2020 All Too Early Draft Impressions
April 28, 2020
by Steve Thomas
With the 2020 draft now in our rearview mirror, we have nothing to look forward to until OTAs, if they happen at all, and training camp, possibly except for a few more undrafted free agent signings during the NFL’s dead period. Before we get to that point, however, I’d like to give my thoughts on the Redskins effort in their first draft under new coach Ron Rivera. I’ll start from the top.
Chase Young, DE, Ohio St.; round 1, pick 2
The entire Redskins fanbase has been screaming for him for months, obviously, whereas it’s no secret I have been one of the few voices in Redskins media against bringing him to DC. To the surprise of no one, Ron Rivera and Company didn’t follow my advice and drafted the hometown hero. What was abundantly obvious from Rivera and Smith’s post-draft comments was that they never had any intention of trading the #2 overall pick absent some sort of truly extraordinary haul. Personally, my feelings haven’t changed: Jeff Okudah or Isaiah Simmons would’ve ultimately brought more to the Redskins than Young. However, Young is an elite pass rushing prospect, and now that he’s here, what does the team have? In the best case scenario, where Young lives up to the GENERATIONAL TALENT!!!!!!!!!! label foisted upon him by nearly everyone, the Redskins should have one of the top pass rushing defensive lines in the league, and one in which Ryan Kerrigan slowly becomes superfluous. The Redskins were a good passing rushing team before he came to DC – in 2019, they were 10th in total sacks with 46, 5th in quarterback pressures (sacks + hurries + knockdowns) with 174, and 3rd in pressure percentage at 28.5%, thanks in large part to the pressure brought by the Redskins interior lineman. They were also an atrocious run defense. Simply changing to a base 4 – 3 should allow Montez Sweat, Ryan Kerrigan, and Young to do what they do best most of the time rather than continually having to drop into coverage under Greg Manusky’s 3 – 4. So, adding a fully developed Chase Young to this will be fearsome for opposing offensive lines. That’s what he could bring. Will it happen? Will he live up to his promise? Julius Peppers did, but Courtney Brown was a bust and Jadeveon Clowney, while not be a total bust, didn’t live up to expectations. At a are minimum, Young should at least make the pass rusher better. I’m not sure he does anything, positive or negative, in the run game. We’ll see. I’m definitely rooting for him.
Antonio Gibson, RB/WR, Memphis; Round 3, pick 2
This guy is Ron Rivera’s new Christian McCaffrey. Gibson is not as heralded or celebrated as McCaffrey, but the team expects him to play the same role. When asked about the comparison between the two, this is what Rivera said:
No, that’s fair. He’s a little bit bigger than Christian, but he’s got a skillset like Christian. He’s shown some position flexibility playing in the slot, then he shows position flexibility playing in the backfield. Ran some wildcat with him behind the center taking direct snaps. This is a very versatile, young football player that we really think is going to be a guy that can get on the field for us early and contribute.
This should tell you everything you need to know about the hopes the Redskins have for this player. Gibson is inexperienced, with only 19 games at Memphis to his credit, so he well probably need time to develop, but expect Gibson to get a shot at becoming an every down starter. Scott Turner is known to prefer power run schemes, but he will want to send Gibson out of the backfield on wheel routes, put him in the slot, and all sorts of other things. I don’t think Gibson’s route running skills are at the point for him where he can be a full-time receiver yet, and regardless, his role will specifically include moving around the field, not be locked into a specific position. Gibson’s mission will be to stress the defense, and that’s something he’s born to do. I’m very excited about this pick, even if he takes a year or two in order to get fully up to speed.
T Saahdiq Charles, LSU; round 4, pick 2
Meet the new Trent Williams.
On second thought, let’s not go there. Not because I’m afraid of mentioning the name “Trent Williams” again, but because it’s wholly unfair to put that kind of pressure on Charles. Williams is a borderline hall of fame-level talent, and very, very few players at any position ever get to his level or can match what he achieved in Washington. I’d rather not set Charles up for failure by (a) disregarding what Williams was as a player while he was here, or (b) pretending that Charles can easily replace him, because he can’t. Charles will need to develop at his own pace (hopefully quickly), and the Redskins probably need to look to sign a one-year veteran stopgap like Donald Penn to solidify the position for the near-term.
Our friend Robbie Duncan raved about Charles’ potential on our airwaves about a month ago (click here to listen). To me, Charles is a player who is agile and has significant athletic ability for his size, but will need some pro coaching to fix his technique. Longtime Hog Sty guest Mark Bullock published a piece in The Athletic about Charles’ poor hand technique that you should read (click here; you’ll need a subscription). The bottom line is that the Redskins might have found their left tackle of the future, because Charles has that kind of potential; it may just take awhile to get there. Unfortunately, Dwayne Haskins needs protection now.
Antonio Gandy-Golden, WR, Liberty; round 4, pick 36
At first glance, Gandy-Golden is a playmaker extraordinaire. There are several YouTube highlight videos of him making unbelievable contested one-handed touchdowns, and there’s no doubt he was that in college. Part of the reason for all of the highlight reel plays was the fact that his quarterback was not an NFL-caliber talent and frequently both underthrew him and kept his eyes fixed on Gandy-Golden, thereby tipping of the defense. As was the case with Saahdiq Charles, it’s a bit unfair to expect Gandy-Golden to make immediate highlight reel-level play in the NFL where he will face dramatically better secondaries. He isn’t a player who is going to be able to create separation through his natural speed, agility, and acceleration, so he will have to learn to use his body and enormous wingspan to be the Redskins’ short field and in-traffic target. I think his destiny is as an outside receiver, either an “X” or a “Z”, not in the slot. He could become the player that Josh Doctson was supposed to be, but wasn’t; however, he lacks Doctson’s top end speed and leaping ability, so Gandy-Golden will probably have a harder time developing into that kind of player.
