The Redskins Blog

Speaking Of The Redskins Drafting A Quarterback…

Seems like wherever you look, the Redskins are being linked to a quarterback in the upcoming NFL Draft. Some people say Ryan Mallet, others say Jake Locker, others insist that Blaine Gabbert is the guy … basically, if you are a draft-eligible human being who threw the ball a few hundred times in the last few years, you have been linked to the Redskins.

So it seems somehow appropriate that the last quarterback drafted by the Redskins has resurfaced in the news today. That’s right: it’s the first Colt Brennan post in ages! Read more »

Colt Brennan Released

In the wake of the trade for quarterback John Beck, the Redskins have released third-year pro Colt Brennan.

Brennan was a fan-favorite and a blog favorite, and the temptation to do a full-on Fred Smoot-level retrospective post was strong. (Pineapples! The trainers doing Jazzercise!) But what seemed most apt at this point was this interview that Tanner Cooley conducted last preseason, just under a year ago.

Brennan was coming off a bad game in which he threw a costly interception, part of a preseason that was not living up to what he believed he could do. The post-game interview with the younger Cooley is much less guarded than most such interviews, where the interviewer is NOT a friend (and sorta peer) of the interviewee, and Brennan’s quotes from that night (as transcribed by Dan Steinberg) seem appropriate. They’re below the video, after the jump.

Read more »

Joe Theismann On Huddling, Holding, And Colt

As special teams practiced on the main field yesterday, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur gathered the Redskins QBs around them in a huddle on the side field. You can see this huddle above; the quarterbacks are, from left to right, Richard Bartell, Colt Brennan, Rex Grossman, Donovan McNabb, and … Joe Theismann?

Theismann certainly was a great Redskins QB, but he hasn’t thrown a pass (for the Redskins or anyone else) since 1985, when a tackle by Lawrence Taylor ended his career. So what was he doing in that huddle?

“I was just listening to Kyle explain some formations and some calls to his quarterbacks and make sure that they understand what they’re looking for,” Theismann told me today. “One of the most important things in sports is communication, and the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks basically need to see the same thing, but from different angles. I’m lucky enough to sorta be a fly on the wall and listen to a little bit of what the conversation’s all about.”

Theismann has spent years as a broadcaster and has had observed his share of practices, of course, but it seemed like there might be something special about getting to rejoin the QB group that he was once — until 25 years ago — a part of.

“It’s neat,” Theismann acknowledged. “What was fun is when I knelt down they didn’t tell me to leave. That’s the nice part.”

(It appears, in the picture above, that Kyle Shanahan is actually writing up plays in the dirt, sandlot style, but Theismann says that’s not the case. “They weren’t in the dirt,” he said, by way of clarification, “they were actually on the schedule. I’m impressed with his knowledge and I’m impressed with his decisiveness. He knows what he wants, and I think that’s so vitally important. You have to know what you want as a coach in the NFL.”)

But that wasn’t the only Theismann-y thing that happened yesterday.

Read more »

How Colt Brennan Lost His Number (Twice)

As I noted when I posted the SHOCKING pictures of Donovan McNabb in his Redskins gear, McNabb himself is largely remaining unfazed by the new duds. Even in the face of catcalls from more casually-dressed teammates, McNabb jawed back and generally appeared completely comfortable in full gameday burgundy-and-gold.

But one guy who had to be a little bemused as McNabb took the field was backup QB Colt Brennan. Brennan’s been wearing number 5 for the last two years, and has made it into a remarkably popular jersey among fans — especially for a guy who has never seen the field during the regular season.

So I caught up with Brennan after McNabb finished his photo shoot to see if it was weird for him. His short answer was no — “I’ve seen Donovan McNabb wear 5 for a long time,” he said, “so it really wasn’t weird. Just the colors were different.” — but his longer answer was an interesting story about a guy who has now managed to lose his number, make a new number his own, lose that number all over again, all without any staggering cash payments or similar number-change gifts. Read more »

Colt Brennan Sees Potential In A Familiar Situation

During his brief and relatively unformed Redskins career, quarterback Colt Brennan has been so popular among a devoted group of fans that it’s strange to think of him as hard luck case. But from a certain perspective, that’s exactly what he is.

Since being drafted in the sixth round of the 2008 draft, Brennan has had one impressive preseason, one disappointing preseason, and, in his words, “three pretty significant surgeries in a year and a half” that culminated with a stint on injured reserve last year.

This offseason, Brennan has been working hard to get himself back in shape, to prove that the flashes he showed in his first preseason weren’t just flukes. “I spent two months of my offseason down in Arizona at a facility called Fischer Sports,” Brennan says, “and basically invested two months, five to six days a week of just reshaping and rebuilding my body.”

It wasn’t how Brennan spent his first NFL offseason, but the results last preseason frustrated him so much that doing something like this seemed obvious. “What I’ve realized is that the off-season is definitely for you to relax, but it’s also for you to maintain and also grow physically,” he says, “you know, become stronger and faster, and that’s what I did this year. I acted like I was a top player in the NFL, as far as how I trained.”

The result of that effort is that Brennan is healthy, his hips work properly, and he’s in the best shape of his professional career. “I feel like this is going to be the first time that the NFL truly going to see what I am as a quarterback,” he says, “physically and mentally.”

The question is, does he have time for that to matter here in Washington.

