Overall Draft Grade for the Redskins

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

Let me ask you this. Do you think Pioli of NE, or Polian of Indy would offer basically 2 #1's for Chad Johnson? Or draft 2 young wr's back to back when you've already got a lot of $ tied up in two other guys? Or draft a TE in the second round when you've already got a pro bowl TE and you have a major need at DE? And Brennan was just a waste. No way do you even waste time on him. I mean some of these moves Vinny is making really is making me wonder. I don't think we had an awful draft. I just think it could've been so much better.

It sounds like we drafted based on the "best player available" philosophy. I think most GMs would agree that, in the long run, that's the best way to build a top notch franchise. Thomas, Kelly, Davis, and Brennan all appear to have been great values. I too wish we had drafted more linemen, but it's hard to take serious issue with the bpa philosophy.

[Skinner]

I like the receivers we took, but we wasted a high pick on fred davis, TE wasnt a need, TE is more of a luxury pick. With that said I like the guy but we should have adressed DE and safety

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Sheriff Gonna Getcha

It sounds like we drafted based on the "best player available" philosophy. I think most GMs would agree that, in the long run, that's the best way to build a top notch franchise. Thomas, Kelly, Davis, and Brennan all appear to have been great values. I too wish we had drafted more linemen, but it's hard to take serious issue with the bpa philosophy.

Vinny said they definitely followed that philosophy, and yes I think most would agree that's a method that's hard to argue with.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by Skinner

I like the receivers we took, but we wasted a high pick on fred davis, TE wasnt a need, TE is more of a luxury pick. With that said I like the guy but we should have adressed DE and safety

It would have been nice had we landed Campbell, but I think it's telling that our D-line coach is the former Miami D-line coach and we didn't draft Campbell despite having 3 2nd rounders. Aside from Campbell, there weren't any decent DEs worthy of our 2nd rounders (Groves is probably an OLB). Moreover we did draft a DE.

Similarly, there weren't any standouts at the safety position. Kenny Phillips was gone at 34 and this year's safety crop was otherwise pretty piss poor. Besides we did draft two safeties with late round picks.

[The Goat]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I think if we were to rate the entire process, which would be inclusive of the draft day haul, as well as what we didn't do with the pick (trade for CJ), I'd bump it up to a B- or C+.

If instead of picking Devin Thomas, we selected Trevor Laws, this would be a pretty impressive haul. Laws, Kelly, Davis, Rinehart, Tryon...etc. That would help both sides of the ball immensely.

Instead, we helped one side of the ball immensely, and on the other side, we are just a year older. Thusly, we did alright, but we should have done better.

Valid points all around, but again if six months from now the offense has exploded - 30+ pts every game and all the weapons used consistently - then the FO looks very clever. On the other hand if the offense does not improve much there will be a lot of criticism, w/ or w/o significant injuries to the o line.

But here's what I've been wondering since yesterday... what does this strategy say about JC and specifically what Zorn and Co see in him? I wonder if adding so much potential firepower on offense means they think JC is ready to break out and dominate. If they did not believe in him might have they instead spread the picks out among our needs: d line, o line (maybe G and OT), CB and LB? It's just conjecture on my part but I'd like to think this peculiarity of picks says something about JC's progress and the kind of season Zorn and Co anticipates from him.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

Let me ask you this. Do you think Pioli of NE, or Polian of Indy would offer basically 2 #1's for Chad Johnson? Or draft 2 young wr's back to back when you've already got a lot of $ tied up in two other guys? Or draft a TE in the second round when you've already got a pro bowl TE and you have a major need at DE? And Brennan was just a waste. No way do you even waste time on him. I mean some of these moves Vinny is making really is making me wonder. I don't think we had an awful draft. I just think it could've been so much better.

Well, bottom line I wish those who have issues with the picks could address the way you did in your last two lines there. To say we had an awful draft is quite frankly, retarded, stupid, idiotic, moronic, dumb, etc.

[backrow]

Originally Posted by squrrelco3

Overall, I give it a B-, I'll break my thoughts down by pick and wrap up with an overall:

Devin Thomas: 2nd Round Steal very good pick

Fred Davis: WTF...lol in all honesty though I've started to warm up to him a little bit, my understanding is he was a guy a lot of people thought would go in the first round, and from what I've heard Zorn seems to think that Davis and Cooley can exist in the same formation.

