FanHouse ToddCollins

ASHBURN, Va. -- He is the man, the myth, the legend around these parts, the quarterback who will finally lead a hungry franchise back to the promised land. He is a fan favorite, a cult hero, a promise of a bright future.

And he has never taken a regular-season snap.

Colt Brennan finds himself in an intriguing situation as he enters his second season with the Washington Redskins. On the one hand, he'll once again be his team's third-string quarterback -- stuck behind oft-criticized Jason Campbell and 15-year veteran Todd Collins. On the other hand, a growing number of Redskins fans think he is the missing piece to their championship puzzle.

They want him in the lineup. Right now.

Filling in for an injured Jason Campbell, Todd Collins started the final three games of the 2007 regular season, winning all of them, and helped lead the Redskins to the playoffs. Even though he was in his mid-30s and a career backup, there were suddenly questions as to who the team's starter should be heading into '08.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The Redskins stormed out of the gate in Jim Zorn's first season as head coach, running their record to 6-2 at the halfway point. The second half of the season, unfortunately, was perfectly symmetrical -- they went 2-6 to finish 8-8.

They could have won three of those games in best-case scenarios, but the best teams come through instead of talking about what could have been. The reality is that the Redskins only played a half-season in '08.

First, a disclaimer. This list is not necessarily a go pick this guy up right now type deal. If you play in an 8-12 team league and you don't have injury or ineffectiveness issues, this list is not for you. If you, however, play in a 16 or more team league with a deep bench, and you have been sitting there waiting on Willis McGahee to show up with a pulse for the past couple weeks, well, I may have something for you.

We call them "Hail Mary" choices because picking up some of these guys would be like throwing a Hail Mary pass. The odds of it winding up helping your team are slim, but there's enough of a chance FTW to hurl it up there. If you have dead weight on your deep bench, let us consider the following dudes.

I've attempted to list them in the order of their likelihood at helping you.

And, actually, the top guy is a sleeper is most leagues for this week ...

Maurice "MoMo" Morris, Seahawks
He's overtaken Julius Jones in the Seahawks backfield. Sure, he's done very little all season -- save for a 100-yard game in Week 12 -- but he gets the hapless Rams in Week 15. You could do worse.

After the Redskins' season-opening no-show performance against the Giants, I wrote that Jim Zorn's West Coast offense might not be the best use of quarterback Jason Campbell's talents. That was probably a tad reactionary -- it was the first game of the year in a new scheme, after all -- and Campbell would go on to play well enough for ESPN's Ron Jaworski to call him his midseason MVP.

Campbell has struggled in recent weeks, which, perhaps predictably, has prompted some people -- fans and media -- to call for backup Todd Collins. The same guy, you may remember, who played extremely well in Campbell's absence late last year, but looked absolutely lost in Zorn's fancy-pants offense this preseason.

That's probably why, after the Week 1 loss in New York, fans were clamoring for rookie Colt Brennan to replace Campbell. (Hey, they may be irrational, but at least they pay attention.)

Thankfully, Zorn is sticking with Campbell for what should be obvious reasons: he's the team's best quarterback.

From the Washington Post's Jason La Canfora:

The Washington Redskins added onto an NFL record during their 14-11 win over the Cleveland Browns today. They set the record last week but just learned about it today.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Redskins have now thrown 332 pass attempts without an interception, dating back to last year.

That beats out the previous NFL mark of 281, set by the Oakland Raiders in 2002.

That's quite impressive once you remember that, during the streak, the Redskins have undergone a coaching change, a new offensive system, and includes passes thrown by Antwaan Randle-El and Clinton Portis. Also remember that Todd Collins began the streak last season when he took over for an injured Jason Campbell.

The breakdown of pass attempts during the streak: Campbell (224), Collins (105), Randle-El (2) and Portis (1).

