Who Are Experts Predicting to Redskins in 1st Round of 2015 NFL Draft?

If you're one of the top three edge-rushers in the 2015 NFL draft class, you should probably start planning travel arrangements to Washington, D.C., and wondering what you'll look like in burgundy and gold.

At least you should if you listen to the expert analysis. The latest mock draft landscape has Washington going all-in for a top outside pass-rusher.

It's a trend that makes sense on many levels. To start with, the Redskins need more ways of getting to quarterbacks after registering just 36 sacks in 2014. Rush linebacker Ryan Kerrigan accounted for 13.5 of those but really needs a bookend pressure specialist.

That figure took his career tally to 38 since entering the league in 2011, the last time Washington used a first-round pick on a pass-rusher. Kerrigan's subsequent success offers a good omen if new general manager Scot McCloughan opts to go the same route this time.

Only B/R's Matt Miller bucks the trend of sending an edge-rusher to the nation's capital. Instead, Miller offers what many Redskins fans might consider a dream scenario, one where the team lands the presumptive blue-chip prospect of this entire class.

Find out exactly who the experts believe McCloughan and Washington will target with the fifth pick in this draft.

NFL.com's Brian Baldinger

The pick: Shane Ray, DE/OLB, Missouri

NFL.com Media Analyst Brian Baldinger opts for Shane Ray as his pass-rusher of choice for the Redskins.

He highlights one of the ex-Missouri's star's key attributes and touts his potentially immediate impact in D.C.: "Ray has a motor that runs hot. The plan to start him opposite Ryan Kerrigan adds another playmaker to a vastly improving defense."

There's a lot to like about Ray's ending up in Washington. For one thing, he's certainly flexible enough for a defense that promises to be more varied in 2015.

B/R draft analyst Matt Miller emphasized Ray's versatility as either a standing, 3-4-style pass-rusher or as a quick-twitch, 4-3 defensive end. That's a potentially invaluable trait in the type of scheme new coordinator Joe Barry intends to run.

Real Redskins blogger Rich Tandler has anticipated Washington's adopting a 4-3 front a "significant percentage of the time" on Barry's watch. Meanwhile, U-T San Diego's Michael Gehlken believes Barry's version of the 3-4 will be very close to a 4-3.

Ray fits the requirements for this system based on his thick base and broad frame. The 6'3", 245-pounder compares favorably to Jacksonville Jaguars' rush end Chris Clemons, according to NFL.com draft scribe Lance Zierlein.

That's a very apt comparison for the type of defense Washington apparently intends to run. Clemons has spent his career flip-flopping between linebacker and end in a hybrid "Leo" role that's allowed both the Jags and Seattle Seahawks to mix their fronts.

Meanwhile, Miller compared Ray with awesome Miami Dolphins star Cameron Wake. He's another player who's terrorized quarterbacks from both 3-4 and 4-3 alignments.

As a pure pass-rusher with tremendous flexibility, Ray would represent a worthy pick for the Redskins.

CBS Sports' Pete Prisco

RICHARD SHIRO/Associated Press

The pick: Vic Beasley, DE/OLB

CBS Sports' Pete Prisco believes Vic Beasley is the natural "3-4 rusher" Washington's defense needs. It's hard to fault the logic.

After all, Beasley has the nimble frame, move skills and phenomenal takeoff speed to routinely fly off the edge and close on hapless quarterbacks. That speed was on full display at the combine when Beasley absolutely wowed every onlooker with a 4.53 time in the 40, per Mike Huguenin of NFL.com's College Football 24/7.

His numbers in Indianapolis have prompted a rapid rise up draft boards for a player who doesn't have elite size. Beasley stands 6'3" and weighs 246 pounds, but those measurements are the result of an effort to balloon up specifically for the combine.

Can he keep the weight on and maybe even get a little bigger? If he does, would the extra bulk rob Beasley of some of that initial quickness, his best attribute?

These are key questions any team that considers taking him off the board must first satisfactorily answer.

Sports Illustrated's Don Banks

The pick: Dante Fowler Jr., DE/OLB, Florida

Sports Illustrated's Don Banks sees Dante Fowler Jr. as a "difference-maker" in Washington. He also believes the team will opt for the ex-Florida standout over Nebraska's Randy Gregory, whose off-field baggage could deter McCloughan.

For what the Redskins want from their defense, along with what nearly every pro team looks for in an edge pass-rusher, Fowler would be the safest pick.

He's got the size-and-speed combination to dominate blockers in a variety of ways. That means flying around the corner with blink-of-an-eye acceleration or crashing the edge as a formidable bull-rusher.

Most top pass-rushers only rely on a few core moves, but it never hurts to be versatile enough to show blockers some different things. At 6'3" and 261 pounds, Fowler can certainly do that.

Speaking of versatility, this is a player who can, and has, lined up everywhere along a front seven. Fowler recounted his history of roaming the line of scrimmage with the Gators to MMQB's Jenny Vrentas:

"

I can play defensive end. I can play a 3-4 outside linebacker and drop back into coverage. I can play in the box as a linebacker as well. ...

