Redskins Looking to Deal Up?

The Redskins have been spending a lot of time and resources screening players who are unlikely to be around when they draft at #53.

For a team whose first pick in the draft is in the low-rent district, the latter third of the second round, (#53 overall to be exact), the Redskins have been hosting some fairly high-rolling prospects lately. WarpathInsiders.com is reporting today that CB Kelly Jennings is slated to visit Redskins Park on Monday. It was first reported here at WarpathInsiders.com that Florida State cornerback Antonio Cromartie recently paid a pre-draft visit to Ashburn. According to Ryan O’Halloran of the Washington Times, Alabama linebacker DeMeco Ryans either has done the same already or will be doing so very soon.

Jennings, Cromartie, Ryans

All three are excellent defenders who play positions that the Redskins could certainly be willing to spend high draft picks on. Cromartie, Jennings, and Ryans have something else in common--they will both be long gone by the time the 53^rd selection comes up. Most draft boards rate Ryans somewhere between late in the first round to early in the second and Cromartie is likely to be picked in the first dozen slots in the second round, if not sooner.

All of this makes you think that something might be up. For their part, the Redskins get only 30 pre-draft visits (excluding players with local ties) and it’s not smart to burn one on a player that you don’t have a chance of drafting. On top of that the time of the coaching staff is extremely valuable, especially this time of year, and there’s no point in wasting it on a workout and an interview with someone who is virtually certain to wind up playing for someone else.

From the player’s perspective it also makes little sense to waste a visit. They have only so many days to get these done and although their visits aren’t limited by any sort of regulations they are limited by time; there is an opportunity cost to each visit that they make. A prospect who should be drafted with a selection in the thirties isn’t going to go on a joy ride to visit with a team first drafting in the fifties. 

Unless, of course, that team was somehow able to persuade the player and his agent that such a visit wouldn’t be a total waste of time, that the team was planning on a possible move into a position where the possibility of taking one of these players was a realistic scenario.

It would take some doing for the Redskins to move up significantly in this year’s draft. And, right off the bat, let’s go ahead and define “some doing” as giving up a very high 2007 selection, either their first or their second. Their next ’06 pick after the 53^rd is not until the fifth round and that’s not going to move you up more than a slot or two according to the draft value chart. Their only assets that will make enough of a difference are their picks next year.

For the last 35 years, the Redskins have not been hesitant to trade away draft picks. George Allen generally dealt them for veteran players, with mixed success. Bobby Beathard did some of that, and also dealt future first-rounders for selections in an earlier draft. His results were mixed as well. One such trade netted Russ Grimm, another landed receiver Walter Murray. Grimm will be in the Hall of Fame someday while Murray never suited up for the Redskins due to a contract dispute. In more recent years with Joe Gibbs in charge Washington has dealt away selections in the following year’s draft to tab Chris Cooley in 2004 and Jason Campbell last year.

This year’s second and next year’s first could land the Redskins somewhere late in the first round. Next year’s first alone would net another second somewhere in the middle area of that round (you pay a premium for getting the player a year earlier). This year’s and next year’s seconds would move Washington to the early part of the second round. Of course, there are numerous possibilities in addition to those, but those are some of the things that could be done. 

While the Redskins aren't talking about what their strategy looks like, the way the tea leaves in the form of draft visits are shaping up it seems that a trade up to either late in the first round or very early in the second is part of the plan.

Rich Tandler is the author of The Redskins From A to Z, Volume 2: The Games. This unique book has an account of every game that the Redskins played from the time they moved to Washington in 1937 through the 2001 season. To get details on the book and ordering information, go to http://www.RedskinsGames.com