Campbell's 224 straight pass attempts without a pick is the Redskins' franchise record.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: The young Jason Campbell made some nice strides last year ... but had a huge problem holding onto the ball too long. His fumbles, unnecessary sacks and bad decisions led to some poor end-of-game situations. Now with Jim Zorn calling the shots, Campbell will be in his 7th different system in eight years (counting his time at Auburn). Now he will be learning the West Coast offense that takes QBs a while to learn. Backup Todd Collins was golden in his duties last year and it was a bit of a surprise that he re-upped in Washington again. Colt Brennan is a project as the No. 3. Heat Index: 5

Running Back: Heading into last year, many people figured that the Redskins would go to a dual-back system. Didn't happen. Clinton Portis (who is always nicked up) brought it all season long, taking his place near the top of the yardage and TD rankings. Ladell Betts wasn't bad or anything -- he just didn't get the opportunities to shine as he did in 2006. Still, Betts is a very serviceable backup who could get more touches if Zorn really does want to run the football. Heat Index: 8

By most accounts, Colt Brennan had a spectacular senior season up until the Sugar Bowl, and then things took a turn for the worse. He was uneven at the Senior Bowl and the Combine and the quarterback many people thought might be a first round (or, at the very least, a first day) draft pick ended up going to the Redskins in Round 6.

But everything happens for a reason, and Brennan, currently somewhere on the depth chart behind Jason Campbell and Todd Collins, is embracing this opportunity to prove all his detractors wrong.

He has heard the criticism: He's too small. He's too fragile. He's a gunslinger. He's a system guy. He's a liability off the field. He doesn't stand a chance.

"I think I learned more than anything how to battle adversity," Brennan said. "I'm the kind of guy where I have a chip on my shoulder and have tough skin. A lot of times, that's what you need in the fourth quarter to win games, and I think I have that. I have so much experience having to battle through adversity. I'm never nervous. I'm never scared."

Brennan is facing pretty long odds, but who knows, if Collins continues to struggle, maybe Brennan wins the job. I don't see it happening, but, honestly, who had Mark Brunell as an NFL starting quarterback two years ago? Exactly.

In the meantime, Brennan will continue to work hard and do quirky things like wear tights to practice and play the ukulele. And who knows, if this all works out, maybe he can have a recurring role in one of Clinton Portis' many productions.

The Washington Redskins must really believe in QB Colt Brennan because they just signed him to a 4-year deal worth around $1.8 million. Brennan will join Todd Collins and Derek Divine in backing up Jason Campbell.

the good news for Brennan and the team is the positive medical report he received. Last week, Brennan was cleared to practice and participate in camp, where he has a very good chance of becoming the No. 3 quarterback on the roster behind Jason Campbell and Todd Collins.

The former Hawaii quarterback had minor hip surgery to repair the labrum on April 8. Though some thought he might have to start camp on the physically unable to perform list, Brennan made a quick recovery. Through weight lifting, he is 220 pounds.

Brennan has a pretty good shot at becoming the Skins' #3 quarterback. Campbell is the starter with Collins as a very steady backup. His main competition is Devine, who was signed by the team this past May.

The scary thing is that he has been assigned the #5 (he wore the #15 in college ... which is Collins' number). All Redskins fans remember that Heath Shuler wore that number when he was a first round pick in 1994. Shuler was a bust, starting just 18 games in his three-year career in D.C.

If this NFL thing doesn't work out, Redskins tight end Chris Cooley should think about making some of those "how to get rich by sitting on your ass" infomercials. He's been blogging for all of four months, and he expects to pull in $250,000 by the end of the year (Calendar? Fiscal? Does it matter?), primarily from sponsorships and memorabilia sales.

Obviously, a lot of Cooley's online success has to do with the fact that he's wildly popular, and his willingness to open up about, well, anything. I can't imagine, say, Todd Collins having such success. (Fred Smoot? I'd read that.) But Cooley, who signed a six-year, $30 million deal in April, isn't blogging for beer money. His reasons are noble:

[The financial payoff isn't] bad for a website run entirely by three people - Cooley, his younger brother and a friend - and created with the simple goal of making enough money to send the brother to medical school.

"We're going to way over-generate," Cooley said. "Everything that I don't give to my brother and my friend, I will donate to charity. I don't have a foundation. I don't have a cause. I don't have something that I care about enough to spend the rest of my life having a foundation. But I feel strongly about giving back."

You wouldn't suspect it to look at him, but Cooley's something of a visionary. When asked about how his blog came about, he offered: "We started looking at player websites, and they're pretty generic, pretty boring. ... We said if we want to do it, let's do something creative."

So, yeah, thank God for creativity.