The Redskin Report

As you get later in a draft, the goal shifts from finding stars to filling holes.  The Redskins had landed three potential top tier offensive players on day one and spent the 2^nd day landing players who will likely be seen more often on special teams than in their respective positions.  These weren’t sexy picks, but the Redskins improved their depth which is all you can really expect in the later rounds.

The Redskins landed OL Chris Rienhart in round 3.  Rienhart is versatile, playing guard and tackle in college.  The Redskins will likely have Rienhart play guard and learn the center position.  He’ll spend at least next season backing-up Randy Thomas and Pete Kendall, but could move into starting line-up in the next few years.

JT Tryon is a smaller corner and is infinitely confident.  At 5′9, he’s not likely to be anything more than a nickel back, but luckily that is the role the Redskins want him to play.  The major benefit to Tryon is that he’s a senior coming from a major conference, so the adjustment period should be shorter than a lot of the incoming rookies.  Carlos Rogers isn’t expected to be healthy to start the year, so Tryon has a chance to start the year as the nickel-back.

The Redskins picked a punter with their next selection, Georgia Tech’s Durant Brooks.  Brooks was widely regarded as the best punter in the draft and he has a very good chance to beat out Derrick Frost.  In the 6^th round, the Redskins went safety taking Kareem Moore.  Moore has a decent shot at contributing with today’s news that Pierson Prioleau has signed with Jacksonville.  He’ll be battling with Vernon Fox and fellow draftee Christopher Horton for roster spots as safety depth.

Colt Brennan has been one of the most talked about draft picks, but the Redskins will likely use his hip injury to stash him on injured reserve all year.  He’s a decent prospect who might have a chance after working with Jim Zorn for a few years.  Rob Jackson is a guy who had a very in descript college career, but looked very good in a late year all-star type game.  He’s a long shot as you’d expect with such a late pick.  Christopher Horton was covered above; he’s got a shot at sticking but not much potential to be more than a fill-in type player.

The Redskins had a fairly typical day two.  They had the luxury of having extra picks which increases your chances on hitting on some of them.  Brooks and Moore are the two guys most likely to contribute in 2008, while the other guys will be battling for special team and depth roles.  I would have liked to seen a few more defensive linemen but I don’t know any of these late round guys, so perhaps there were no decent linemen available.

The Redskins rounded out their secondary and filled valuable slots on the offensive line and by avoiding (or more specifically being rejected in their attempts to make) the big trade they saved their cap space to allow them to pounce on any veteran players who are cut or disgruntled depth players.  This was a solid first draft for Cerrato and Zorn, but the best news may be that they didn’t mess with future drafts in some type of ‘win-now’ trade overpayment.

Day One Grade:  B+
Day Two Grade:  B-

That comes out to a B, but because they were lucky enough to avoid dealing next year’s draft picks to get Chad Johnson, I’ll bump it up a bit:

OVERALL DRAFT GRADE:  B+