There's a discussion over at Football Outsiders over Mike Tanier's Wild Card preview that aberrated in part to a brief conversation on whether or not Jason Campbell is the future of the team. My position appears here explicitly: Jason Campbell is the future of the team. That is not said to take anything away from Todd Collins or even to suggest that a healthy JC should supplant Collins in the playoffs. I think Todd has played well enough the past few weeks and believe that Campbell requires enough recovery where we'd all be better off with The Todd closing out the season. But no matter what happens, a healthy Jason in 2008 is the one we start on week 1. That's my position and I justify it thus: As impressive as Todd has been, the sample size is small enough at the moment where I'm unwilling to claim with authority that he's better than Jason. Remember that JC is still learning this offense and there's no reason to yet believe that he won't become the familiar-with-the-system game manager that Collins has played as for the past four weeks. Once he does gain that same level of familiarity, he offers far more than Todd does, of note, his youth and physical ability. And facial hair.
But what I think doesn't matter. What Al Saunders thinks does and the Post informs:
"He said, 'You're the biggest part of it, so don't feel like you're not part of it or not part of anything, you're a big reason why we're in the playoffs and you went through all the tough times, and things happen sometimes.' "
"I'm sure it's frustrating for Jason, but this is Jason's team," quarterback Mark Brunell said. "Todd's just renting. This is Jason's team and he's got a bright future and every guy in here to a man knows that if he didn't hurt his knee we'd still be going to Seattle."
The question to reader(s), and I've now made clear my own position, is whether that should actually be the case. What could Todd Collins do to earn that spot? What would Jason Campbell have to do, this year or the next perhaps, to lose that spot? What is the threshold -- if it hasn't already been reached -- for JC to lose control of this team?
I think we are miles away from that point and support him, but I hate to monopolize the conversation on an issue as important as who starts under center for my favorite team.