The Redskins Blog

Wednesday, March 25: Two Interviews, Two More Endorsements Of Jason Campbell

This was supposed to be a relatively simple offseason for Jason Campbell.

He’s going into his second year in this offensive system, which is a pleasant change of pace from the nearly constant change he’s had to deal with over the course of his career. He’s working under a head coach who has had success developing quarterbacks in the past. And — despite the struggles of the second half of the season — he’s coming off of a year where he showed flashes of truly impressive quarterbacking.

But “relatively simple” isn’t exactly how things have seemed.

Instead, there’s been a nearly constant negative undercurrent to Campbell’s offseason, from the team not extending his contract to the ongoing rumblings from the Colt Brennan crowd to the Jay Cutler trade gossip and now to the reports that the team is working out USC quarterback Mark Sanchez.

So it’s good to see Campbell getting legitimate support from his coach and teammate in a couple of recent interviews.

ESPN.com’s Matt Moseley — he of the NFC Beast blog — talked to Coach Jim Zorn at the NFL owners’ meetings, and covered all the topics you’d expect: signing Albert Haynesworth, offseason workouts … and Campbell’s development.

Beast: What are you looking for from Jason Campbell this season?

Zorn: We’re looking for him to improve and have a great attitude and we’re not worried about the contract issues.

Beast: Do you see him as the quarterback in Washington for years to come?

Zorn: Yes, he’s on a good road. He’s progressing and I look forward to him working through his second offseason in this offense. We want him to just work through the football program and find his comfort zone. I want him to have the same learning curve and develop a mastery of what his duties are.

Meanwhile, the irrepressible Homer McFanboy got in touch with running back Ladell Betts for a wide-ranging two-part conversation covering life after football, offseason plans … and the relative merits of Jay Cutler vs. Jason Campbell.

So let us ask you, do you believe Jason Campbell is the real deal? Can he get this franchise to where we all want it to be?

“I think so,” he said. “I think he showed it during the string of the first eight games with us going 6-2. Jason played lights out. They were doing features on him, talking about him on SportsCenter about how he wasn’t turning the ball over and whatnot. He’s shown the capabilities, but along with the rest of the team, we just didn’t play at the same level in the second half. I think if he can pick that up where he left off, as far as the first half of the season and bring that into this year, he’ll play solid football. He’s our quarterback and I think D.C. will be proud of him.”

It’s that not much.

It’s not a new contract, or a guarantee that the team isn’t going to draft another quarterback, or anything like that. It’s just people saying all the right things in the offseason. But the way this offseason has gone, even something that simple has to seem pretty good to Jason Campbell.