Malcom Kelly: I hear he's another steal, everyone says that the skins may have gotten the two best Receivers in the draft in him and Thomas, and lets be honest, outside of Moss and ARE we aren't exactly deep at the Wideout position right now.

Chad Rinehart: Finally a Lineman, and from what I hear a versatile one that can move between the Tackle and Guard positions fairly easily.

Justin "J.T." Tryon: Hope he's got speed, because he's very short 5'9", but we need CB's and someone thought he was the best one there at the time so who knows.

Durant Brooks: Finally someone who might be able to actually punt.

Kareem Moore: Another smaller dude at 5'11" but we need DB's and he was there.

Colt Brennan: Another possible steal, if nothing else, hopefully that solves the problem of a third stringer...

Rob Jackson: Possibly another Chris Wilson type DE?

Chris Horton: Just adding depth at DB

Overall I would like to have seen more Linemen on both sides of the ball, still not entirely sold on the Davis pick, but maybe that's the big reason I'm on here running my mouth while Cerrato is up there putting together a team. In any event, Zorn says he can make it work, so who knows. Hopefully we can find something after the June 1st cut down, but I have always been a little leery of taking one man's trash and trying to make it our treasure.

I was all set to quote GTripp who posted before you, but you addressed every player, and I like your overall grade!
I too have pulled for drafting a stud DE early for the past 13 years. I was let down after I saw the first three picks made in the 2nd round.
I remember we ended up 8th overall D last year, so we are not all bad rotating our guys in and out there on the D Line.
It will be interesting to see the various pubs grades for the B & G!

[Swarley]

I'm going with a solid B. I really like the talent we now have on offense and I'm confident we can address more of our line problems internally or with UDFA's.

I have a feeling that Davis may make the biggest immediate impact of the first three we chose. I just have a feeling it's gonna be easier for a TE that also has teams focused on Cooley to make some big plays.

[JWsleep]

Liked the trade down moves, and given that we're moving to a west coast offense, we need to have the players to make it work. Hence the 2 WRs and the TE (as Matty said: Zorn uses 2 TE sets).

I would have liked, like most of us, to get a good DE or Safety in round 2, but I'm willing to accept that the value wasn't there, or at least that the value we took was better.

Not sure about drafting a punter like that--he better kick some ass!

We'll see--drafts are really graded several seasons down the road.

B/B-

[GTripp0012]

There's no such thing as a steal or a reach right now. Sure someone may seem like a steal or a reach, but you have to give them a chance.

There are intelligent and questionable selections though, and I didn't like our train of thought on day one. However, we did address a need that usually takes longer to pan out in the NFL, and I suppose I can appreciate that type of forward thought.

[NoviSkins]

Overall I think we did very well. I would have liked to address the lines more, but you can only do so much. Getting two recievers of that caliber in the 2nd, and a top-tier TE can only help the new West Coast offense. I'm kinda Zorny right now.

[DirteePosse]

i'll give them an A on the draft. I thought we had some problems in the red zone last year and adding two big WR's and another TE should fix that. Would have been nice to add an impact DE or S, but the defense has great chemistry and we can work on that next year. The Colt Brennan pick up was very smart. He's a tough guy and if he's healthy, he'll stick around Redskin Park. He'll look good in the preseason.

[marius]

I go with a B. I could make a case for an A or C but just don't understand how anyone can give a D or below. I was one of the people who wanted to trade for Chad or Roy Williams so I am delighted that we have addressed the WR position so comprehensively. I also like Fred Davis. We now have depth at all the offensive skill positions.

While a dominating DE would have pushed this to an A I think that the happiest Redskin of all must be Jason Campbell. He now has some serious weapons at his disposal and this could be his breakout year. The red zone was a serious weakness for the offense last year and we have addresses this through the draft. This is going to be an exciting team to watch in 2008.

[hagams]

I wasn't suprised too much by the 1st round trade.

I would like to say thank you to everyone though. I don't follow college ball much, so the draft has always been rather boring to me. I wouldn't know who was who unless ESPN was talking about it. The amount of knowledge and conversation that I received on this site made a huge difference this year. Thanks, and I'm really glad this site is here.

[Giantone]

I gave you guys a C(+) only in my opinion you did'nt address the Lines more O or D.As for my team I gave them the same ...not a bad draft but I thought we need to address our O line and our LBers,we did but not like I think we should have.