Week 4 QB projections   •  WAS Stats

QB Rex Grossman, Washington Redskins

HT: 6-1, WT: 217, Born: 8-23-1980, College: Florida, Drafted: Round 1, Pick 22

2011 Projections

Best Case

Rex Grossman is the man who sent Donovan McNabb to the bench. As hard as that may be to believe, Grossman actually outplayed McNabb in his three starts, averaging 221 yards and 2.3 TDs/game. At 31 years old, Grossman was named the Week One starter in D.C. after a very even-keeled preseason battle with John Beck.

Worst Case

Grossman is a career 54% passer and has never completed more than 56% of his throws. He has thrown a whopping 40 TDs in 8 seasons, made even less impressive by the fact he's also thrown 40 interceptions. His physical skills are often overcome by poor decision-making, and a slow release.

Outlook

Grossman may have "beaten" John Beck for the starting job but all signs point to this being a carousel over 16 games. Any fantasy owner that wants to win their league will make sure Grossman isn't a part of their 2011 plans, no matter what his fate ends up in D.C.

Why he is a good deep sleeper pick

Steve Holloway - Grossman appears to be set to start for the Redskins in 2011. As farfetched as it sounds, he sent Donovan McNabb to the bench and eventually to Minnesota in a trade. However, Grossman remains lightly regarded as he is currently in a QB competition with John Beck. To avert risk, you might not select Grossman until after Shanahan names the starter. The Redskins receivers are actually better than perceived with Santana Moss, Chris Cooley, Jabar Gaffney and Tim Hightower all being solid players. Grossman's capacity for outperforming expectations is outstanding primarily because of his extremely low expectations, but down the stretch a year ago, he had over 300 yards in two of the last three games and threw for seven TDs. You could do worse than waiting to nab Grossman with your final pick, adding quality depth elsewhere while you wait and wait to take him.

2011 Schedule

2011 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Grossman had a very solid day that makes head coach Mike Shanahan look very smart for making him the starter. Grossman started off shakey as he was hit often and threw many incompletions. Grossman overthrew a wide open Gaffney deep also but things started to click for the man who looks to have revitalised his career in Washington. Grossman showed he had great chemistry with his recievers. His passes looked almost flawless at times as he threw all of the route tree to numerous Washington recievers and kept the Giant defense guessing and unable to stop him. Grossman had a gunslinger mentality and got huge chunks of yards down the field rather than a dink and dunk approach. He shot many high but catchable passes over the middle and threw perfect in stride passes to his recievers on in/out routes all day. Grossman was let down by his recievers at times by drops. Gaffney had one and WR Armstrong had two drops including a huge downfield pass which was dissapointing at the time. Lucky for Grossman, it did not matter. The only flaw in his game reared its ugly head towards the end as poor ball security led to a fumble inside the Redskins own half which the Giants could not capitalize on. Grossman was more than efficient and stated his case to remain QB of the Redskins.

Week 2 - Grossman was able to move the ball well all day, but turned it over twice in key situations, making this game closer than it needed to be, although one of the picks was not his fault. He had good protection, was decisive, and spread the ball around to keep the defense off balance. His greatest strength was actually the running game. When it was firing on all cylinders, he was able to take full advantage with a decent play action, which was called several times with success. Grossman never looked like a superstar, he was just slow-and-steady, with excellent composure under pressure. One great example: He was able to get a screen pass off accurately as a defender was literally in mid-air diving toward him. Grossman's deficiencies did show late in the game, as he did have trouble against the nickel defense. He trusts his receivers and take chances -- a double edged sword -- and he spreads the ball around well. The coaches trusted him to go for it on fourth down in the red zone down eight in the fourth quarter when they could have just settled for a field goal, and Grossman delivered with a touchdown throw to Santana Moss. The key to his success are a balanced attack and the fact that he has 3-4 reliable targets to choose from on any given play.

Week 3 - Grossman's final fumble on a blindside hit by Anthony Spencer will get a lot of talk this week, as many will wonder if the "old" Rex Grossman is returning. In fairness, Rex wasn't that bad. The Cowboys defense has played pretty well this season and kept the pressure on him all night. And while he does have a couple options, Grossman doesn't really have any bigtime playmakers on offense. He played ok, aside from one errant throw, and had his team in position to win the game, had it not been for a long Dallas drive at the end. When Grossman got the ball back with no time left, he immediately got Dallas out to midfield, but then DC Ryan turned up the heat, and Grossman ended the game by fumbling the ball and turning it over. There's no need to panic in Washington, as Grossman isn't the major problem on this team. A lack of firepower will eventually be the undoing in Washington. Grossman for the most part completed most of his passes, found the open man and had a solid game until the very end.