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Lots of stuff coming out of the first day of Washington Redskins OTAs, including the apparently scary, inadvertent sideline takedown of head coach Mike Shanahan by defensive back Brandyn Thompson. But as I was reading through the player quotes that the team's media relations staff sent out, I was particularly struck by this one from London Fletcher, when asked whether the trade-up to draft quarterback Robert Griffin III was part of what convinced him to re-sign with the Redskins:

"Obviously, them being able to get into that second pick was something huge for me. I'm a guy, I'm in my 15^th season, to go into another year with not having a quarterback was not very appealing to me, I'll tell you that. So, when they were able to make the trade, knowing we would be getting either Andrew Luck or him, that definitely made the situation a lot brighter as far as coming back here. So you know, I've had enough years of other stuff."

I guess he didn't add, "No offense, Rex Grossman, Donovan McNabb or Jason Campbell." But you have to love a guy who gives it to you straight, and the sense around the Redskins the past few years has indeed been one of, as Fletcher put it, "not having a quarterback." Now, they have Griffin, whom everyone loves and of whom great things are expected. Fletcher is impressed with the young man, per this quote:

"He's very humble, you know very respectful, you know not coming in feeling like he's entitled to anything. He's willing to work, he works hard, he's in here early, and he's in his playbook. There are some first-round draft picks, especially high guys, they come in and feel like things should be given to them. That's not the case with him. He has an aura about himself that people want to gravitate to him and just get to know him, talk to him, things like that. You can see why everybody spoke so highly about him."

The latest in a long line of glowing Griffin testimonials. The excited, enthusiastic Griffin honeymoon is in full swing in Washington, and right now Griffin can do no wrong. We're still four months away from games that count, and likely many more months away from Griffin doing anything that opens him up to grumbly criticism and concern.

The Redskins' 2012 quarterback may be a rookie, but it's clear he's got folks around the team feeling as though things are finally going to be okay at the most important position on the field, after a long time during which they've not been.

Donovan McNabb's been in the news this week. The former Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins quarterback has been working out and drumming up publicity in an effort to get a job with an NFL team and continue his career. Eagles coach Andy Reid said he'd recommend McNabb to other teams, which is tough to believe considering he traded him two years ago and needs a veteran backup quarterback and doesn't seem interested in signing McNabb himself. We still get plenty of McNabb questions on this blog because Eagles fans still care about him and for good reason. He was a great player for a long time in Philadelphia, and should be remembered fondly there.

But as Ashley Fox points out at the end of her latest column, sometimes the player is the last to know when his career is over. And for McNabb, it obviously appears that that time has come:

McNabb should walk away, head held high, knowing he impacted at least one franchise for the better. He is the Eagles' most accomplished quarterback of all time, with more attempts, completions, passing yards, touchdowns and games played than anyone else. In 11 years, McNabb played in 148 regular-season games and went to the playoffs seven times, including five NFC title games and one Super Bowl.

His legacy is set. He was an iconic player. He wasn't perfect, and there are indelible marks on his tenure -- he either did or didn't get sick in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, he didn't know the overtime rules in a 2008 game at Cincinnati, he either was or wasn't jealous of Terrell Owens, and on and on -- but McNabb is the best modern-day quarterback the franchise has had.

McNabb will be up for discussion for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but the last two seasons haven't helped him. There is no reason to add meaningless years to the journey and prolong the inevitable. McNabb should start the next phase of his life. He will make an insightful television analyst, and he might even find peace in being the one to critique and criticize, rather than being the one who is critiqued and criticized.

We've been saying this for a while here on this blog -- that McNabb is more likely to be working for the same company I do than playing quarterback for an NFL team in 2012. There simply isn't any evidence over the past two years to indicate that he can possibly be of use to any team in the league. He's not, as Ashley points out, interested in serving as a mentor/backup to a young quarterback, or that's what he'd have done last year in Minnesota. And since no team needs or wants him as a starter, he's got no real avenue for a return to the league. It may take him some time to realize this, but McNabb's done as an NFL quarterback, and I agree with Ashley: Continuing to deny it is only going to cost him pieces of his dignity. There's no need for that.

With the third pick in the sixth round of the NFL draft -- the pick they got from Minnesota last summer in return for quarterback Donovan McNabb -- the Redskins selected running back Alfred Morris from Florida Atlantic.

