The Washington Redskins are confident they have their franchise quarterback back under center in Week 9. Robert Griffin III made his full return to practice this week and the Redskins expect the quarterback to start against the Minnesota Vikings after being out since Week 2 with a dislocated ankle. With Griffin healthy again, the Redskins' quarterback depth chart changes once again. So what will happen to Colt McCoy and Kirk Cousins in the future?
ESPN.com is reporting that Griffin will start against the Vikings. The local NBC affiliate denied the report, but multiple team sources believe that the quarterback will make his return in Week 9 after a successful stint of two weeks of practice. Griffin fully participated in practice this week, taking snaps with the first-team offense and looking mobile under the fully healed ankle. This changes up the depth chart, putting McCoy at the No. 2 spot and demoting Cousins to No. 3.
There was some belief that Cousins would be the starting quarterback of the Redskins for the full season. His stock was extremely high within the team. That is the main reason Washington opted not to trade the quarterback despite the interest in him leading into the NFL Draft. However, interceptions and poor play dropped Cousins' value and a trade for the quarterback might be extremely hard to come by.
ProFootballTalk.com believes that Cousins will be gone from Washington at the end of the year. The quarterback will not be a free agent until 2016, but his contract is chump change at this point meaning he is expendable. Based on this season's play, McCoy will return as the backup quarterback and Cousins will be the odd man out. The question becomes whether or not the Redskins can convince someone to trade for the quarterback or not.
It is clear that Cousins is not ready for primetime. The quarterback looked poised to become a full-time starter somewhere, declaring to the media in the preseason that he wanted to be on a roster that gave him the chance to compete and Washington was not that place. However, thanks to some bad games in 2014, Cousins' chances of seeing a starting job are slim to none. There will be teams that would make a move for him should he hit the free agent market, but no one is going to trade for the quarterback at this point.