Read more »

Wednesday, December 2: Redskins Discuss Easy Bake Ovens

One last bit from yesterday’s “Holiday Wishes Come True” event, hosted by Renaldo Wynn and his wife LaTanya (along with the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation, the Family of Faith foundation, and Target).

Even though the event was about giving tangible gifts to kids as we get into the meat of the holiday season, Wynn made absolutely certain to remind everyone what the real purpose of the event — and the holidays — is. “Whenever we’re given the opportunity,” he said, “that’s our goal as human beings: to serve others. And it’s just a great feelin’ when you come and you give yourself to someone else, I think that’s the greatest gift you can have.”

And he’s probably right about that. Still, though, the kids seemed really enthusiastic about the material gifts they were getting, too. Read more »

Chris Cooley Has A Scooter

Here’s the bad news about Chris Cooley: he’s already been declared out for Sunday’s game. He’s moving around with a walking boot and, occasionally, crutches. Even if he can possibly come back this season, it won’t happen for weeks.

Here’s the good news about Chris Cooley: he’s still got his sense of humor. He showed up in the offices at Redskins Park today riding this contraption, which he compared to a Razor scooter.

http://serve.a-widget.com/service/getWidgetSwf.kickAction

A bystander observed that it was awesome and asked if he could buy one. “Sure,” Cooley said, “Just go to InjuredGuyScooters.com.”

“Really?” the bystander asked.

“No,” Cooley said, and scootered off.

(The actual website is scootaboutkneescooters.com, which doesn’t go the Razor scooter route, instead describing the device as “an alternative to crutches or walker for individuals who want to remain active and continue working or going to school, even with foot or ankle injuries.”) Read more »

On The Sideline At Practice, As Is Colt Brennan

You can click to enlarge the picture above, but it really won’t change very much. The three quarterbacks participating in practice will still look small and far away. That’s because, relative to Colt Brennan, wearing burgundy sweats and a gray Redskins long-sleeve T-shirt on the right of the photo, they ARE small and far away.

This was the second practice since Brennan was put on injured reserve, ending his 2009 season before it could even start, and it’s the second straight time that I’ve noticed him staring fixedly at the quarterback group. They run drills and dodge the rush from one of the strength coaches and get the ball away, and Brennan stands well off to the side with his arms crossed, watching.

Even if he’s watching, though, Brennan is careful to stand far enough away that he can’t hear what the coaches are saying, because — while he’s allowed to be outside for practice — he’s not allowed to participate. At all.

You might ask Brennan how that feels; I certainly did. His answer, initially, was one word long:

“Boring,” he said, flatly. Read more »

Monday, August 24: On Colt Brennan's Interception

Over at The Cooley Zone, Tanner Cooley sat down with Colt Brennan after Saturday night’s game to talk (mainly) about Brennan’s inteception. It’s an interesting interview, to say the least, and a much less guarded view of that kind of thing than we usually get.

Here, for those of you who don’t watch video on the internet, is how Brennan described the play that ended in the interception:

“We were driving down — I think it was third down, so we were trying to get the first — and I had Todd Yoder go and do a little pivot route; he had a route on top. Todd kinda popped open early; I threw it, but I may have been … everyone thought I was just a tad bit late. So by the time I threw it, the linebacker was able to close, make the pick.”

I had talked to Yoder about this after the game, and here’s his take on the play. “I had my little zone. I was sittin’ there, and I think Colt maybe just threw it a hair inside where the guy was. If he throws it a foot or two to the outside shoulder, I think maybe it’s a touchdown.”

We’ve seen it before this preseason with Marques Hagans, and now we’re seeing it with Brennan: this is what it can come down to for the guys who are working to make the bottom of the roster. A catchable ball off the hands, “a tad bit late,” “a hair inside,” can all be the kinds of things that can cost you playing time or more.

Dan Steinberg has more of the excellent Brennan interview transcribed; you can find a few more quotes from Yoder after the jump. Read more »

Friday, August 21: A Horse Named Captain Chaos

Now that the roughest grind of training camp has let up, I have a chance to go back and use some stuff that somehow fell through the cracks over the last few weeks. This is one such item.

I don’t know much about horses. I vaguely remember one stepping on my foot once at summer camp twenty-five years ago, but other than that, they’re big, mostly-inedible animals that run in circles three times a year and sometimes inspire unsettling outpourings of emotion from the general public. (NOTE: Parts of that assessment may not be entirely correct.)

But the people who do like horses tend to like them quite a lot, and they put tremendous thought into every aspect of their horses’ lives, from housing to cleaning to naming. So when Amanda Schroeder shouted from behind the ropes at training camp that she had a horse named after Chris Cooley, I was somewhat intrigued.

“I just love [Cooley],” Schroeder told me. “He’s my favorite player.”

The horse isn’t actually named Chris Cooley, but instead goes by the nom de horse of Captain Chaos. “He’s living up to his name now,” Schroeder said. “He was not like this before I named him Captain Chaos.”

This struck me as somewhat unusual. Nowhere on the About.com Guide to Choosing A Horse Name does it suggest “name your horse after your favorite athlete,” after all. So I asked Schroeder and the people she was with what other things one might name a horse after. The girl behind Schroeder shrugged. “I named mine after a movie: Blue Steel, like Zoolander.”

That didn’t make the Captain Chaos moniker seem any less unusual to me, so I did what I always do in these circumstances: I went straight to Fred Smoot. Read more »