The last decade of drafts for the Washington Redskins has been a bit of a mixed bag. There were several years near the beginning of the decade where some blue-chip players were taken early on, starting their legendary careers in Washington — I’m talking Trent Williams and Ryan Kerrigan. However, in those same years, there wasn’t much depth beyond the top pick. In other years, there were few ground-breaking picks, but very few misses as well. Then of course, in a couple of years, one in particular, there were a number of misses that will haunt Washington fans for years. Take a wild guess which player headlined that draft class.
Ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft, an event that will kick off the new decade in a virtual, anything-but-normal Draft Day, we decided to rank the past 10 years of Redskins drafts and see what he can learn from it going forward. Enjoy.
No. 10 — 2016 Draft Class
Best Picks: Kendall Fuller (84), Matt Ioannidis (152)
Worst Picks: Josh Doctson (22), Su’a Cravens (53)
Analysis: Picking WR Josh Doctson in the first round is something that will haunt the Redskins for years to come. A reach at the time, Doctson was never able to even come close to reaching his potential in the NFL, and after a handful of disappointing seasons, he left Washington and is still struggling to find a role elsewhere in the league. Cravens, on the other hand, represents a lot of the drama that has followed the Redskins over the past few years. A surprise retirement announcement a week before the 2017 season began a contentious dance between both parties that eventually saw Cravens on a new team, trashing the Redskins ownership on Twitter.
Washington was able to find steals in both Fuller and Ioannidis, though Fuller was traded away after a couple of seasons. Ioannidis has been a strong part of the defensive line, and now, after Fuller returned in free agency, the remaining pieces of this draft class have a bright future in Washington.