In a year where the NFL Draft was anything but normal, getting a chance to know the prospects and pick their brains was of the utmost importance.
For Washington Redskins coach Ron Rivera, he was able to do just that with Chase Young, who was eventually drafted by the team with the No. 2 overall pick on Thursday night. Thanks to a scheduling snafu during the 2020 NFL Combine, Rivera said on Thursday night that he was actually able to spend an extra 15 minutes talking to Young and figuring out if he was the right guy for Washington at No. 2.
“He had kind of a little glitch in his schedule where he had an extra 15 minutes, so I went over and kind of nestled up to him away from everybody and we had a nice personal conversation just between the two of us,” Rivera said, via NBC Sports Washington. “That 15 minutes really helped me in terms of just solidifying who he was for us.”
It may be a stretch to say that the Redskins wouldn’t have picked Young had they not had those extra 15 minutes, of course. As the top overall prospect in the 2020 draft class, passing up on Young with the second pick would have been negligent, to say the least. Though they did receive a few offers for the chance to draft Chase, Rivera and the Redskins never jumped at the opportunity, knowing that they had the guy they desired right in front of them.
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