Draft Thoughts
May 4, 2021
by Steve Thomas
Washington’s draft last week was one of the team’s better efforts in a long time. Head coach Ron Rivera’s strategy seemed to be to fill the remaining team needs in as an efficient and effective way as possible. I firmly support this approach, as ignoring roster holes in favor of a “best player available” approach, needs be damned, is a sure way to end up with roster gaps and having to figure out what to do with positional duplicates, certainly without an elite talent available to them. The fact that Rivera seemed to have taken the opposite approach was refreshing. What I’d like to do here is go through all of the picks and give some basic thoughts one by one.
Jamin Davis, LB, Kentucky, Round 1
At first glance, Davis is exactly what the Redskins Washington requires – a quality prospect at probably their most talent-deficient position group on the team. My instantaneous reaction right as the pick was announced was that Davis would fill the vacant weakside linebacker role, and while that may be true in the immediate future, I think he is talented enough that he could end up as Washington’s middle linebacker and primary defensive signal caller. I haven’t had time to do a complete film study of him yet, but what I’ve seen of his Kentucky film so far is a player whose speed and overall athleticism allows him to fill almost any role. Certainly, he spent significant time dropped back in coverage, but Davis has the situational awareness, football intelligence, and strength to play basically anywhere. He has a knack for being around the ball and making plays. For now, while Davis is adjusting to the NFL, the smart play may be to not heap the responsibility of middle linebacker on him right away, particularly given that the team doesn’t really have anyone else suitable for the weakside, but long term: meet your new middle linebacker.
Samuel Cosmi, T, Texas, Round 2
Cosmi reminds me of someone all Washington fans remember – Trent Williams. A lesser version of Trent, probably, but the comparison is there. Both players are about the same size, are hyper athletic, and can move at a high level by guard standards. Trent was definitely faster in the 40 yard dash – he ran the 40 in 4.81 seconds at the Combine, whereas Cosmi’s 4.8 was an unofficial time at the University of Texas pro day, so I’ll give the edge to Trent in that measurable. Trent was, and Cosmi is, viewed as being best suited for a zone scheme because of their ability to move, and both had significant experience on the right and left side in college. Trent was higher ranked as a draft prospect and was one of the best tackles in the NFL during his time in Washington, so I’m not proclaiming that Cosmi is going to someday be an All Pro caliber player. I am hopeful, though, that he can become a quality franchise left tackle. If Washington had to settle for a second round tackle, I think Cosmi was the best choice. So, in the best case scenario, Cosmi = Williams, maybe, or at least some reasonable facsimile thereof, hopefully without the weed habit.
Benjamin St-Juste, CB, Minnesota, Round 3
I have to be honest here: I didn’t totally understand this pick; however, that’s my problem, not the team’s problem. St-Juste wasn’t on my radar as a round 3-ish prospect. I don’t have much use for the draft analysts like Mel Kiper and Todd McShay, just to name two, who prattle on endlessly about “value”, because their idea of value is based on their own draft rankings, not the team evaluations that actually matter. If Ron, Martin, and Marty think that St-Juste is worth this pick, who are we to question it? Time will tell, and if he eventually produces starter-level performance, we’ll remember him fondly as a draft steal. What I see in St-Juste is someone who is strictly a boundary corner. At 6’3”, he’s very tall for a corner, and he doesn’t have a ton of speed and agility, so I don’t think he’s a great fit as a slot corner. However, the team has a significant amount of money invested in their starting corners right now – Kendall Fuller at $40M and William Jackson at $40.5M. So what’s the play here? Why would Washington spend a third round pick on a player like this? What’s the need? Could it be that the team will convert St-Juste to safety? He certainly has the size for it. This might have been the one time when Washington just selected the best player on their board.
Dyami Brown, WR, North Carolina, Round 3
Meet your new deep threat. In college Brown played exclusively as the left outside receiver, with his younger brother on the other side. Fundamentally, he’s a vertical receiver more than anything else. In his film that I watched, I saw him time and time again use his speed to blow past a corner in man coverage. The problem is that by NFL standards, Brown is fast, but not overly so, and certainly not to the level of a Desean Jackson, so it won’t be quite as easy for him to just use his speed like he did in college. I wasn’t able to get a good handle on his acceleration in the film I watched, but his 40 time was 4.44 seconds, which is good but not great and is also an unofficial pro day measurement. I think Brown will need some time to develop his route running skills and his ability to track the ball in the air, which could use some polishing. Brown’s size may make some believe that he can play in the slot, but he has essentially zero experience in that role. That’s not to say that Washington’s staff can’t coach him into that position, but he’ll need time; plus, Washington obviously has an elite player as one outside receiver in Terry McLaurin and a high-priced free agent, Curtis Samuel, as a regular starter, probably in a variety of roles. That means that playing time will be at a premium for Brown early in his career. To me, Brown is a player who has good natural talent and can be a long-term asset to the team, but he’s not going to be able to step right in and be a significant contributor from day one.
