Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

There are the things you think you know about Oakland Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell, and then there are the things you should know. The much-beleaguered quarterback never quite found his place with the Washington Redskins because he didn’t take the team to the playoffs (Todd Collins was the starter when Washington made the playoffs in 2007), didn’t have a big breakout season and wasn’t flashy. Washington won just 18 games in three seasons with Campbell as the starting quarterback and never more than eight in a season. Cue up the firing of head coach Jim Zorn, the hiring of Mike Shanahan to replace him and the trade for former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Just like that, Campbell’s fate was sealed. He was traded to Oakland during the NFL Draft for a fourth-round pick in 2012.

So much blame was placed on Campbell for Washington’s struggles. Was that fair? Let’s analyze why it was not.

First, Campbell showed significant progress statistically every season he was there. He went from throwing for 2,700 yards with 12 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 60.0 completion percentage in 2007 to throwing for 3,618 yards with 20 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and a 64.5 completion percentage last year. His rating in 2007 was 77.6. Last season it was 86.4. Did you know that Campbell’s quarterback rating last season was better than Carson Palmer of the Cincinnati Bengals, David Garrard of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans, Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers, Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons and Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears? That’s right. Suddenly Campbell isn’t looking like too bad of a player after all.

Also consider that every year he started in Washington he was running a different offensive scheme. What could be harder on a young quarterback than attempting to learn a new offense every season, aside from dealing with injuries? The Redskins’ receivers were nothing to celebrate either. Santana Moss had home run potential but was inconsistent. Antwaan Randle El was a bust of a free agent signing. Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas are two underachieving young receivers, and Campbell’s best target, tight end Chris Cooley, was hurt last season and only played in seven games. The offensive line was decent for Campbell in 2007 but by last season it had aged and deteriorated so much it was hard to keep Campbell upright. He took a career-high 43 sacks, which is approving David Carr territory.

OK, so we’ve made the case for Campbell the last three years, but how do things look now that he’s in the silver and black? Is it possible Oakland owner Al Davis actually made a good move by trading for Campbell? Well, there is still a lot of work to be done of the offensive side of the ball but getting Campbell for a 2012 fourth-round draft pick was a steal. But Campbell can only be as good as his offensive teammates allow him to, and that is the big question right now.

Up front, the line is not as terrible as it used to be but it isn’t that great either. The Raiders picked two tackles, Maryland’s Bruce Campbell and Hillsdale’s Jared Veldheer, in the draft this year and that’s a start. But really, the offensive line isn’t any better than what Campbell had in Washington. At least he will be used to playing behind a bad offensive line. At running back, the Raiders have a talented, but underachieving, one-two punch of Darren McFadden and Michael Bush. If those two can live up to their potential the passing game will open up a lot for Campbell. But what really needs to happen is the young group of underachieving receivers need to finally step up. With Darrius Heyward-Bey, Johnnie Lee Higgins, Chaz Schilens and Louis Murphy the Raiders have four very talented young players at the position, but none of them has shown the ability to produce consistently. Perhaps that’s a testament to the previous quarterbacks they had throwing the ball to them, yet you can’t ignore their lack of production The one bright spot is the consistency of tight end Zach Miller. With a good quarterback, he could be one of the top tight ends in all of football. Campbell’s got the arm power and accuracy to get the ball to them, something none of the previous Oakland quarterbacks could do, so it will be interesting to see their progress this season.

Campbell is a better player than some think, but he is limited in Oakland, just as he was in Washington, by a poor offensive line and a group of underachieving receivers. We would like to project Campbell for better numbers in 2010, than 2009, but the Raiders have so many question marks that right now you could expect a similar output from him as he had last season. At the very least Campbell is a good backup in standard 12-team leagues.

 
Have an opinion on Jason Campbell’s prospects for 2010? If so, let us know!

To see more Crystal Balls predictions go here… 2010 Fantasy Football Crystal Balls

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