Morris is a strong, compact power runner who's only about 5-foot-9, and I have no idea how he'll factor into the Redskins' 2012 season because he's a sixth-round pick. But he's a different kind of back than the two they drafted last year -- Roy Helu and Evan Royster -- and he gets added to the offseason and training camp mix with them. The Redskins still want to bring back free agent Tim Hightower or, if he leaves, another veteran back or two because they believe it's important to have depth and they're not sold on Helu or Royster as a full-time starter at this point.

I just found it interesting because it was the McNabb pick. Couple of other notes of mild interest:

— With the seventh pick in this round, Arizona took cornerback Justin Bethel from Presbyterian. That was the pick the Redskins traded to Arizona, along with Vonnie Holliday, last summer for Hightower.

— The Redskins also hold the 23rd pick in this round (No. 194 overall) as a result of the trade with Pittsburgh that moved them down 10 spots in the fourth round earlier today.

The 32 crew debates if Donovan McNabb is a Hall of Famer and what the Lions need to make a title run, plus Mel Kiper Jr. tells us what position is the biggest risk to draft in the first round.

If you saw Donovan McNabb on "First Take" today, you know what this is about. If you haven't, here's the clip. McNabb, the former Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins quarterback, was asked if he thinks Robert Griffin III is a good fit for the Redskins, who are likely to take him with the No. 2 pick in the draft four weeks from today. This was a perfectly teed-up Titleist of a question for McNabb, whose time in Washington was tumultuous to say the least, and he swung hard:

"No. I say that because a lot of times, ego gets too involved when it comes to being in Washington. Here's a guy coming out who's very talented, mobile, strong-armed. We've already heard he's intelligent. Football mind. Are you going to cater the offense around his talents and what he's able to do? Or are you going to bring the Houston offense with Matt Schaub over to him and have him kind of be embedded into that?"

The last part is a clear reference to Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and the idea that he tried to fit McNabb into the offensive system he brought with him from the Texans. But there's more:

"We talk so much about Mike Shanahan and the things that he was able to do in Denver. Well, I have a couple of names for you that Mike Shanahan, quarterbacks he's coached and the lack of success that he's had. We have John Beck, who as 0-4. Rex Grossman, 6-11. Jay Cutler, who was his prized possession, 17-20. Jake Plummer, a guy who had success, led them to the AFC Championship against Pittsburgh and then benched him the next year because he wouldn't do what he wanted him to do pretty much. Brian Griese, who was supposed to be the heir apparent to John Elway and hasn't had a lot of success."

To his credit, Skip Bayless asked McNabb if he had an ax to grind. And to his credit, the first two words of McNabb's response were accurate:

"I do but I don't. The whole deal about it is, we hear so much about players who move on somewhere, how the next year will be a lot better. Give him a chance to learn the offense and understand what we do. I never got that chance. And a lot of people haven't."

My inclination is to tread carefully here, since there's obviously a far greater chance that McNabb spends this next football season in those Bristol studios than on a football field. But the plain fact is, the guy needs a mirror.

McNabb makes some fair points about Mike Shanahan and the lack of success he's had as a head coach with quarterbacks other than Elway. He makes some fair points about egos, and I don't think there's anyone who doubts that Shanahan has a big one. He himself might even admit to that. He's a head football coach. The list of men who are those and don't have egos is a pretty short list.

But McNabb this morning was using a platform to grind his ax, plain and simple. My quickie evaluation of him on TV is that he'll be an excellent NFL analyst as long as he's talking about people he hates. His breakdown of the situation in Washington as it pertained to him ignores these elements:

