Vision Quest: A Tale of Two Draft Days

The Redskins are on the verge of the 7th draft of the Snyder era. However this year is a little different. There is no Draft Day party at Fed Ex where Coach Gibbs will helicopter in with our first round pick in tow and address 10,000 fans willing to wait hours just to find out who the newest player to play in the B&G. No big press conferences will be scheduled Monday May 1st to introduce that player. No it is pretty quiet in Fed Ex.

Because the Redskins will not pick until #53 in the 2nd round this year.

We have already had our fan fare in free agency, and it is a good thing too. Sure the Redskins have 6 picks in this year’s NFL Draft, but after pick #53 the remaining five are #153 or worse. While it is not out of the realm of possibility the Redskins could move up into the first round by trading next year’s first and second and this year’s second. it is doubtful they will do it.

This writer is very worried about this year’s draft. Sure we have only one major hole at outside linebacker to fill and there will be talent at the 2nd round pick to fill it. (And if you think Holdman is the answer at OLB, go watch the Denver or Kansas City Game a few times and come back here and say that again.) The Redskins though have various needs for solid depth on the Offensive Line, Tight End, Linebacker, Corner, and Safety.

Normally a team would use it’s first day picks (Rounds 1 -3) to acquire starting level talent and reserve their second day picks (Rounds 4-7) for depth. There are exceptions to every rule. First day QBs can start out as depth and transition to starting level in later years, like Campbell. Some players can be passed over on the first day and become starters like Robert Royal. The third round is a crap shoot where some starting talent in some positions can still be found like Cooley and Dockery.

Unfortunately the Redskins have not followed that plan and their draft days have become a tale of two days. The first day picks they have done quite well getting players who at least on some level contributed at a high level on an every game basis. According to my subjective analysis only one player, Taylor Jacobs, can be labeled a true bust, and two others, Lloyd Harrison and Rashad Baumans, were picks that did not pan out.

The second day picks have been utterly horrendous for one reason or another. While you can not expect all of these players to be world class players, you can hope that at least half of them will be contributing players in some fashion or another. They have gone whole drafts without what I call a “Contributing Selection” from the 2nd day.

What is a “Contributing Selection”? Well I am making this up, but I do have logic behind it. It is a subjective term based on where the draft pick occurred. Simply put if you are selected on the first day of the draft you should be a starter for the Redskins for at least a couple of seasons and play adequately. If you are selected on the second day at the very least you should provide adequate depth for several seasons. By this measure Taylor Jacobs is not a Contributing Selection because he was a first day selection and failed to adequately turn into a starter. While Darnerian McCants is a Contributing Selection because he provided adequate depth for several Redskin seasons before leaving for Philly.

So I took some time to analyze each of the drafts that occurred under Daniel Snyder’s watch. Here are my results. The bolded players are ones that I deem as Contributing Selections.

2000 Draft Class

1st Day: LB Lavar Arrington (1), OT Chris Samuels (1), DB Lloyd Harrison (3),

2nd Day: OG Michael Moore (4), S Quincy Sanders (5), QB Todd Husak (6), DT Delbert Cowsett (7), WR Ethan Howell (7)

Analysis: The Draft that paved the way for all the others. Great phenomenal first day picks in Lavar Arrington and Chris Samuels, and scrubs who barely made the roster, and even rarer contributed. Odds are the only Michael Moore you have heard of is a chubby filmmaker. Quincy Sanders needs a detective to find out where his NFL career went. Who’s Todd Husak? A washout that’s who. Delbert Cowsett is now ironically in an office job. Ethan Howell doesn’t even deserve mentioning….ooops I did.

2001 Draft Class

1st Day: WR Rod Gardner (1), CB Fred Smoot (2)

2nd Day: QB Sage Rosenfels (4), WR Darnerian McCants (5), DT Mario Monds (6)

Analysis: Again 2 starters in Rod Gardner and Fred Smoot on the first day, but barely anything on the 2nd. Sage Rosenfels was a reach at 4 and could have been picked at 6 if we wanted him. D-Mac contributed a little before his music career clouded his work ethics. Mario Mounds wins the award for best name of the no names we draft on the second day.

2002 Draft Class

1st Day: QB Patrick Ramsey (1), Ladell Betts (2), CB Rashad Bauman (3)

2nd Day: WR Cliff Russell (3), DB Andre Lott (5), TE Robert Royal (5), OT Reggie Coleman (6), LS Jeff Grau (7), DE Gregg Scott (7), RB Rock Cartwright (7)

Analysis: Solid 1st day once again getting a starter in Patrick Ramsey and a solid depth and sometimes starter in Ladell Betts. However Spurrier’s first year in the league showed that he had no idea when it came to drafting talent ion the late rounds. Robert Royal eventually became a starter before leading the Skins this year to have fist fights in Buffalo, but that was more because of a lack of talent at the position. Andre Lott started a few games but succumbed to injury and was released (He just signed with the Chargers after being out of the NFL). Rock Cartwright has been solid depth and special teams and was the steal of the 2nd Day for the Redskins. For all the trading down we did to pick up draft picks none of them really contributed. Of the others only Rashad Bauman is still in the league playing sparsely for Cincinnati.

