3 Theories Why the Redskins Kept QB Pat White

Why would the Redskins keep Pat White?

Outside of the team cutting Chase Minnifield, the biggest surprise of cut-down day was that they held on to Pat White. Yes, that Pat White. Meaning they now have four quarterbacks on their roster. This is highly unusual, and many smart people who follow the team closely stated multiple times going into today that there was no chance of this happening. Well it has happened, and now is as good a time as ever to explore why the team might have done this. Here we go:

1) This is a short term move, only buying them more time to explore a trade with a quarterback-hungry team: Have you seen some of the quarterbacks who are playing in this league? One example is the Buffalo Bills, who's rookie stud, E.J. Manuel, is injured and will not be ready for Week 1. As of right now, they are planning on starting off the season with Jeff Tuel as their starter. That would be undrafted free agent Jeff Tuel, who went 4-22 as a starter at Washington State and did not have a Wikipedia page until last Monday. Another great example is the Oakland Raiders, who right now list Matt Flynn as their starter. They like him so much, that they threw in Terrelle Pryor last weekend to see if he could possibly do better. He didn't. Maybe the Redskins feel like holding out will get them a better prospect or draft pick in return from one of these teams.

2) He is a safety net, only staying on while they make sure RG3 and Kirk Cousins are healthy again and able to be the first and second string quarterbacks: Griffin has been cleared to play by Dr. Andrews, which is great news. Except that Mike Shanahan said in his press conference after the game last Thursday that Dr. Andrews still has "concerns" that need to be addressed. Except that on Friday, The Washington Post reported Dr. Andrews stated via text that he did not have any issues at all and what Mike Shanahan said was untrue. I'm just glad going into the regular season there are no more mixed messages coming out from the team, the player and the team doctor. On top of that, Cousins is still recovering from a sprained foot. The team is stating that he will be ready for Week 1. Hopefully, we will not get any more texts from Dr. Andrews saying that's not true as well. With Jarvis Jenkins and Rob Jackson suspended for the first four games, the team does have a four week cushion to make a move such as this in order to make sure their top two signal callers are ok before they kick White to the curb.

3) Kyle and Mike Shanahan are downright giddy to think about all the read option/wildcat opportunities they will have with RG3 and Pat White on the team: This option is certainly less likely but not out of the realm of possibility. Pat White did play well in the situations the Redskins put him in during the preseason. While he throws ducks that even Billy Kilmer would make fun of, he has tremendous speed and when he runs, he can beat almost every defender to the corner. Maybe Kyle has dreamed up a scheme where he can use the strengths of both Griffin and White in certain short yardage and goal line situations. A few months ago, I wrote a piece where I suggested that Tim Tebow should come here for the very same reasons. Again, all the very smart people who follow the team closely will tell you that this is highly unlikely right now.

Maybe, but maybe not....