• He was benched by Eagles coach Andy Reid in 2008 and traded by Reid after the 2009 season to a team that the Eagles play twice a year. Clearly, there were some issues with McNabb even before he got to Washington. You don't trade your starting quarterback to a division rival if you think the guy is still worth having.
• Three separate Redskins people who were with the team during McNabb's only season there have told me that the issue with McNabb was that he didn't want to put in the work during the week. Yes, the system in Washington was different from the one he was used to in Philadelphia, but that McNabb's response to that was to shut down and refuse to learn or practice it. One of those three people told me Shanahan was aware, before making the trade, that McNabb had developed the reputation over his final few seasons in Philadelphia of not wanting to put in the work during the week, but that Shanahan believed he could light a fire under McNabb.
• Shanahan was not able to light that fire, and McNabb lost his job to Rex Grossman during the 2010 season. Rex Grossman, folks. Didn't lose the job to Johnny Unitas or Joe Montana. Couldn't play or practice well enough to fend off a challenge from Rex Grossman.
• The Redskins traded McNabb prior to the 2011 season to the Minnesota Vikings for a sixth-round pick. McNabb must not have liked the egos or the system in Minnesota, either, since he played just six games there before losing the job to rookie Christian Ponder, then demanded his release later in the season after being demoted to the scout team.
• No one picked him up off waivers.
• No one has signed him so far this offseason.
• There has been not one report of any team being interested in signing him.

McNabb's career is almost certainly over, and he's clearly bitter about the way it ended. The Shanahans certainly made some mistakes in handling the McNabb situation and said some things that embarrassed a proud veteran and left him very angry. They are not blameless here. But neither is McNabb, and if he's going to sit there and say things like he said this morning on "First Take," he'd do himself and the rest of us a favor if he uttered maybe just one or two words about his own role in the way things turned out for him in Washington.

It's possible, after all, that Griffin will be excellent in Washington. There's nothing anyone's heard about the young man to indicate he's unwilling to work or learn anything new.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- During his hour with reporters Wednesday morning, Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy offered a mildly surprising insight: Left tackle Chad Clifton and receiver Donald Driver are on firmer ground with the organization than once believed and aren't likely to be released anytime soon.

For different reasons, both Clifton and Driver appeared to be candidates for departure as the Packers move younger players into their roles. Clifton missed much of 2011 because of hamstring and back issues, and he'll turn 36 in August. There are two possible replacements on the roster, Marshall Newhouse and Derek Sherrod. But asked if Clifton will be on the roster when training camp begins, McCarthy said: "There's definitely a possibility. We haven't taken him off, so he's someone we'll continue to talk about and get the reports."

The Packers have limited Clifton's practice repetitions for years to preserve his health, and ultimately, McCarthy said, his future is "a medical decision."

Meanwhile, Driver is busy this month participating in ABC's "Dancing With the Stars." His contract calls for him to earn about $5 million in 2012, but he said earlier this offseason he would be willing to restructure if that kept him with the Packers. If so, there wouldn't be any risk in bringing him to training camp.

"Donald's still on our roster," McCarthy said. "I thought Donald, the second half of the season, he played very well. His role, as far as opportunities, was not as high as it's been in the past, but I thought Donald was very consistent down the stretch. I thought he played well in the playoff game."

Things change quickly in the NFL, but for the moment, McCarthy appeared to indicate that neither player will be leaving the franchise in the near future.

With Peyton Manning coming and Tim Tebow going out, the Broncos still are not settled at the quarterback position.

Who is going to be Manning's backup?

Denver could always opt to keep Tebow, but ESPN has reported the team will try to trade him. They may even release him if they don’t find a trade partner.

The matter of Manning’s backup is significant. Manning passed the Broncos’ physical and he has been cleared to play in 2012 after missing all of last season with a neck injury. But there has to be a backup plan.

There aren’t too many great options out there. The top backup options are Byron Leftwich, Matt Leinart, Charlie Batch Donovan McNabb, Vince Young, Billy Volek, Josh Johnson and Dennis Dixon. Of that group, I think Volek -- who was released by the Chargers last week -- could be the best option. He is a serviceable player in a pinch.

Denver could always draft a quarterback to groom behind Manning. Manning, who turns 36 Saturday, probably has at least three solid seasons remaining in him if his neck holds up.

It might be a little early to draft a quarterback in the early rounds and I think Denver is now out of the Brandon Weeden mix. Denver has closely scouted him, but he will be 29 during the season. There is little chance Denver will take a quarterback who may not be in the position to start until he is well in his 30s.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The St. Louis Rams have not given up on 2009 first-round draft choice Jason Smith.

Their new coach, Jeff Fisher, and new general manager, Les Snead, said during the NFL scouting combine that they hoped to bring back Smith following three disappointing seasons.

