2011 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft - The Washington Redskins Select....

The Redskins are lacking in a lot of areas. The quarterback situation is a disaster - Donovan McNabb is history, and Rex Grossman isn't the long term answer. The lines are old and beat up, with a few exceptions. The defense plays a 3-4 formation with a bunch of 4-3 players. There are few, if any, offensive playmakers. This team needs help.

If Gabbert was gone, Mike Shanahan would probably wait for round two to take Locker, who he looks like the next Jake Plummer; remember, Plummer and Shanny went to the AFC title game together in 2006. But in this mock, Gabbert is here, and he's a better prospect now than Jay Cutler was in 2006 when Shanahan took him following that deep run. Blaine Gabbert has pretty much every physical tool you're looking for. His main criticisms are his spread offense origins (though he played under center in high school) and his general inexperience after starting for just two seasons at Mizzou. Bottom line: Gabbert is a project with a ton of upside. You don't draft him unless you have time, but the Redskins are practically made of time right now. They don't have nearly enough talent to make a playoff run anytime soon, so they don't mind taking a project. In this situation, Gabbert becomes the new face of the franchise.

The Redskins absolutely have to take a quarterback in the first two rounds of this draft; they simply can't justify going another season with Grossman or a discontented veteran at the helm. The field general on offense has to be Shanahan's guy, and if Shanahan doesn't totally buy into Gabbert or if the Missouri product isn't available, expect the Skins to go with either Robert Quinn (nobody other than Brian Orakpo had more than 2.5 sacks) or Julio Jones (the receiver situation is a mess, and even the decent ones are boring players with no explosion). They'd take Jake Locker in the second round, and may even move up a few spots from the 41st overall to get him. That's how desperate Washington is to get a signal caller they truly believe in.