Kiper: Cousins pick 'can divide a team'

One of if not the main post-NFL Draft water cooler topics centers on the Redskins quarterbacking situation - but not simply Robert Griffin III. Rather, how the drafting of Michigan State's Kirk Cousins impacts the start of the RG3 era.

I weighed in here, offering my take on the puzzling other quarterback pick. Some like Sports Illustrated's Peter King and Don Banks have set up camp on my side of the aisle, others go the other way.

During his post-draft conference call on Monday, ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper voiced his opinion.

It's not favorable. We're talking the pick for the Redskins on the heels of going all in for Robert Griffin III, not the upside of Cousins.

As anyone who has listened to Kiper knows, he talks fast and he talks a lot. I transcribed it all. Here are the raw quotes, followed by his thoughts on the Redskins non-QB picks.

"I wouldn’t have taken Cousins in the fourth round if I’m the Redskins. I would have loved to have had him for a team that needed a young quarterback that could be the starter in a year or so. I would have loved him in the fourth round. He could have been a second-round pick. We could have been sitting here saying he was a decent second-round pick. No problem with them saying we had him rated as the third quarterback, we had to take him.

"But does this cause any problems? It’s easy to say he understands [Cousins] role, RG3 is the starter. [Cousins is] coming into compete, he’s not coming into understand a role. How can you tell someone to be a backup? You can’t tell a kid, coming in the fourth round you just be satisfied to be the backup. No matter what you do you’re our backup. He’s not going to buy into that.

Jake Locker = Kyle Boller = Redskins should pass

*My pal Evan Silva from Rotoworld knows his stuff, but I’d wish he’d get off this Jake Locker-to-the-Redskins at No. 10 talk. I contend that Locker will indeed go in the first round, but to a different team and one a bit closer to where the former University of Washington quarterback starred.

Silva' first sentence about the Washington quarterback reminds me of what draft-niks thought of another Pac 10 quarterback a few years back.

- Silva, on Locker: “Statistically, Locker grades out as an undrafted free agent with a 53.9 career completion rate, 15-25 record, and 6.65 yards-per-attempt average. Athletically, Locker is a picturesque fit for the Shanahans' scheme, which relies heavily on its quarterback making throws outside the pocket.

-Pro Football Weekly, circa 2003, pre-draft report on Kyle Boller. “Had poor stats on a poor team for his first three years, never completing 50 percent of his passes... Played for different offensive coordinators at Cal, but in '02 got to play for a new head coach, Jeff Tedford… putting him in a truly QB-friendly offense that generally required him to read only half the field. The result was Boller completed 225-421-2,815-28-10 (53.4 percent) and Cal had a winning season… Good size, speed and outstanding athletic ability for the position."