The month of April is finally here, which means we as a sports world no longer have to hide how much we care about the NFL Draft. The time for shame is past; now it’s the time for mock drafts.
The Washington Redskins have been at the center of attention as much as any other team in the NFL this offseason, as everyone ponders what new head coach Ron Rivera is going to do with the second overall pick. Beyond the expected selection of Chase Young at No. 2, what Washington does in the mid-rounds becomes very interesting. They have several needs to fill across the field, including at tight end, left tackle, wide receiver and linebacker.
To help make clear which players might land in Washington, we put together a mock draft with the help of The Draft Network’s mock draft machine.
Going seven rounds, we addressed the Redskins’ biggest needs with their stockpile of picks; Washington doesn’t have a second- or sixth-rounder, but they do have two seventh-rounders.
Here’s who we came away in our seven-round mock:
2. DE Chase Young, Ohio State
66. TE Albert Okwuegbunam, Missouri
108. WR K.J. Hill, Ohio State
142. LB Troy Dye, Oregon
163. WR Isaiah Hodgins, Oregon State
217. OT Jon Runyan, Michigan
230. LB Evan Weaver, California
Analysis
We all know that the Redskins are likely going to take Chase with their first pick. I would be absolutely shocked if they did otherwise. So for now, unless we hear some whisper about them planning otherwise, we’re going to skip that pick, because it’s virtually been made for us.
Instead, this draft really starts for Washington in the third round, with pick No. 66. One of their biggest needs on the offense — especially following a lack of moment in free agency — is at the tight end position. We chose Missouri’s Okwuegbunam because he could quite possibly be one of the best players at that position in this draft class. It’s between him, Adam Trautman, and Cole Kmet. I pick Albert because he has great hands to go along with some solid size (6-foot-5, 255 pounds,) and his unique speed was shown when he ran a 4.49 40-yard dash at the combine. Many are hoping that the Redskins choose to go with a receiver like Chase Claypool or Jalen Reagor in this round, but there’s a different player we have our eye on for that position, which brings us to…
K.J. Hill. This pick makes almost too much sense for the Redskins, as Hill played alongside both QB Dwayne Haskins and WR Terry McLaurin in college at Ohio State. Haskins has been pining for Washington to look at Hill, and his side and quickness draw a lot of comparisons to his former teammate who took the league by storm in 2019. The Redskins need some more young talent, and what they’ve been doing as of late has worked. Why stray from that strategy?
In the fourth round, I really like Troy Dye, an experienced linebacker from the Oregon Ducks. I’ve watched a lot of Dye in college, and his leadership on the field is palpable, as is his ability to always find a way to get his nose in on the play, regardless of where he started out. As a young player that will hope to compete for a spot in a healthy rotation of bodies, Dye would initially be asked to start out on special teams, where I believe his energy would stand out and earn him a spot on the squad.
We stay in the great state of Oregon for the fifth-round selection of Isaiah Hodgins, a WR for Oregon State. Hodgins is a big player who compares more to Kelvin Harmon than McLaurin, but he serves as a great vertical threat and is coming off a senior season where he had 13 touchdowns with the Beavers.
With their first of two seventh-round picks, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Redskins try to add to their offensive line depth a bit, picking Jon Runyan, from Michigan. It’s unlikely that Runyan would be able to show enough in his tool belt to see much playing time in his rookie year, but Washington could look to mold him a bit going forward. So too could they do with California’s Evan Weaver, a linebacker who was the Golden Bears’ do-everything man on defense, a person that could fly around the field with no-avail on special teams while he looks to earn his spot in the LB rotation.
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