I played everywhere, from defensive end to 3-technique to head up over the center; even middle linebacker, Sam linebacker and Will.

"

Transitioning to hybrid roles can be a tough fit for college prospects who've bossed games from the same position most of their lives, but Fowler would arrive in D.C. as a fully functioning multiple-front weapon.

Too much flexibility can often deter scouts, who will shy away from 'tweeners. But pro defense has changed, particularly up front.

Fowler's experience wearing many masks is now exactly what most NFL franchises want as they try to find as many ways as possible to keep quarterbacks and blocking schemes guessing in football's pass-heavy era.

That's why B/R draft pundit Matt Miller's comparison between Fowler and the New England Patriots' beefy, front-line chess piece Chandler Jones is so apt. He's the player who can change the look of New England's front with one slight movement and expands the possibilities for defensive creativity.

Draft Fowler, and the Redskins will earn a prospect big enough to set the edge in 3-4 looks as well as athletic enough to hold the corner with his hand down.

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller

The pick: Leonard Williams, DT, USC

Some may feel it's a stretch that Fowler will still be there at No. 5. But it may be even more generous to suggest Leonard Williams makes it that far.

Yet B/R's Matt Miller thinks it could happen. He sends the USC all-world defensive tackle to Washington with the fifth overall pick.

If Williams does last that long, there's little doubt McCloughan would jump at the chance to take him off the board. Few general managers would be forgiven for passing on such an opportunity.

Miller believes Williams' versatility and record of dominance would be enough of a lure, even during an offseason where McCloughan has already restocked the D-line: "Williams can play the 5-technique position from day one and become the team's second-most impactful defender behind Kerrigan. He's athletic, strong, versatile and can bump inside to the 3-technique on passing downs when the team goes to a four-man front."

Miller also offers the comparison between Williams and ex-New England Patriots agent of destruction Richard Seymour. If a team really believes Williams can be half as good as Seymour, it has to take him.

Putting a player who can dominate at every line spot into the front seven means a coordinator can pretty much call whatever scheme comes into his head. There needn't be any limits on his imagination when he has a trench warrior who can do it all.

Williams fits that mold as a cat-quick and disruptive pass-rusher, a stout and imposing run-stuffer and a magnet for double- and even triple-teams.

Yet there are still some concerns. The lateral pursuit, or at least the willingness to chase down plays run away from him, is almost nonexistent. That's unacceptable for a player who often resembles an Olympic sprinter trapped inside a road grader's body.

Williams' effort, or motor if your prefer, is inconsistent. That inconsistency doesn't show up often in college, where a player's athletic gifts make him stand out against so many who aren't similarly blessed.

But the NFL is a more level playing field, one that will be unforgiving of Williams' occasional bouts of coasting.

Of course, that's very likely to be another team's problem. It could be the Oakland Raiders.

B/R Insider Jason Cole states Williams is the player the Silver and Black "really want to get." Owners of the draft's fourth pick, the Raiders may need to trade, as it's also very difficult to believe the Jacksonville Jaguars would let Williams slip past them at No. 3.

MMQB's Peter King

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

The pick: Shane Ray, DE/OLB, Missouri

It's Ray's turn again here, but at least MMQB's Peter King offers a scenario many Redskins would be thrilled with.

Specifically, King calls for a trade here between Washington and the St. Louis Rams, one which would see the latter swap the 10th choice and a third-rounder for the fifth overall pick.

McCloughan's using his new first-round choice to tab Ray is deemed good business by King: "Good first move for McCloughan, if he can gather another pick while nabbing a pass-rusher in the process to replace Brian Orakpo."

Ray's qualities are obvious as a natural rush end born to hit quarterbacks. That's always a coveted skill at any level of football, one sure to encourage many pro scouts to overlook Ray's lack of imposing size and useful length, along with his indifferent resistance to plays run straight at him.

But it's the trade which really stands out about this scenario. McCloughan is tasked with building a sustained winner in D.C., something the Redskins haven't been since Joe Gibbs first arrived in town.

The new GM already believes the draft represents the best tool for the job, so it makes sense he'd want as many picks as he can get. NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport (h/t College Football 24/7's Bryan Fischer) has already indicated Washington is willing to trade out of the fifth spot.

The quality of this year's wide receiver class could help with that plan, according to ESPN's Mel Kiper (h/t ESPN Redskins reporter John Keim).

Grabbing an extra pick or two while still adding a legitimate playmaker to a revamped defensive front seven would be an excellent way for McCloughan to kick off his first draft for Washington.

The latest expert buzz is sticking with the view that the Redskins won't look beyond one of the top pass-rushers in this class on draft day. Still, it's significant that so few envisage the team's opting instead for an offensive linemen to bolster one of the weakest units in the league, a group so far left untouched by the new regime.

Still, if fortifying the defense is the necessary first step in McCloughan's elaborate rebuild, any player from this list would be worthy of the team's first-round pick.