Washington Redskins decided to sign veteran quarterback Josh Johnson as their backup QB. The deal was announced on Wednesday.
This move comes after the Redskins lost their starting quarterback Alex Smith for the season in Week 11 and then saw his backup, QB Colt McCoy, suffering from a season-ending injury in Week 13. This propelled former New York Jets’ man Mark Sanchez to a position of a starter.
Josh Johnson is considered to be an NFL journeyman as the Redskins will be his 12th team since he broke in the league in 2008. Johnson started his career with Tampa Bay Buccaneers and went on to play for Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants and Houston Texans among others. During that time he only started five games, throwing his last regular season pass back in 2011.
Johnson’s NFL career stats include 96 completed passes out of 177 attempted for 1,042 yards and five touchdowns while throwing 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 274 yards.
According to the Redskins’ head coach Jay Gruden, the organization also discussed the possibility to add former San Francisco 49ers’ QB Colin Kaepernick but opted to go in a different direction. Kaepernick has been out of the league since 2016 when he started protesting against social injustice by kneeling during the national anthem.
“He’s been discussed for sure,” – said Gruden. “It’s just going to be a matter of which way you want to go.”
“There’s not a lot of time to get a brand-new quarterback and system installed in a couple of days,” – he added. “He’s been talked about, but we’ll probably go in a different direction.“
