At time of writing there is a little under 48 hours until the 2015 NFL Draft and to say I am EXCITED is an understatement!
I LOVE the draft, I don’t know how to explain it properly, but the geeky/nerdy side of me just loves the whole thing.
Why else would I book time off work, pull close to 2 all-nighters (Thu night the draft BEGINS at 1am for me, Fri at midnight and Sat with a more managable 5pm) just to watch teams pick players! Needless to say copious amounts of caffeine will be consumed in the next few days!
I can’t wait to see who will be wearing the burgundy and gold next season, what moves Scot McCloughan can make and how our team evolves between now and Saturday!
The Redskins will have a 1st round pick for the first time since 2012 when we selected RG3!
With the #5 pick in the draft we have the chance to select an elite talent, but we are also in a great position to be able to trade back and gain more picks.
If we stay at #5 we will have a chance (depending on who is selected before us) for the likes of Leonard Williams, Amari Cooper, Vic Beasley, Dante Fowler, Jr – all of whom I believe would have an immediate impact on the Redskins.
Unlike previous drafts where I had one guy I locked in on (RG3 and Sean Taylor being the most memorable), this year I would be happy with any of the players named above, though if push came to shove I’d maybe prefer Williams or Cooper as they are far and away the best at their respective positions.
McCloughan has said he would like to see us come away with 10 players from this draft – this tells me he is likely to be very active trading over the course of the draft, moving back a few times to pick up extra picks.
If we traded back in the 1st I wouldn’t be too mad as long as we got decent compensation for doing so. Getting Clevelands 2 firsts if they got desperate enough would pretty much be best case scenario if we traded back – but you never know who will offer what when the clock starts ticking and time starts winding down!
The past few weeks I have been getting the feeling the Redskins could make a move early at RB (not #5 early, but if we traded back or in round 2/3) – I get the feeling that whilst we love Alfred Morris, his limitations as a pass catcher could provoke some sort of move. A pass catching, pass protecting 3rd down back is a must at a very minimum, but a bigger splash would not surprise me.
The other feeling I have had is that Kirk Cousins is GONE during the draft – the team have recently been doing everything possible to make RG3 as comfortable as possible to give him the best shot to succeed this year – removing Kirk from the equation would be another step in this direction.
Trading Kirk would bring in another pick (or picks), which can then be used to bolster other areas of the team.
If Kirk does get moved, look for the Redskins to select a QB in the 2nd half of the draft (maybe even do so even if Kirk isn’t traded) – this new QB will instantly become RG3 haters new favorite 3rd string QB!
Obviously the offensive line is a HUGE area of need so I would expect to see a number of selections in this area – if we trade back from #5 I would assume that it will be because O-line will be our first selection as I don’t feel any of the players available at the position are worthy of such a high pick (hugely talented, just not #5).
Should we not select Amari Cooper or Kevin White, I still think we pick up a WR or two during this draft – a taller WR is a very high possibility. McCloughan said he will surround RG3 with the best talent he can and giving him more weapons will certainly help (provided we also improve the line!).
Another offensive position I feel we will take a good look at is TE – Jordan Reed is made of tissue paper and our other 2 TEs are pretty much 1 trick ponies (Logan Paulsen is great at blocking, not so great at receiving – Niles Paul is pretty much the opposite) – I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d love a TE that can do BOTH and stay healthy!
Pass rusher, wether it be with that #5 pick or a pick later on will for sure be addressed in this draft.
Comparisons to Brian Orakpo will surely begin straight away, but I’m pretty confident that whoever we replace him with will be more productive!
I would really like us to select an ILB to push/replace Perry Riley (who I feel if the season started today would be the weak link in our defense).
We saw last season how injuries affected our secondary so expect a few selections at CB/S, you can NEVER have too many talented players back there!
I am intrigued by Shaq Thompson, he seems like a very versatile player with a huge upside – seems like the kind of player Scot McCloughan would love!
I also like Landon Collins, but currently we aren’t in a good position to draft him. The main characteristic I like about him is he appears to be a sure tackler, something we have been missing from our DBs in recent years!
Kai Forbath – supremely accurate, but his short kickoffs and lack of long FG ability mean that once again we could draft a kicker late to push/replace him – though many teams have also succeeded in finding kickers as undrafted FAs, it would just depend on how much Scot would like a certain player if he would use a late pick to grab him!
Redskins Schedule
I went on about the draft a little longer than I thought so I will keep my thoughts on the schedule brief.
The schedule is set up in such a way that the Redskins COULD get off to a decent start, which, if they are wanting any sort of success this season – is a must. After the bye week the schedule gets a LOT more difficult and there’s no 7 game winning streak to end the season there this time, so the bulk of the wins will have to come before the bye.
The 13 early games is a nice surprise, but the 5 games against opponents with added rest (coming off bye weeks or Thursday games the week before) is not so much!
The Redskins abysmal record in primetime games will have to change as all 3 primetime games this season are against NFC East opponents!
RG3’s 5th year option picked up by Redskins
As any longtime readers/followers will know I am an RG3 guy, so the news that the Redskins picked up his 5th year option is good news to me. I expected them to do this and I feel their decision will rewarded with a rejuvenated Robert Griffin III this year. The deal is only guaranteed for injury, so should he be healthy, but terrible – the Redskins can move on in 2016 with no cost.
That’ll wrap it up for this blog, what’s your thoughts leading up to the draft? Do you have any specific player you would like to see the Redskins draft? I would be interested to hear what you guys think.
I’d like to thank all of you who read the blog (thanks for following me to it’s new home here at Redskins Capital Connection) – welcome to those of you who are new followers and many thanks to those of you who comment/retweet/help spread the word of not only my blog, but also of Redskins Capital Connection!
If you’d like to get in touch you can tweet me @ReadOptionBlog or email [email protected] , always happy to talk Redskins with other passionate fans from around the globe.
Till next time, Hail To The Redskins!
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