The strategy makes sense if Smith agrees to reduce his scheduled $10 million salary. The team might as well find out whether new line coach Paul Boudreau can help salvage some return on a massive investment. Better luck with injuries might help Smith more than anything. The concussion he suffered against Dallas came on a freak play when Smith was making a tackle following a turnover.

For the Rams, there's no sense in making tackle a bigger need by dumping Smith prematurely. Publicly declaring interest in Smith sets a positive tone for expected negotiations on a new deal.

Smith has started 26 of 48 games for the Rams, the third-lowest total for three seasons among players drafted second overall from 1990-2009.

The chart ranks three-year start totals for players drafted second overall since 1998, beginning with Ryan Leaf. The final column shows total starts each player has made for his original team.

I get it, Washington Redskins fans. You've been hurt. You've been burned too many times by big March headlines you thought would bring lasting happiness but instead brought heartache, and now it's difficult for you to trust. You don't want to be hurt again.

How else to explain the horrified reaction by a quarterback-starved fan base to the idea of signing Peyton Manning? Judging by the reactions from the folks in our comments section all the way up to the mayor of Washington, D.C., you'd think we were talking about handing the starting quarterback's job to Dan Snyder's teenage nephew. This is what Mayor Vincent Gray had to say on the topic to a D.C. television station last week:

"You know, I think it depends on what role he would play, Bruce," Gray said. "But I really think the Redskins need a quarterback that they can build with for the future. You know, Andrew Luck is probably going to go to the Colts, but there's Robert Griffin III, and there's a couple other promising quarterbacks that are out there. We've kind of been down this pathway with quarterbacks who've been great but maybe are in the back end of their career, and even if he comes in and plays a year or two, where do we go from there?"

Well, jeez, Mr. Mayor. At that point, you go with the guy you drafted in 2013 because you weren't able to trade up and get Griffin in 2012. Or you go with a young guy you picked later in that draft who's been apprenticing for a year or two under Peyton Manning, for goodness' sake. What Gray and many other Redskins fans seem to be missing here is that Mike Shanahan can't just go to the "franchise quarterback" aisle at the Wegman's down the road from the team's Ashburn, Va., training facility and pick one. Only one team's going to get Griffin, and if the Redskins aren't that team, they need to have a good Plan B. If Manning is fully healthy and shows he can throw the ball the way he was throwing it two years ago before his neck injury, he's the greatest Plan B in alphabetically themed planning history.

Redskins fans, the mayor included, are looking at this whole thing through the disappointing prism of free-agent signing periods past. I'm hearing names such as Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Albert Haynesworth and yeah, Donovan McNabb -- a list of big-name, star players the Redskins brought in to great fanfare and who flopped for one reason or another. Because of this, the chorus moans, Manning isn't the way to go. The Redskins have done the big-name/big-contract thing before and it just never works out. They need to stop doing business this way.

Well, guess what? They kind of already have. Yeah, McNabb was a mistake -- a flyer Shanahan took thinking he could re-light a spark that had gone out in Philadelphia and maybe sneak into the playoffs in his first year in Washington. He acknowledges it was a risk that didn't work out. But (a) Manning is not McNabb, who was no longer driven to excel by the time the Redskins got him and (b) the McNabb acquisition is an outlier among the moves Shanahan and Bruce Allen have made since taking over personnel decisions two years ago. Everything else they've done in the draft and free agency has been focused, sober and competent, and they deserve the benefit of the doubt, even from Redskins fans scarred by the mistakes of past administrations.

Snyder doesn't pull these strings anymore. Part of the agreement Shanahan signed when he took the job was that Snyder would let him build the team, as he puts it, "the right way." Last year's draft was an exercise in patience, as Shanahan refused to reach for quarterbacks he didn't think were the long-term answer simply because he had a need at that position. He traded back, trying to build depth, and picked up key future pieces such as Ryan Kerrigan, Roy Helu, Evan Royster, Jarvis Jenkins and Dejon Gomes. He has eight picks this year and will have to decide how many of them he's willing to sacrifice if he wants to move up to draft Griffin. Shanahan knows how many needs his team has, so he's not going to make that decision lightly.

In the meantime, there is free agency, and although the Redskins didn't make a big splash last summer, they did very well in free agency. Shanahan targeted specific players in the 27- to 29-year-old age group -- guys he believed were already established but still young and hungry enough to grow and develop with the team. He plans to use the same formula this year to address wide receiver, offensive line and the secondary. He's not after the biggest name out there. He's after the specific types of players he believes his team needs in order to build a consistent, year-to-year winner.

