The Keenan McCardell Curse

In another thread, someone mentioned the "questionables" from this past draft. They included N. Paul and A. Robinson... and it got me thinking...

When was the last time the Redskins drafted an actual productive receiver... for the Redskins (important to note)?

I was thinking Rod Gardner?? Then I realized who it was... then I went... ... read on...

Check out the WRs picked by the Skins over the last 20 seasons... YIKES.

'11 - Hankerson = Hopefully!!??
'11 - Paul = No
'11 - Robinson = No
'10 - Austin = No
'09 - M. Mitchell = No
'08 - D. Thomas = No
'08 - M. Kelly = No
'03 - T. Jacobs = No
'02 - C. Russell = No
'01 - D. McCants = No
'01 - R. Gardner = 2nd best... I Guess??
'00 - E. Howell - You guys remember Ethan Howell, right?
'99 - T. Alexander = Ummmm...
'98 - P. Palmer - This is getting ridiculous
'97 - A. Connell - Wow.... one I recognize!
'96 - D. Maxwell - ... nevermind
'95 - M. Westbrook - The BEST receiver drafted in the last 20 years???
'94 - T. Winans - Yes, that Tydus Winans
'92 - T. Smith - Terry Smith... not to be confused with Torrey Smith
'92 - D. Howard - Great Pick! Super Bowl hero! ... for someone else. Oops.

So that gives us a top 5 over the past 20 years of selecting WRs as...
1. Michael Westbrook - 4,200 yds & 24 TDs over his 7 year Redskins career... He'd be #1 on the list if this were MMA rankings as well, BTW
2. Rod Gardner - 3,000 yds & 22 TDs in his 4 year Redskins career
3. Albert Connell - One good season in '99 - 1,100+yds and he's #3
4. Leonard Hankerson - Yes, I'd say he's already #4.... that has more to do with our picks than his "career" thus far
5. Desmond Howard - 700yd/5 TD season with rookie H. Shuler, J. Friesz, & rookie G. Ferrotte at the helm automatically puts him at #5

Again... YIKES. But you know what I realized... it was the Keenan McCardell curse!! We drafted him in 12th round (yes 12th round) in the 1991 draft... then dumped him before he could play one game. He went on to a productive career elsewhere, then came back and stuck it to us again as a WR coach (to make sure our draft picks Austin, Paul, & Robinson got no targets!!)

I know there's talk about Justin Blackmon or Michael Floyd in the 1st Round in April...

If we do grab one of those guys... Someone find the magic to break the McCardell curse! I assume firing him MAY be bad mojo?? Or maybe that breaks it!! Stay tuned!!

I think the answer lies in the question below and has a huge part of why that list exists.








When was the last time the Redskins drafted an actual productive quarter back?

Hey now... in the past 20 years we've had Mark Rypien, Brad Johnson, Rich Gannon, Jeff Hostetler, Trent Green, Jeff George, Mark Brunell...

None of them are Hall of Famers... but some of those guys were good enough to not make our drafted WRs terrible (i.e. they made other teams' WRs look good when they played there)... if you know what I mean.

I still blame McCardell.

I think that it is a lil premature to call Hankerson, Paul, Robinson, and Austin failures. They need to be developed.

I think that it is a lil premature to call Hankerson, Paul, Robinson, and Austin failures. They need to be developed.

I guess I should have been more clear...

Hankerson (with the one 100yd game + potential) I ranked as the 4th best WR we've drafted in the past 20 years...

The other three... in 2011:

T. Austin - 12 rec / 137 yds
N. Paul - 2 rec / 25 yds
A. Robinson - 0 rec / 0 yds

They may turn out to be something... but they didn't do anything this year (a season where D. Stallworth was released, came back and played over them)... heck, depending on what we do at WR this offseason, one or two of the three may be done in the NFL... that was the point.

Hey now... in the past 20 years we've had Mark Rypien, Brad Johnson, Rich Gannon, Jeff Hostetler, Trent Green, Jeff George, Mark Brunell...

None of them are Hall of Famers... but some of those guys were good enough to not make our drafted WRs terrible (i.e. they made other teams' WRs look good when they played there)... if you know what I mean.

I still blame McCardell.

But the question was regarding the drafting of a productive QB, so everyone on your list is excluded except for Mark Rypien. And of course everybody knows that Mark was the last QB to lead us to the Super Bowl! And where was he taken in the draft? Sixth round if memory serves me correctly. No need to mortgage the future to pick a QB in the first round!

But the question was regarding the drafting of a productive QB, so everyone on your list is excluded except for Mark Rypien. And of course everybody knows that Mark was the last QB to lead us to the Super Bowl! And where was he taken in the draft? Sixth round if memory serves me correctly. No need to mortgage the future to pick a QB in the first round!

He wasn't a franchise QB though

He wasn't a franchise QB though

Nope, just a winner.

But the question was regarding the drafting of a productive QB, so everyone on your list is excluded except for Mark Rypien. And of course everybody knows that Mark was the last QB to lead us to the Super Bowl! And where was he taken in the draft? Sixth round if memory serves me correctly. No need to mortgage the future to pick a QB in the first round!

I understood the question... I was just saying that the WRs we drafted didn't suck because of our QBs... they were just... no good. That's what the thread is about... us drafting poor NFL WRs.

I understood the question... I was just saying that the WRs we drafted didn't suck because of our QBs... they were just... no good. That's what the thread is about... us drafting poor NFL WRs.

And I get that point, but as NC Skins pointed out the answer to the question of why our drafted WR's have been mostly busts can be attributed to our failure to acquire a productive QB in the draft.