Scot McCloughan spent two years as Washington’s general manager under former team president Bruce Allen. While McCloughan’s personnel record was spotty at times, he remains one of the NFL’s best evaluators, even if he doesn’t work for a team.
McCloughan is always a popular interview around NFL draft time because of his deep knowledge of every prospect. Before his time with Washington, McCloughan was once the general manager of the San Francisco 49ers and remains plugged in with that franchise.
Earlier this summer, McCloughan was a guest on the “49ers Talk” podcast, where he discussed San Francisco’s 2022 draft class. One player McCloughan really liked was sixth-round corner Tariq Castro-Fields. The 49ers released Castro-Fields Tuesday, and he was claimed on waivers by the Washington Commanders Wednesday.
“I think their best bang for the buck was getting Castro-Fields,” McCloughan said per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. “I think he’s a bigger version of Shawntae Spencer. I think he’s going to play, and he’s going to play well.”
The 6-foot-1, 197-pound Castro-Fields is a terrific athlete with plenty of college experience at Penn State. In addition to his ability on the field, Castro-Fields ran a 4.38 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. His experience playing in the Big Ten is one of the reasons why McCloughan likes him.
“There are some good receivers who came out of the Big Ten the last couple of years, and he’s a 50-50 guy,” McCloughan said of Castro-Fields. “He competes with them. He doesn’t back down from them. I thought where they got him, that’s a steal. That’s the best pick they had in the draft just because of where they got him.”
There are no guarantees with anyone. But Castro-Fields is the type of player you take a chance with on waivers. He has good size and speed and produced plenty of good tape from his time with Penn State.
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