Case Keenum trade only a band-aid for Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins are trading for quarterback Case Keenum, which addresses a huge need, but is merely a temporary fix and nothing more.

Just after the conclusion of the 2017-18 season, the Washington Redskins agreed to a trade for Alex Smith. The move signified the end of the Kirk Cousins era in the nation’s capital while ushering in the Patrick Mahomes era for the Kansas City Chiefs. Fast-forward to just ahead of the NFL calendar turning to 2019, Washington is in a similar scenario with their target now being Case Keenum.

According to a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Redskins and Denver Broncos have agreed to a trade centered on the veteran quarterback. Washington will send Denver their 2020 sixth-round pick while receiving the Broncos’ 2020 seventh-round pick.

Moreover, per Mike Klis of 9News, Keenum’s contract will be restructured with Denver paying the $500,000 restructure bonus and $3.5 million of the $7 million he’ll be due in 2019. Washington will pay the remaining $3.5 million.

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Of course, Washington finds themselves in need of making this move after Smith suffered a horrific knee injury that ended his 2018 season and will reportedly keep him out for 2019 as well. Given that would make Colt McCoy their starter, they needed to address the position this offseason.

Adding Keenum will give them a veteran presence at the most important position on the field. Under head coach Jay Gruden, there is reason to believe that the offense should be able to function at least somewhat well with Keenum. However, as Denver learned in 2018 after signing Keenum in free agency, he’s not the long-term answer at quarterback.

That leaves the bigger point for the Redskins in the 2019 offseason still in full focus. With Smith’s uncertain future of his career due to his health and even now with Keenum in the fold, this trade is just a temporary fix. Looking ahead, Washington still needs to make adding a potential franchise quarterback a priority moving forward.

Again, there is good reason to believe that Gruden can keep Washington afloat in the 2019 season with Keenum at the helm of the offense. Having said that, the organization’s eyes need to be looking beyond the upcoming 16-game slate. That means potentially eyeing a quarterback in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Picking 15th overall in April’s draft, the Redskins could indeed be in range to land a quarterback in a notably weak class of signal-callers. Whether that means waiting for a player to fall to them at that spot or trading up, they have options as it pertains to potentially adding future quarterback in this draft to take over once Keenum has run his course in Washington.

Having said that, adding Keenum does offer Washington an advantage that they didn’t have when they were sitting with just McCoy as an option at the position.

By most accounts, the 2020 NFL Draft quarterback class is miles ahead of the 2019 class. There is a better chance of finding a player in that class that can come in and start Day 1 than there is in 2019, where a player would likely need to sit behind Keenum for a season before he’d be ready to take the reins of the offense.

With a band-aid and stop-gap option in Keenum now coming into place, the Redskins have solved the issue temporarily and opened up their options. Thus, this is certainly a positive for the immediate future of Jay Gruden’s team. Having said that, the front office must realize that the trade is nothing more than that temporary solution and not fail to keep their eyes on the future, be it through the 2019 or 2020 NFL Draft.