After 39 starts and a school-record 61 touchdown passes, Steven Montez is leaving Colorado.
The quarterback wasn’t chosen in April’s NFL Draft, but he was offered $35,000 in guaranteed money from the Washington Redskins shortly after. That money comes in the form of a $10,000 signing bonus and $25,000 of his 2020 season salary being guaranteed.
Now, the challenge for Montez is winning a job, either on the 53-man roster or on the practice squad, during training camp.
Here’s everything you need to know about Montez’s fit with the Washington Redskins:
THE ORGANIZATION
The Redskins rank in the lower tier of NFL organizations for a number of reasons.
Some of the more politically polarizing aspects of the Redskins and owner Dan Snyder won’t impact Montez much, if at all, but Washington’s lack of success under Snyder is concerning; the Redskins have only made the postseason five times in the last 27 seasons.
The good news is that the Redskins brought in new head coach Ron Rivera earlier this offseason. Rivera brought the Panthers to a Super Bowl appearance during his nine seasons as head coach and finished with a 76-63-1 record.
Rivera will implement his 4-3 defensive scheme in Washington, which should lighten the load on his quarterbacks.
Rivera is bringing in Scott Turner to Washington with him, and he’s giving the 39-year-old his first crack as an offensive coordinator. Turner will run an Air Coryell system, switching over from the West Coast scheme that Jay Gruden had implemented.
THE SCHEME
The Air Coryell scheme, named after its creator and longtime Chargers head coach, Don Coryell, was revolutionary in the 1980s for its use of one-running back formations, receiving tight ends and the use of pre-snap motion to detect whether the opponent was employing zone or man coverage. Essentially, the idea behind the system was to use passing route patterns to stretch the defense vertically, then the quarterback progresses through his reads from the deepest route to the shortest route.
John Madden led the Raiders to the Super Bowl victory by way of the Air Coryell offense, and Mike Martz won one in 1999 as well, with the “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams. Notably, former Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs got his first college coaching job from Coryell. Gibbs went on to win the Redskins’ only Super Bowl title while running an Air Coryell offense.
It’s also worth tracing Coryell’s scheme to Turner. Coryell taught the scheme to Ernie Zampese at San Diego State. Zampese then taught the scheme to Norv Turner while both were with the Rams. Turner then won two Super Bowls as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator in the 90s before taking over as head coach of the Chargers, where Coryell first implemented the scheme in the NFL. Zampese took over as the Cowboys’ coordinator in Turner’s place.
Turner taught the scheme to his son, Scott Turner. And Zampese taught the scheme to his son, Ken Zampese.
Scott Turner’s first move as an NFL offensive coordinator? Hiring Ken Zampese as his quarterbacks coach.
Football nerds would fall in love with a storyline like the Redskins returning to success under the scheme that once produced a Super Bowl title in Washington, and with the same bloodlines that have been crucial to its success in the NFL. It would be even more incredible if it came on the heels of a switch from its polar opposite passing scheme, the West Coast offense, which emphasizes stretching a defense horizontally and making quick reads.
The question is how Montez will fit, and the answer is “probably pretty well.”
Montez is at his best when he’s asked to take his time and throw downfield, not when he’s asked to make quick decisions on short throws. In fact, he may be just as accurate from 40 yards as he is from 10.
Turner filled in as interim coordinator in Carolina last season and employed plenty of “manufactured touches” for his receivers, notably Curtis Samuel. Expect to see plenty more of that as he works with young quarterbacks in Washington. Keep in mind that Turner is best known for his work with Cam Newton during the quarterback’s early years, as well as his work with Josh Gordon, as Turner was the Browns’ receivers coach when Gordon had the best stretch of his career.
Zampese, notably, was the Browns’ quarterbacks coach during Baker Mayfield’s breakout rookie season.
THE DEPTH CHART
Dwayne Haskins is going to get the first crack at playing quarterback in Washington.
Haskins was the 15th-overall pick in the 2019 draft and is still seen as the future of the Redskins. However, in his nine appearances as a rookie, Haskins struggled.
He threw seven touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing just 58.6 percent of his passes. Some analysts even thought the Redskins could snag another quarterback with the second-overall pick in this year’s draft.
Since Haskins is the starter, the offense will be built for him.
Luckily, Haskins and Montez are very similar players. They’ve got big arms and decent legs, but the decision-making still isn’t as sharp or consistent as it needs to be. Expect to see a lot of RPOs, jet sweeps and deep balls. The quarterback’s job is going to be made as simple as possible.
But the backup job may not be Montez’s.
This offseason, the Redskins signed Kyle Allen, an undrafted prospect in 2018 who started 13 games for Turner and Rivera in Carolina last season.
The Redskins still have Alex Smith, as well, who is attempting a comeback this season after breaking his leg during the 2018 season.
If Montez can stick around in Washington, he could be set up for success in the event he sees the field, but there’s no guarantee the Redskins will have room for him.