Which brings us back to Manning, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Shanahan's not going to give Manning a big, five-year, huge-money deal. I don't think anyone is, given the health concerns, but if the market gets that crazy, I don't expect the Redskins to play in it. It just wouldn't be smart. Bringing Manning in on a one-year or two-year deal with incentives to allow him to prove he's healthy is smart, because if Manning is healthy, he's worth as much as any quarterback in the league.

That's the important thing to remember here, Redskins fans. Manning isn't a "fading star" who's past his prime. He was, before his neck injury, playing at as high a level as any quarterback in the league. He got hurt and missed a season. Now, it appears he'll be available again. And if he shows teams he can throw the ball the way he did in 2010, he's a smart short-term investment for a team that needs a quarterback answer now and for the future. The ideal solution would be both, but if that's not out there, the Redskins need to be smart about addressing the former while keeping their eye on the latter. So far, the Shanahan regime has shown that it doesn't do business like those "same old Redskins" who've hurt you so many times.

» NFC Wrap-ups: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Arrow indicates direction team is trending.

Final Power Ranking: 30
Preseason Power Ranking: 20

Biggest surprise: It has never been clear why anyone thought acquiring Donovan McNabb as a stopgap starting quarterback was a good idea. All indications were that McNabb had taken a significant step back since his heyday as an annual Pro Bowler, and in truth, he had no more familiarity with the Vikings' new offense than did rookie quarterback Christian Ponder. He threw for an embarrassing 39 yards in a Week 1 loss at the San Diego Chargers, was benched after six starts and waived with five games remaining. I'm not sure the Vikings would have won more games with Ponder or Joe Webb as their Week 1 starter, but the entire episode was a failure waiting to happen. Why wasn't that obvious to everyone?

Biggest disappointment: Tailback Adrian Peterson's shredded left knee will cast a shadow over the organization for months. The Vikings have said they hope to have Peterson back on the field when the season begins, but the truth is no one can know for sure how a running back will come back from two torn knee ligaments and other assorted damage. Newly-promoted general manager Rick Spielman will have a difficult decision to make: Can the team continue to build its offense around Peterson? Does it necessitate the acquisition of a replacement or a philosophical shift? Of all their positions, running back represented the least of the Vikings' concerns at midseason. Now it's among their first priorities.

Biggest need: On a roster full of holes, no positions are more needy than defensive back and offensive line. The Vikings finished the season with Week 1 backups playing both cornerback and one safety positions, and the only incumbent who should have a decent chance to start in 2012 is veteran cornerback Antoine Winfield. Although they led the NFL with 50 sacks, the Vikings' coverage was so poor that opposing quarterbacks still compiled a 107.1 passer rating, the second-highest mark in NFL history. Meanwhile, the Vikings must find a long-term replacement for deposed left tackle Bryant McKinnie and might have to find a new left guard if Steve Hutchinson retires. The future of right guard Anthony Herrera is also up for debate.

Team MVP: Defensive end Jared Allen finished a half-sack shy of tying Michael Strahan's record for sacks in a season (22.5), along the way setting an example of how to continue playing hard despite the weight of a lost season. Runner up goes to Percy Harvin, who shed his migraine issues to become the kind of all-purpose receiver/running back the Vikings envisioned when they drafted him in 2009. He caught a team-high 87 passes and also took 52 carries, combining for 1,312 total yards and eight touchdowns.

Questionable call: Cornerback Chris Cook was arrested in October and eventually charged with strangulation and domestic abuse. In the end, the Vikings took the highly unusual path of dismissing him for the season while keeping him on the active roster and paying him game checks for the final eight games of the season. Coach Leslie Frazier said the organization wanted to give Cook a chance to get is life in order, but Frazier admitted this week that it's unclear what progress he has made. Unless he is incarcerated as a result of his upcoming trial, Cook seems likely to return to the team in training camp.

» NFC Final Word: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Five nuggets of knowledge about Week 17:

Ware QBs dare not tread: Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware could become the first player ever to lead the NFL in sacks in three different seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Ware led the league with 20 sacks in 2008, with 15.5 last season and currently has 18 with one game to go. Minnesota's Jared Allen has 18.5 and Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Jason Babin has 18, so this is a race that's going down to the wire. Of those three, Ware's the one with something to play for Sunday other than the league sack lead.