Keith Ismael, C/G, San Diego St.; round 5, pick 10
This is one half of Washington’s return on Trent Williams. The Redskins might have found a replacement for Chase Roullier. At least, it appears to me that Ismael has a one year window to prove he’s worthy of such a fate. Roullier is entering a contract year, so it’s not impossible to think that if Ismael can prove himself in a hurry, that the Redskins might let him leave. The other option is to re-sign Roullier, which would likely leave Ismael as a backup for several seasons. So, he has a unique opportunity here to quickly prove himself. He’s a player with fairly significant athleticism by center standards, but lacks power. He isn’t a mauler, which seems at first glance to be somewhat at odds with a power-based run scheme that Turner apparently favors, but we’ll see. Ismael will also have to compete with 2019 draft pick Ross Pierschbacher for this role, so the hope is that one of the two of them, at least, becomes a starter-level player. Ismael also had some starts at guard, so he has the positional versatility that Rivera clearly covets.
Khaleke Hudson, OLB/S, Michigan; round 5, pick 16
Hudson is an interesting pick. He’s undersized for a linebacker, but filled Michigan’s “viper” role in college, which is a hybrid linebacker / in the box safety / pass rusher position. Hudson is both fairly fast and strong, with a 4.56 time in the 40 yard dash and 30 bench press reps at the NFL Combine. He’s probably just too small to be a full-time 4 – 3 linebacker, so it’s possible that the Redskins may view him as more of a backup to Landon Collins, who is close to a linebacker in play style in his own right. Hudson’s path to a role on this team, though, is special teams – quite a bit has been made of his ability to block punts at Michigan. I think the team views Hudson as a core special teams player in the future, at least in the first few years of his career.
Kamren Curl, S, Arkansas, round 7, pick 2
Curl isn’t overly fast or quick by defensive back standards, but he is strong – 24 bench press reps. He has collegiate experience as a corner, so presumably this gives him a leg up on other safeties in terms of coverage ability. Curl’s principal problem is that he’s a mediocre at best athlete by NFL defensive back standards. He does have size and is known as a good tackler, so he may be able to find success as a safety in a cover 2 system where he isn’t responsible for the entire back half of the field.
James Smith-Williams, DE, North Carolina St.; round 7, pick 15
The key to Smith-Williams’ NFL career is his health. This is a player who only played in 29 games in 5 years, principally because a series of injuries continually kept him off the field. In terms of his on the field abilities, I view Smith-Williams as a gamble for depth, one the Redskins were willing to take because of his outstanding character, leadership, and intellect. If he can avoid more health problems, it’s possible that he can compete with Jordan Brailford, Nate Orchard, and others for a backup role.
Thaddeus Moss, TE, LSU; undrafted free agent
What you need to understand about Thad Moss is that he is not his father. Whereas Randy Moss might have been the greatest deep threat in NFL history, with a virtually uncoverable combination of size, tremendous speed, and even better acceleration, Thaddeus is a completely different player, and fans should not expect some sort of lesser version of Randy, or even Jordan Reed. Thad is more of a traditional tight end; he’s bulky, can block, and can catch, but isn’t a downfield threat. He’s a bit undersized for an inline tight end, but that’s the role to which his skillset is best suited. He isn’t really a “joker” tight end like his “Moss” name might suggest he should be. The good news for Moss is that the team’s tight end group is obviously fairly bereft of talent, so he has a great opportunity to grab ahold of the Greg Olsen role in the Redskins offense. Plus, let’s be honest: having a hall of famer like Randy Moss hanging around Redskins Park can only be a good thing for Thad and his teammates.
Steven Montez, QB, Colorado; undrafted free agent
Montez has size, athleticism, and most importantly, a fairly big NFL-quality arm. He’s a great developmental prospect. His problem in college was a lack of consistency, questionable decision making, a tendency to lock on to his primary target, and some occasional mechanical problems. He is mobile, but not necessarily a running quarterback. I ranked him 9th in this year’s quarterback class because of his potential: Washington’s coaching staff can work with him on the mechanical issues and on how to read the field and run an NFL offense, but Montez has what you can’t teach: size and an arm. If all goes well, he could eventually become a backup to Dwayne Haskins.
Isaiah Wright, WR, Temple; undrafted free agent
Wright has size, was something of a playmaker, and has route running ability. He has at least average wide receiver speed in the 4.5 range, and is an experienced, polished route-runner. His problem is that analysts say that he has shown a tendency to drop balls. Wright has a very steep road ahead of him, including 12 other receivers as competition, in order to make the roster.
Johnathon Johnson, WR, Missouri; undrafted free agent
Johnson is small, 5’8” or less, and 170 pounds, but is a burner who can run a sub-4.4 40 yard dash. He wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine, so we do not have verified measureables from him. I give Johnson a better chance to make the roster than Wright simply because a guy with big-time speed will always get more of a chance to prove himself.