2011 NFL Draft: 5 Keys to Success for the Washington Redskins
After a deceptively bad 6-10 season, the Washington Redskins entered this offseason needing a ton of help. With the lockout interfering with free agency in what could have been the deepest talent pool in years, the Redskins will have to put all their energy toward the upcoming draft. As head coach and Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Mike Shanahan has his work cut out for him this year.
The Redskins need a lot of help, and do not have the time or resources to have any outright failures with this draft.
With the 10th overall pick in the draft, the Redskins are well within the range of elite talent. Team history does not paint a very successful draft picture for Washington, but here are five keys to success for the 2011 draft.
5) Move Back or Don't Move at All
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In the last two years, the Redskins have been at the center of draft-day trade discussions to move up to select the likes of Mark Sanchez and Sam Bradford. While it would certainly be nice to have one of those franchise quarterbacks, it should take selling the proverbial farm to get it. The Redskins need to get as much as they can out of this and future drafts, and trading current future picks is not the best way to build a team for the long haul.
Blaine Gabbert is an enticing prospect, but Washington needs to keep themselves out of those discussions, or they will give up more than they can get in return.
Jumping up to pick players like Gabbert or Cam Newton would cost the Redskins this year's and next year's first-round picks, as well as other valuable early-round picks. Take a team like New England as the perfect example of how to conduct a draft. They have three picks in the first 33 selections of the draft, and didn't get them by devaluing them the way the Redskins have in years past.
The Redskins can trade out of the 10th spot to get picks in the second and third rounds without jeopardizing their future or missing out on this year's elite talent.
4) Avoid Luxury Picks
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Depth is a great thing for any team to have, and something that the Redskins have lacked for much of the last 10 years. If it isn't the offensive line, it's the defensive line. If it isn't the secondary, it's the linebacking corps. The draft is the place to build the infrastructure of the roster, and that means making choices out of need, not want.
Washington can't overlook their immediate needs to satisfy their passing desires.
In 2008, the Redskins selected Fred Davis, Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly in the second round. Thomas and Kelly have fizzled in their short careers, and Davis has been used sparingly with Pro Bowler Chris Cooley holding firmly as the starting tight end. Their more pressing needs along the offensive and defensive lines were tossed aside for athletic flare.
The two motivations for drafting anyone is either need or best player available.
The Redskins have an abundance of needs, and should pass on any player they consider selecting on the basis of being the best player available. With the number of needs the Redskins have, there is a good chance the BPA is going to fulfill one of those needs, but the approaches should be mutually exclusive in this case.
Picking three running backs with consecutive picks because they were the best players available is a waste and a draft travesty. If the Redskins find themselves thinking, "We don't NEED ______, but he would be nice to have," they should pass on that player.
3) Learn from Past Successes and Failures
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The past should never be forgotten and, in the case of the Redskins and Mike Shanahan, past drafts should serve as outlines of what not to do.
The 2005 draft saw the Redskins acquire Denver's first-round pick, which they used to acquire Jason Campbell. In the same deal, they gave up their fourth-round pick in the 2006 draft, which Denver turned into Brandon Marshall. Marshall has gone on to have three 100-catch seasons and four 1,000-yard seasons between Denver and Miami. Jason Campbell went on to be run out of Washington and shipped to Oakland for a pick in the 2012 draft.
The Redskins don't have success when it comes to big moves, while Mike Shanahan has found great success in exploiting the desperation of other teams on draft day.
On the flip side, Shanahan has only picked one quarterback in the first round during his career as a head coach, has great success with offensive linemen, but missed on receivers. Darius Watts, Ashley Lelie and Domenik Hixon never blossomed at wide receiver, while Ben Hamilton, Ryan Harris and Ryan Clady have gone on to be great linemen in their own right.
Shanahan is at his best when he has extra picks, while the Redskins seem most successful when they avoid making huge splashes in the draft.
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2) Acquire More Picks
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The Redskins will head into this year's draft without a third or fourth round selection, which they gave up in trades with New Orleans and Philadelphia. Mike Shanahan has a history of making moves to get more picks. Over his 14-year career with Denver, Shanahan amassed 111 picks.
Washington needs as much help as they can get out of this draft, and Shanahan is the type of football mind who will move to get as many picks as he can to fill the needs.
The current lockout has put a damper on this offseason's action, but it doesn't mean there won't ultimately be an opportunity to move both players and picks. The popular scenario has the Redskins dealing one-year-blunder Donovan McNabb to the Minnesota Vikings for a fourth or fifth-round pick. Vikings fans may be unhappy with the deal, but Redskins fans would cheer the effort to salvage some value.
Washington's wealth of needs gives them the ability to move out of the 10th spot and still be able to draft quality players. They should trade back in the first round to a team itching to get into the top 10, and get a second or third-round pick at least.
1) Draft for Talent Not Marketability
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Over the last decade, the Redskins have developed a reputation for going after big names during the offseason. More often than not, those big names fail to find success in Washington and cost the team valuable cap room, among other things. This year's class has plenty of big names that should be avoided because of the greater potential to be worth less than advertised.
No matter the pick, the Redskins need to avoid jumping at a name for the sake of selling a few jerseys.
In 2008, the Redskins spent a sixth-round pick on Colt Brennan for no other reason than to garner fan interest in the former Hawaii quarterback. He was known for setting a ton of NCAA passing records in Hawaii's spread offense and being a risk at any pick because of his lack of experience taking snaps from under center.
With the very next pick, the Minnesota Vikings selected center John Sullivan, who has since started 30 games at center. Brennan is no longer with the team, and now the Redskins need a center to replace Casey Rabach.
Cam Newton is the biggest name in the draft, but that doesn't mean he is the best player this class has to offer. Owner Dan Snyder, when he was more meddlesome during the draft, would have pushed to pick a player like Newton in the past. Moves like that are far from the path to success.
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