The draft picks

1.4 - OT Trent Williams


I'll refer you to NFL Draft Countdown's scouting report on Williams:

"Ideal bulk --- Fantastic athlete --- Quick --- Agile --- Nimble feet --- Good balance --- Natural knee bender --- Moves well laterally --- Mobile with range to get to the second level --- Can hit a moving target --- Great strength --- Stout at the point of attack --- Gets a good push in the run game --- Able to adjust and recover when beat --- Understands positioning and excels at sealing off defenders --- Solid instincts and awareness --- Violent initial punch --- Tough --- Nasty with a killer instinct --- Has a lot of experience against top competition --- Versatile. "

The bold is added by me - I highlighted those traits because they are the reasons he was drafted instead of Russel Okung. That sounds like a guy perfect for Shanahan's running game.


4.5 - LB Perry Riley


He's listed as an OLB on most draft sites.  But here's an excerpt on Riley from FFToolbox:

"He has the look of an inside linebacker, but his instincts are not the best and he sometimes gets caught by the play-action pass.... He played weakside linebacker in Baton Rouge, but the speed and athleticism might not be there to play the same position in the NFL. As such, Riley could be a risky pick as teams consider him to be in between the those two spots on the defensive side of the ball. Still, he has the talent to emerge as a solid middle linebacker."

Given the lack of any mention of pass-rush ability, he's looking like an ILB in the Redskins defense, but a developmental one.


UPDATE - Larry Weismann via TORB reinforces that he is headed for ILB.  Far more importantly, he grew up a Redskins fan.  So he's welcome here as far as I concerned.

6.5 - TE Dennis Morris

I know what you're thinking.  Don't start.  This late we're talking depth picks that may not even make the team, so please don't bother blasting the pick because it doesn't address an area of need.  Morris isn't even on the position rankings of the draft websites that I've been looking at.  I can find hardly any information on him, but Google took me to NCAA Football Fanhouse, which tells me he weighs 266 lbs and has pretty modest reception totals, so I guess he's projected as a blocker.  If he works out in that role, he could actually be a usefull supplement to our two receiving-first TEs.

UPDATE: Thanks to an anonymous commenter who has posted some video of Dennis Morris in the comments section.  I know YouTube highlight videos are a dime a dozen, but there's some very satisfying blocks on there.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The NFL.com "pick analysis" provides some clarity.  Morris' role is to take Mike Sellers' job:

"Morris is a tight end that the Redskins will play at fullback. He's a blocking tight end that will be their lead blocker in the zone running scheme that Mike Shanahan implements. He figures to compete with Mike Sellers for playing time."

7.12 - WR Terrance Austin

Clearly a little speedy kick returning guy.  The listed weights I've found online have varied betweem 163 and 180.  I'm hoping it's closer to the latter, as I'm not comfortable with the Redskins drafting a player who weighs less than me.  Really.

Notably, YouTube demonstrates that Mr. Austin is quite good at catching little white balls that you bounce off a wall for him.  That's good, I suppose.

7.22 - OL Eric Cook

Sounds to me like this guy is purely developmental line depth rather than someone intended to push Casey Rabach for his job.

From NFL.com:

"Cook has been a quality offensive lineman for the Lobos over the past three years and has started at all three positions: tackle, guard and center. He may be a little tall for the center position as he would be facing a lot of nose tackles that would have a natural leverage advantage on him...  He can struggle when opponents get to, or past, the edge and he needs to recover and square back up on the block. He lacks the lateral range to play on the edge and is best suited to play guard or center where he has the potential to eventually develop into an adequate starter."

CBS Sports:

"Athletic and flexible for his size. Able to move his feet inside against quick tackles... Knows the angle he needs to take on the MIKE... Doesn't have the foot speed to pull consistently... Gets tripped up in trash so trapping may prove difficult... A bit slow to get his weight moving forward, but does manage to reach and negate linebackers, even after blocking down."

7.24 - OT Selvish Capers

Finally the second tackle we needed.  I like his NFL Draft Countdown description:

"Strengths:
Good size with a large frame and long arms --- Very athletic --- Quick and agile --- Excellent balance and body control --- A natural knee bender --- Nimble feet --- Mobile with the range to pull, get out in space and reach the second level --- Able to slide laterally and mirror --- Can protect the edge --- Gets a decent push in the run game --- Does a nice job of sustaining blocks --- Strong work ethic --- Still has a lot of upside.

Weaknesses:
Will have to continue bulking up --- Must get stronger --- Questionable instincts and awareness --- Isn't stout at the point of attack --- Doesn't use his hands well --- Mediocre initial punch --- Raw footwork --- Stops moving legs at times --- Inconsistent leverage --- Lacks a killer instinct."

I'm not foolish enough to assume that a 7th round draft pick is even guaranteed to make the team, much less contribute in the short term, but given that the RT postition at this point looks like a competition between Stephon Heyer and Artis Hicks I'm pretty happy to add some potential to the mix.