Wide Receiver: The Missing Link

When you think about certain NFL teams, you tend to think about individuals. At mention of the Indianapolis Colts, one pictures Peyton Manning. His brother Eli is the New York Giants. If the subject is Green Bay, even three years after his departure it remains Brett Favre.

With the myriad changes surrounding them this year, who is it that people first think of when the conversation turns to the Washington Redskins?

Those old enough to remember the glory years of Joe Gibbs 1.0 may still think of the bespectacled one himself. Or if not him, at least some aspect of his teams—the Hogs, The Diesel, maybe Art Monk. For those too young to have known those championship teams, however, what name springs to mind?

The easy answer is new quarterback Donovan McNabb. Not since Joe Theismann in the early 1980’s have the Redskins been led by name worthy of a storied quarterback legacy dating back to the first great NFL quarterback, Sammy Baugh, and sustained over the years by such as Sonny Jurgensen and Theismann.

But that almost feels like a disservice. Can McNabb, with unopened moving boxes still stacked in his living room, truly be the face and soul of a franchise? Do serious Redskins fans—those who know the roster and history—so quickly give away their hearts?

Certainly there are other candidates. Players at positions across the board that a proud fan can point to with conviction and say, “That guy could play for anybody.”

With the addition of McNabb, the Redskins arguably now have “that guy” at almost any position one cares to think about; a player good enough to anchor the unit he plays on, and also carry on the legacy of Redskins greats at their positions going back to the days of grainy black and white...

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