Case Keenum Poised to Become Mr. Right Now for Washington
By Jason Lisk
Case Keenum has been at his best when he is Mr. Right Now, and he’s never really been viewed as Mr. Right. The former undrafted free agent has had to scrap for everything he’s gotten in the NFL, and usually does a good enough job. Now, if reports are accurate–as first coming from Barstool Nate and then Ian Rapoport–he could be moving to Washington.
His time in Denver was going to come to an end after the Broncos traded for Joe Flacco, and in a bizarre bit of symmetry, he now moves to the team that let Kirk Cousins go, which in turn led to Keenum’s departure from Minnesota.
Keenum will now be Mr. Right Now because of the Alex Smith injury, and give Washington, who is not really in a great position to draft a quarterback to immediately start, a short-term option. Whatever you think of Keenum, it’s important to point out that while he’ll never been an all-pro, he’s been a decent starter.
In 2013, as an unknown and undrafted 25-year-old, he replaced an ineffective Matt Schaub and performed admirably on a bad team, putting up better numbers than Schaub.
In 2015, he played better than an ineffective Nick Foles when coming off the bench as the Rams went 3-2 in games he started.
1n 2016, he went 4-5 in starting for the Rams while Jared Goff wasn’t ready. When the team made the switch to Goff, they finished 0-7 and Goff averaged 1.5 yards per attempt fewer than Keenum.
In 2017, he came off the bench for his magical season, after Sam Bradford’s injury, and Minnesota went to the title game.
And then last year, for the first time ever, he was given 16 starts and it was mediocre. But in years where he has played with other quarterbacks, he has outplayed Matt Schaub, Nick Foles, a rookie Jared Goff, and Sam Bradford. So for now, Case Keenum will do for Washington.