The Washington Redskins made a move to trade for former Carolina Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen on Monday, giving up a fifth-round pick to get him.
On the surface, purely as a roster move, this is a great call by the Redskins, pairing up a competent backup QB with his former coach and offensive coordinator. It will also allow Dwayne Haskins and Allen, two young players with promise, to duke it out in training camp this season, allowing the best man to come out on top.
But a fifth-round pick in order to get Allen — how do we feel about that?
It’s kind of teetering on the edge of an overpay if you ask me. Some might argue that Allen will be better than most fifth-round picks you could get in the draft, and his production is more of a sure-thing than an unnamed draft prospect. I can’t argue with you there, Allen is a known commodity and he will likely outperform whoever the Redskins drafted with that pick.
However, many will also argue that a fifth-round pick is a bit high for a backup QB, and nobody else was likely to give the Panthers that high of a pick in return. If you think about the rest of the NFL, a player like Calais Campbell was traded to the Baltimore Ravens for a fifth-round pick, and he is a five-time Pro Bowler. Think as well that a player like Quinton Dunbar, who the Redskins are trying to shop, is expected to only get a fourth-round pick in return, and that may even be generous. I’m not sure that Allen rises to that level.
Despite the arguments against, I don’t hate this trade by any means. It directly helps the roster and it will likely push the offense going forward. There is a very real scenario in which Allen beats out Haskins for the QB1 spot this summer, leaving Dwayne to sit on the sidelines and be forced to get better. That competition is good for everyone. A fifth-round pick may be a bit much, but when nitpicking what late-round pick your team gave up in order to get a player that can help them win now, it helps to be a bit subjective. This move could be great, or it could not. In the end, what you think of it ties pretty directly with your confidence level in Ron Rivera. I’m going to choose to see things his way.
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