The Redskins have been making better personnel decisions the past couple of years (outside of the Cousins fiasco), but overall we still need to move forward FASTER to get from the 4-12 caliber club we had in 2013 to the 9-7/8-8 type club we are now to a true contender.
Some moves still have me scratching my head.
For example, I was just running down the Rams' roster and saw John Sullivan started the season at center for Sean McVay.
We had him here last year, he had 7-8 years of solid starting experience in Minnesota, and played well when Long was out.
But when the season was over we showed absolutely no interest in resigning him.
Instead, we went back to the Long/Lauvao duo inside.
I still don't get the Redskins and Gruden's fascination with Lauvao, he must have photos of someone in management doing something perverse.
But going back to the players inside, why not resign Sullivan as your veteran starter at center and move Long to LG and release Lauvao?
That would have saved the team a good portion of Lauvao's $5M salary for 2017.
You can also look at what we have at running back, which outside of third down back Thompson, is waiver wire and UDFA quality players.
The Eagles were able to get Jay Ajayi mid-season from the Dolphins for a modest
#4 draft pick.
The Redskins could have used Ajayi perhaps MORE than the Eagles and again the price was reasonable. His presence here might have helped us win another game or two (we are near the bottom of the league with a 3.6 ypc average currently and starting former PS rushers) and would have given us a starter for 2018.
In the draft we have taken the Scherffs and Allens, who are part of the core going forward at the top, but we have also seemingly missed on high picks such as Doctson, Cravens and Ryan Anderson.
Docston, Cravens and Anderson together have contributed very little to this team for
#1 ,
#2 and
#2 picks.
If we had 3 players drafted that high that were contributing in a visible way this team would be considerably better, injuries or no injuries.
But at best Doctson looks like a
#2 receiver if he can develop consistent hands, while Anderson was nearly invisible in 2017. He seems miscast as an OLB in the 3-4.
As we know, Cravens didn't contribute at all in 2017, walking away from the team during the preseason. When it was brought up that he had walked away from his USC team in college as well during his stay there, the question became why take this guy so high when he has question marks about commitment to the game and transitioning to a new position in the NFL?
To me a
#2 pick should be a player you project to be an early starter for your team, a guy that is going to come in and make a solid contribution as he continues to learn and get better.
The best teams hit on picks in this area of the draft, where you potentially get a blue chip prospect who falls from the first round and have him for 3-4 years on a cheap contract.