You take it. No, you take it: The game between the Eagles and the Washington Redskins has a chance to be sloppy. The Eagles are tied with the Buccaneers for the league lead in turnovers with 36. Right behind them are the Redskins, who rank third in the league this year with 34 turnovers. Washington quarterback Rex Grossman, who is tied for the league lead with 19 interceptions in spite of having played just 12 games, is also tied with San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers for the league lead in turnovers with 24.

Romo's signature season: If Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo throws at least one touchdown pass and no interceptions in Sunday night's game against the New York Giants, he will become the sixth player in NFL history, according to ESPN Stats & Info., to throw at least 30 touchdown passes and fewer than 10 interceptions in the same season. Aaron Rodgers did it in 2009 and will again this year unless he throws four interceptions Sunday. Tom Brady did it in 2007 and 2010. Brett Favre turned the trick in 2009, Peyton Manning in 2006 and Donovan McNabb in 2004.

Eagles history: Babin enters the game with an outside shot at Reggie White's team record of 21 sacks, set in 1987. Babin had three sacks each in his Week 14 and Week 15 games, so it's not out of the question that he could get three here against the banged-up Redskins line and match White's record. The Eagles will be playing hard, as LeSean McCoy has an outside shot at the league rushing title and the team is trying to stave off what would be just the third losing season in Andy Reid's 13-year tenure as their head coach.

Holding on when it counts: The Giants' receivers have had an issue with dropped passes this year. They are tied for the league lead with 31 drops. But according to ESPN Stats & Information's "Next Level" numbers, 23 of those 31 drops have come in the first halves of games. Their 23 first-half drops are five more than any other team has this year, but 22 teams have more than the eight drops the Giants have in the second half or overtime. So the Giants' passing game does seem to correct itself as the game goes along. Those same "Next Level" stats say Giants quarterback Eli Manning was 4-for-11 with 8.6 yards per attempt when the Cowboys sent five or more pass-rushers in the first half of the Week 14 game in Dallas, but he was 8-for-11 with 12.7 yards per attempt and a touchdown against Dallas blitzes in the second half of that game.

Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan has gone back and forth this year on whether to use the term "rebuilding" when describing his mission. But after the Redskins' disappointing loss on Sunday, Shanahan was asked if the process — rebuilding or whatever you want to call it — has so far taken longer than he expected it to take when he took over the team prior to the 2010 season:

"A lot longer than I first anticipated," Shanahan said in the wake of the 33-26 home loss to the lowly Minnesota Vikings that dropped the Redskins to 5-10 heading into Sunday's season finale against the Eagles in Philadelphia. "We had less depth than I thought. We were a little bit older at a few different positions. I thought we might keep those players a little longer than we did."

This is likely proof that things look different from the outside than they do on the inside. Personally, I thought the reason Shanahan was hired to coach the Redskins was because they needed a drastic overhaul and owner Dan Snyder decided it was worth giving Shanahan a five-year deal and control of personnel decisions in order to bring one about. Shanahan took a shot in 2010, trading for Donovan McNabb to play quarterback and trying to make an instant contender out of what he was given. But that didn't work, and it seemed as though Shanahan operated last offseason with the long view in mind, signing players in their 20s who were already established but could grow as the team grew around them.

The process must continue this offseason, and I believe as most people who read this blog and people around the league believe that it needs to start at quarterback. But we'll keep an eye on what Shanahan's doing and see how quickly he thinks he can turn this thing around as he heads into the third year of his five-year deal.

Hearing Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh gush about their starting quarterbacks can create confusion over their teams' intentions.

How serious are Carroll's Seattle Seahawks and Harbaugh's San Francisco 49ers about moving into the future with Tarvaris Jackson and Alex Smith as their respective quarterbacks?

Both coaches have had their quarterbacks' backs, and then some. Even before Seattle rebounded from a 2-6 start to reach 7-7, Carroll said he could envision Jackson as the Seahawks' long-term starter. Harbaugh recently called Smith a Pro Bowl-caliber player and long-term answer at quarterback for the 49ers.