2003 Draft Class

1st Day: WR Taylor Jacobs (2), OG Derrick Dockery (3)

2nd Day: QB Gibrad Hamdan (7)

Analysis: Worst Snyder Draft Ever. First they trade away all their picks to acquire the entire Jets football team, and then on the ones they do have they pick incorrectly. Taylor Jacobs in the 2nd has been the best practice worst game receiver in Washington and most likely won’t be here after this year. Hamdan was another waste of a pick in the 7th. The only thing that saved this draft is Derrick Dockery. Sure he is the weak link of the offensive line but he has started every game since coming into the league, and at least he is progressing.

2004 Draft Class

1st Day: S Sean Taylor (1), TE Chris Cooley (3),

2nd Day: T Mark Wilson (5), T Jim Molinaro (6)

Analysis: Sean Taylor was a no-brainer here and one of the best high draft picks in the Snyder era. Gibbs wisely moved up to take Chris Cooley in the third, but Mark Wilson was cut last year and Jim Molinaro is on the brink of being cut this year. It can be argued these two tackles lack of development has led directly to losses in the next two years when major injuries have decimated the offensive line.

2005 Draft Class

1st Day: CB Carlos Rogers (1), QB Jason Campbell (1)

2nd Day: FB Manuel White Jr. (4), LB Robert McCune (5), LB Jared Newberry (6), FB Nehemiah Broughton (7)

Analysis: Another typical Snyder draft. Carlos Rogers is the real deal and is a wonderful selection. Jason Campbell is the QB of the future and will compete for backup spots this year. This may go down as the worst 2nd day in Redskin history, and at the very least the Snyder era’s worst. Manuel White spent last year on injured Reserve after a sub par pre-season. Robert McCune spent most of the season on the practice squad until he was promoted because of injury. Jared Newberry was let go on the first day of cut-downs. Nemo has a great nickname but spent the entire season as the 4th running back and was inactive in all but two games.


By my admittedly subjective standards the results are thus. On the first Day the Daniel Snyder Redskins have had 14 selections and 11 of them have turned out to be Contributing Selections. In fact two of the busts were corners taken in the third round which can often be risky. This is superb and the Redskins should be congratulated for getting this right. Many other teams in the league would envy this kind of consistency in these high draft picks and it is a testament to Snyder and Cerrato’s scouting. In fact the weakest year, 2001 (Gardner and Smoot) where a direct result of Marty Schottenheimer’s control as opposed to Snyder or Cerrato’s wishes.

The second day though is uhm…not so good. I feel I have been VERY liberal with some of my selections (Andre Lott, D-Mac) and even then out of 22 picks I can only find 4 picks I would label a Contributing Selection. Shaq has a better chance of making a free throw blindfolded then we do of getting a good football player on the 2nd day of the draft.

So what you say? We have Gibbs now and he will get things into shape. Think so huh? In 2004 Gibbs did a good move to trade up for Chris Cooley. But the two Offensive Tackles that were supposed to provide depth are pretty much busts. Mark Wilson was cut from the squad after one year and Jim Molinaro is fighting for his job this year. In 2005 it only got worse. None of the player’s drafted last year contributed in any major way, and 3 out of 4 were not on the opening day roster. Nemo made the squad but was inactive and 4th on the running back list.

These results are the real reasons we always seem to be short of depth. It is simply to expensive to get decent depth in the Free Agent market and the 2nd day is the draft is the only way in today’s NFL. Our poor performance has had direct results on the field. We leaned on the 40+ year old Ray Brown when we hade line injuries over the past couple of years but if we had a young Guard/tackle type that panned out we could have used them when Brown went down in both 2004 & 2005. When our corners were injured the last two years we were depending on former UFAs late in the season when wins games were on the line.

And now the Redskins have 5 picks 5th round or lower and depth is badly needed in the Safety, O-line, Tight End, Corner, and Linebacker positions. Call me crazy but I am not betting that we will cover those positions finding gems in the 2nd day. Not unless we do a better job at evaluating and developing young talent.

And if we don’t you better pray for health to our Redskin starters or we could see a repeat of the last two years.

EDIT This article was edited to reflect the fact the third rounds is on the first day of the draft, not the second.