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Rex Grossman inked a one-year deal to remain in our nation’s capital last week because he feels like the Redskins provide him the best opportunity at being a starting quarterback with the “talented people” around him. He was an unrestricted free agent, but really had no plans of looking at any other team aside from the Redskins. Who could really blame Rex for this assertion? Grossman has now set himself up for a competition against John Beck and Kellen Clemens. Those potential starting quarterback candidates really aren’t names that strike fear in the face of the Redskins opponents. That’s for sure. With all the moves the Philadelphia Eagles have made over the last week compiled with the consistency of the New York Giants and the expectations for the Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Redskins find themselves as a sure fire underdog of not only the NFC East, but the NFC overall. Grossman claims he was lured to Washington because of Kyle Shanahan and it’s clears his close relationship with the Redskins offensive coordinator has the former Florida Gator thinking he will be the leader of this team come September. Although the perception is that John Beck is Mike Shanahan’s ace in the hole, you gotta believe Rex Grossman has a slight edge. Grossman seems to have the offensive coordinator on his side along with the fact that he started the final three games of last season after Donovan McNabb was benched. Rex Grossman joined ESPN 980 in D.C. with The Sports Fix to discuss the Washington Redskins giving him the best opportunity of his career, how the starting quarterback position has been explained to him in training camp, coming to Washington because of Kyle Shanahan, who will be making the decision as to who will be the starting quarterback Mike Shanahan or Kyle Shanahan and why things didn’t work out for Donovan McNabb in Washington.
Do you think the Washington Redskins are your best opportunity going into this season since your time at Chicago?
“No doubt. I feel like this is my best opportunity to start with a great offense and a bunch of talented people around me. I’m very excited about it. Even in Chicago we were very young and we relied on that defense a lot and we made a lot of plays…don’t get me wrong. This is the type of offense I want to be a part of.”
How has the starting quarterback position been presented to you in this training camp? Are you the starting quarterback going into camp?
“The only thing I have heard is that they are going to play the best guy. I take it for what it is worth.”
Did you come to Washington last year because of Kyle Shanahan?
“Yeah I wanted to be a part of this offense. In Houston I got chance to work with Kyle. I loved the concepts of the routes and how he coached the quarterbacks and how you go through the reads and just the whole offense in general is what made me real excited about coming here. As soon as I was able to talk to them and they wanted me to come up. I thought again last year this is…I try to put myself in a great position. That’s all you can do as a player. I feel like I am in that. It’s up to me to take advantage of it.” Who is going to make the decision of who will be the starting quarterback for this Redskins team?
Will Kyle Shanahan have significant influence on who will be the starting quarterback?
“In my opinion I think they are on the same page [Mike Shanahan and Kyle Shanahan]. I don’t know though. It’s hard for me to answer that kind of question, but just generally speaking I’m sure they are going to be on the same page with whoever they pick.” With Donovan McNabb leaving for Minnesota can you explain why it didn’t work for him here in Washington? “I think for the most part it was just not a good situation for Donovan to be in a system for 11 years and try to be as successful as he was and to learn a new offense and try to fully trust a new system rather than relying on what made him so successful in the past. [Host: Change wasn’t going to be something that was good for Donovan at this stage of his career?] Yeah it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks I guess. I don’t know. That could be a 2-hour interview. I really don’t want to get into that.”
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