What coaches say does not always line up with what NFL owners pay.

Smith has earned a raise, but would the 49ers pay him what Pro Bowl quarterbacks typically earn?

Fourteen QBs earned Pro Bowl honors over the 2009-10 seasons: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Matt Cassel, Brett Favre, David Garrard, Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb, Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo, Matt Ryan, Matt Schaub, Michael Vick and Vince Young.

Most were playing under and/or subsequently earned massive contracts.

Jackson is entering the final year of a contract that scheduled to pay him $4 million in base salary. Smith is earning $4 million in base salary this season.

Those salaries represent good money for backup quarterbacks.

The 49ers should be able to keep Smith without paying him what those Pro Bowl passers earned. They've already paid millions to him as the No. 1 overall choice in the 2005 NFL draft. Smith has expressed in the past an interest in rewarding the 49ers for an investment that did not work out as intended before this season.

Smith has proven to be a good fit for the 49ers under Harbaugh. Jackson is fitting with Seattle under Carroll. I suspect both have come on strong with their public support to combat lingering negative perceptions about both quarterbacks.

If Jackson or Smith were obviously franchise quarterbacks and long-term solutions behind center, their coaches wouldn't have to convince anyone. It would be obvious. The praise from Carroll and Harbaugh has likely helped both quarterbacks exceed outside expectations no matter what their teams have in mind for them beyond this season.

Over the past few months, we’ve seen the Panthers, 49ers and Bengals discover they’re just fine at quarterback. Over those same few months, we’ve seen even more teams discover they’re not in great shape.

That’s why the 2012 draft and free-agency period could provide a shopping spree for teams looking for starting quarterbacks. I’m looking around the league and seeing roughly a quarter of the 32 teams that could be changing starters in 2012.

Maybe they find solutions in the draft, like the Panthers did with Cam Newton and the Bengals with Andy Dalton. Or maybe they take a guy who has been around for a while, put him in the right situation and find out he can play, the way the 49ers did with Alex Smith.

But neither method is fool-proof. Drafting a quarterback early doesn’t always work. That’s why I’m putting the Vikings and Jaguars on my list of teams that might be looking for a starter in the offseason. Bringing in a veteran, like the Cardinals did with Kevin Kolb, didn’t bring any dramatic changes, and that’s why Arizona also is on my list of teams with uncertain quarterback futures.

Let’s run through the list, in no particular order.

Redskins. Who really thought it was a good idea to go into a season with John Beck and Rex Grossman as your only options? Owner Daniel Snyder and coach Mike Shanahan have to realize now that they’re going nowhere with journeymen quarterbacks. That’s why they have to go out and find someone who can be a franchise quarterback.

Seahawks. Same story as the Redskins. Pete Carroll generally had more talent and depth in his quarterback groups at USC than he did when he decided to go with Tarvaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst. Letting Matt Hasselbeck go wasn’t necessarily a bad move, but heading into a season with guys who never have been and never will be any good made no sense.

Dolphins. The tandem of Chad Henne and Matt Moore was as uninspiring as what the Seahawks and Redskins brought to the table. That’s why the Dolphins will be looking for a new coach. Moore has played pretty well at times, but ownership seems intent on making a big splash to bring some life back to this franchise. The quickest way to make waves is to go get a high-profile quarterback, but keeping Moore around as a backup is a nice insurance policy.

Colts. Had Indianapolis had a backup like Moore, this season wouldn’t have been so disastrous. Everything fell apart as soon as it became apparent Peyton Manning wasn’t going to be playing because of a neck injury. The Colts could get a healthy Manning back or they could draft Andrew Luck. But, if they let Manning go and draft Luck, they should go out and get a backup who is capable of starting.

Vikings. They tried to use Donovan McNabb as a bridge to first-round draft pick Christian Ponder. The bridge quickly collapsed and Ponder was thrown in over his head. Ponder may eventually turn into a decent starter, but we’ve seen no solid evidence that will happen. That’s why the Vikings need to at least have an alternative.

Jaguars. You can put Blaine Gabbert in the same category as Ponder. The jury is still out on him. Like Miami, this is another franchise that will be hiring a new coach and trying to energize a fan base. Just a thought here, but there’s a hometown guy who could sell out the stadium every week, if he somehow becomes available. (See below.)

