Jason Campbell Thinks Mike Shanahan Will Keep Him a Redskin

All the talk in our nation's capital over the past few weeks has been which quarterback Mike Shanahan will select with the team's fourth overall pick in the 2010 draft.

However, it appears as though he may instead be sticking with the guy he's inheriting rather than going out and getting a young guy. Jason Campbell was a first round pick back in 2006, and Shanahan may feel that, with his help, he can reach that potential.

"The plan is that I'm going to be here," Campbell told Matt Mosley of ESPN.com. "[Shanahan] told me that he liked how I'd handled everything over the past couple of years and the whole conversation was real positive."

Personally, I think drafting a quarterback would be a huge mistake for Shanahan. Campbell came into an awful situation in Washington with the constant carousel of coaches and play-callers, but has made the best of it. He was even able to set career-high marks in 2009 in one of the most poorly handled situations I've ever seen in the NFL.

He had the highest completion percentage (64.5), most touchdowns (20), and the most yards (3,618) of his career even while being surrounded by a team full of me-first or injured players and just an all-around sub-par supporting cast.

Clinton Portis was hellbent on tearing the team apart at the seams, Chris Cooley went down early in the year, his head coach was a lame duck since about the third week of the year, and he was the finish line in the craziest, most convoluted system of playcalling anyone has ever seen.

Despite all that, he was very good for the 'Skins and was really their only bright spot on offense.

I said it last year, and his performance in '09 only backs me up, that he can be a very good, borderline franchise, quarterback with the right guys around him. He's a lot like the Eagles' Donovan McNabb in that he doesn't throw a whole lot of interceptions, but he's also got better accuracy.

He can't throw the ball downfield or run like McNabb can, but he appears to be a good leader who, if you threw him into a team like the Bills or 49ers, or any team with some weapons, he could probably lead them to the playoffs.

It will be interesting to see what Shanahan does, but I think he's smart enough to understand that his first round pick should most certainly go to an offensive lineman to help protect Campbell, not replacing Campbell with a rookie quarterback who will take one hell of a beating.