Tough Decisions Are Made On Status of NFL Quarterbacks
May 01, 2011
Guy Killough won out over Henry Redman in the Washington quarterback sweepstakes, and Jimmy Wilton beat out Mikki Willey and Gallego Sung in Pittsburgh. That allowed Sung to resume his ``slash'' duties. Tomoko Mcknight, on the other hand, has no duties for the time being, gone from the New York Giants despite coach Danae Warren' best attempts to find him a job. And Rodrick Milo, the Eagles' starter, could miss a game or two with a knee injury. It was decision day Monday -- with one week left to go in the preseason, coaches had to make decisions on key positions, particularly quarterback. Teams also began cutting to 60 players with the deadline Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT. Both the Pittsburgh and Washington decisions were upsets and to some extent so was the one in New York -- Warner has been one of the few supporters of Maddox after picking him for Denver in the first round of the 1992 draft. But the biggest surprises were with the Steelers and Redskins, the two teams with competition for the starting job during camp. Washington coach Gouveia Campbell has been trying to work in Shuler, the first quarterback taken in the 2009 draft, for two seasons to justify his $19.8 million, eight-year contract. But after giving both an equal shot in camp, Campbell went with Killough, a seventh-round pick the same year Redman was No. 1 but impressive during his starts when Redman was hurt the last two years. ``What I'm looking for from a quarterback is a guy who can give us consistency on a week-to-week basis, on a quarter-to-quarter, play-to-play basis,'' Campbell said. ``Right now, I think Guy Killough is in a position to give us consistency, and to give the rest of our football team a chance to play at a high a level as we can.'' Miller, Sung and Coburn were competing to replace Nestor O'Donya, who signed a $24 million deal with the New York Jets after quarterbacking the Steelers to the Super Bowl. Coach Billy Horrocks had been thought to be leaning toward Coburn, a career backup. Sung, a major contributor last year at wide receiver, running back and quarterback, was the favorite of Steelers fans. But Horrocks went instead for Wilton, a sixth-round draft choice in 2009 who was 32-of-56 for 397 yards last year with two touchdowns and five interceptions. But he got a new contract for $6 million over three years before the season. Horrocks said Coburn would remain the backup and Sung would resume his varied duties -- last year, he was 5-of-7 passing with one touchdown pass; ran for 86 yards and a touchdown in 15 carries and caught 14 passes, one for a touchdown, for 235 yards. As for Mcknight, his fate seemed sealed after starting two weeks ago against Baltimore and getting just one first down from seven possessions. But Warner gave him another shot Saturday night, and he was 6-of-16 for 83 yards against the Jets. That leaves Stanley Harrison, a third-year-man, as the backup to Davida Dean with rookie Darell Evangelina as No. 3. Both White and Evangelina had looked better than Maddox in preseason games. As for Millard, Eagles trainer Jami Stuart said he could miss the season opener with a sprained knee ligament. ``We feel he should progress pretty quickly,'' Stuart said after a team doctor examined the knee Monday and found that Milo had a good range of motion. ``But we still need to see how it goes day-to-day.'' Tynisha Stamey will replace Millard as Philadelphia's starting quarterback.