Broncos. Tim Tebow has pulled off miracles by putting the Broncos in playoff contention. The guy has all sorts of intangibles, but he doesn’t throw like an NFL quarterback. That’s why it looks like John Fox and John Elway are forcing smiles every time Tebow leads them to an awkward victory. You get the sense that, deep down, Fox and Elway would rather have a conventional quarterback.

Cardinals. The Cardinals thought they found their franchise guy when they traded for Kolb. He hasn’t played like a franchise quarterback, but the Cardinals don’t necessarily have to go outside on a shopping trip. John Skelton has played pretty well in relief of Kolb. Come training camp next summer, let Kolb and Skelton compete and settle this thing once and for all.

TRENDING UP

TRENDING DOWN

Ashley Fox's latest column is on the NFC East, and if you're a fan of the division, you may want to pour yourself something stiff before you read it. We all know this hasn't been the greatest season for this division, and it could be the first non-strike season ever in which no NFC East team wins at least 10 games. But Ashley kind of unloads on the division's four coaches and says: "Although unlikely, it is not out of the realm of possibility that each will lose his job at season's end."

Now, I've kind of been under the impression that all four will be back next year. I think the hottest seat is that of the New York Giants' Tom Coughlin -- not because he hasn't done a good job but because historical circumstances -- i.e., his poor second-half record since becoming Giants coach and a third straight season without a playoff appearance -- could line up against him. But if the Giants win Sunday night in Dallas, they take control of the division race again, so it's premature to think Coughlin's team will even put him in position to lose his job. Ashley writes that Coughlin "has done the most with the least" this year, and I agree. I think this Giants team has either met or exceeded reasonable expectations.

I also think Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan is about as safe as any coach in the league, since he was signed two years ago to a five-year contract and is clearly working on a rebuilding project while owner Dan Snyder honors his pledge to leave him alone to work. Ashley hits Shanahan for his failure to so far find a quarterback, writing that "He has misjudged four quarterbacks now: Jason Campbell, Donovan McNabb, Rex Grossman and John Beck," and "The fact that Shanahan went into this season with Grossman and Beck, rather than trying to sign another quarterback, looked asinine in August. That he has shuttled between the two and the Redskins have lost six of their last seven games is no surprise."

I would say it's important to watch what Shanahan does at quarterback this coming offseason, and if he does something like bring back Grossman because he knows he can run "his system," then the criticism becomes warranted. But he didn't like what was available at quarterback last offseason and decided to focus on rebuilding the defense -- which he's done with some success. I believe Shanahan has one more year before his results in Washington can be fairly examined and judged.

The Dallas Cowboys' Jason Garrett is also, I believe, totally safe, since owner Jerry Jones loves him and wants him to become a great coach. But this was a bad week for Garrett, who's getting hammered everywhere for his mismanagement of the clock at the end of the fourth quarter of last Sunday's Arizona loss. Ashley believes Garrett's timeout gaffes happened because "Garrett didn't trust his team, and he didn't trust himself. His team lost the game in overtime and lost a chance at wrapping up a weak division title this weekend." But while that last part is clearly true, in the big picture Garrett has done a fine job with the Cowboys. Should he continue to bungle in-game situations over and over again, this becomes something about which to worry. But it's too soon to judge Garrett as a head coach, and his owner knows that.

Then there's the Philadelphia Eagles' Andy Reid, a great NFL coach who's done a horrible job with this year's team. Ashley hits him for his kooky coaching-staff shuffle, letting locker room leaders like Quintin Mikell depart via free agency and his mishandling of the DeSean Jackson contract mess. All of it's warranted. If Reid were judged on this year alone, he wouldn't stand a chance. The only thing that saves him is his prior record of consistently fielding division champs and playoff contenders. Eagles management seems to want to keep Reid, barring something totally humiliating happening over the final four games. But his benefit of the doubt is dwindling, especially with Eagles fans already unsatisfied with a string of playoff appearances that hasn't yielded a Super Bowl title.

The upshot of all of this, of course, is that this is a very down year in the NFC East, and it won't rank among the best years on any of these coaches' resumes. (Except Garrett's, since it's his first.) The scramble is on, apparently, between the Giants and Cowboys, to see which will be the division's lone playoff team and whether that team can make any noise in the playoffs come January.