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The Washington Football Team came away from the table in this year’s NFL Draft with a couple of gems according to the experts at Pro Football Focus.
Their first and second round picks — defensive end Chase Young (Ohio State) and running back Antonio Gibson (Memphis) — are budding stars who ae off to promising starts to their pro careers.
Gibson leads the team with 213 rushing yards and is also the team’s second-leading receiver behind wide receiver Terry McLaurin. Gibson has also 15 receptions for 122 yards and has scored three touchdowns, all on the ground.
“The dynamic Gibson showed off his elusiveness once again in Week 5 with three broken tackles on his five catches, securing his standing as the NFL’s highest-graded receiving back over the last two weeks,” PFF’s Anthony Treash writes. “Overall on the year, Gibson has averaged 10.6 yards after the catch, the second-best among 34 qualifying backs.”
Young was a coveted player coming out of OSU and Washington grabbed him with the second-overall pick in April. He has 10 total tackles and 2.5 sacks in four games this season.
“Young was as advertised before a groin injury slowed him, racking up eight pressures through two games before getting hurt early on in Week 3.” PFF’s Michael Renner wrote. “He’s also collected six stops in the run game and looks like the complete all-around edge defender the Football Team needed.”
Another rookie who is opening some eyes is safety Kamren Curl, a seventh round pick out of Arkansas who made the team in camp and has become a starter.
“Kamren Curl is a guy that really has exceeded expectations. It’s one of those things that this is a guy that not having the workouts I think is why he slipped and was where he was when we drafted him,” head coach Ron Rivera said. “I think if he’d had the workouts, I think people would’ve seen a little bit more into him and he would’ve been drafted higher. So, he’s a guy that we’re very fortunate to have on the football team.”
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