
Collusion to keep the man who begat the anthem-kneeling protests two years ago out of the league probably never will or can be proven, and might not even be a thing. Shared stupidity often explains perceived conspiracy in this world.
But, for the love of pigskin, Kaepernick surely deserves at least a look.