John Bates, TE, Boise St., Round 4
I love this pick. Like, ecstatic about it. Sure, this is another selection that some self-anointed draft experts think was a reach, and it may be true that Bates would’ve been available later. He wasn’t on my personal radar as a round 4 possibility. Other the other hand, last I checked, WFT Washington has lacked a competent “Y” inline tight end for many years. Jordan Reed wasn’t an inline tight end, and while Logan Thomas has the size for the role, he’s a former quarterback who’s a pass catcher and is a free agent at the end of the season. Washington desperately needs a traditional tight end who can effectively provide blocking in the run game, pass protection on passing downs, and be a big, physical target over the middle on short down and goal line situations. Need, meet John Bates. This is right up Bates’ alley. It’s what he did in college. Bates is never going to be Travis Kelce, but who cares? That’s not what the team wants him to be. Bates is exactly what Washington needed to find in the draft, and if he can live up to his potential and become a regular contributor for years, what does it matter if Mel Kiper or anyone else thinks he could’ve been drafted a round later?
Darrick Forrest, S, Cincinnati, Round 5
News flash: Washington has a pretty dire need for a safety. They drafted a starter last year in Camren Curl, and they also have the high-priced Landon Collins, but both of them are most effective in the box. Washington needed a coverage safety, specifically a single-high free safety. I don’t think Forrest will necessarily be able to be a starter at free safety in cover 3, but he is a true coverage safety. Most draft analysts thought that Forrest will be most effective in a split zone situation like cover 2. Finding someone who perfectly fits a role at a starter-level is very rare in round 5 – the team will have to give him time to develop. Plus, it seems as though the coaches probably view him as a core special teamer, which is also something the team needs. Is Forrest perfect? No, but he can be an immediate contributor.
Cameron Cheeseman, LS, Michigan, Round 6
My colleague Alex Zeese mentioned on this week’s Hog Sty episode that the fanbase had a collective meltdown on the useless, vapid hellscape that is Twitter (get off of Twitter, everyone; you’ll be much better off) over this pick. The simple fact of the matter is that the team was always going to burn a pick on a long snapper. They let Nate Sundberg go and didn’t sign a replacement in free agency – did you think that Rivera was just going to gamble that they could sign one as an undrafted free agent when no other options were available? There were three NFL-quality snappers in this year’s draft: Cheeseman, John Fletcher, who went to Carolina three picks before Washington drafted Cheeseman, and Ryan Langan from Georgia Southern, who signed with the Chargers. In my opinion, Washington traded up into round 6 specifically to make sure they could get one of those three players. They had a major need at long snapper and hopefully found a ten year player in round 6. That’s a big-time win and quality use of a back of the draft pick.
William Bradley-King, DE, Baylor, Round 7
Obviously, Washington’s starting defensive line is set for the foreseeable future, and they also have some talent behind the starting four. Defensive line was certainly the least-needy group on the team, but Washington could always stand to get some better depth, which is where Bradley-King comes in. He’s slightly undersized by ideal 4 – 3 defensive end standards and isn’t overly athletic, so it’s hard to imagine him becoming a pass rushing specialist, and in fact that’s not what he did at Baylor. That having been said, Washington needs help in their run defense, so the coaches may see him as a fit for that role. It’s not impossible to think that Washington could try to convert him into a big linebacker. If not, it’s hard to see how he makes the active roster this year.
Shaka Toney, DE, Penn St., Round 7
Toney is even more undersized than Bradley-King, but he has a ton of speed, so Toney has a shot at becoming a third down speed-rushing specialist. Toney was much more of a pass rusher in college than was Bradley-King, so he’s a fit for a situational speed rusher role in Washington. He faces the same problem as does Bradley-King, which is a numbers game at defensive line – Washington is so deep and has such a huge defensive line group (14 right now) that several are going to get cut.
Dax Milne, WR, BYU, Round 7
Milne is in a very precarious position. He was a worthy gamble as the second to last pick in the draft because he was amazingly productive in college last year as a beneficiary of #2 overall pick Zach Wilson. Whether that production can translate in the NFL is another question, as Milne is slightly undersized at 190 pounds and is not a speed receiver. I like the pick, because Washington could do worse than taking a highly productive receiver with pick number 258. With two roster locks in McLaurin and Samuel, that leaves 10 receivers competing for at most 4 slots, so the odds are probably against Milne making the roster in year 1.
Before I leave you, I’d like to address the elephant in the draft room, which is that Washington didn’t draft a quarterback. The fact of the matter is that they already have three developmental projects on the roster in Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, and Steven Montez, who are all well-liked, so the team didn’t particularly need another one. Therefore, in my view the only way Washington was going to draft a quarterback was if a plus-level starter fell to them. To me, the only players who met that criteria were Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, and Mac Jones, and possibly Kyle Trask, with Trey Lance being an extremely risky long-term project not worthy of a high pick. Of that group, only Trask was available to Washington without a trade up that would have cost significant assets. Drafting Trask – who is himself a bit of a project who went to Tampa Bay to intern at the alter of Tom Terrific for a year or two – would’ve meant sacrificing the much-needed tackle, Sam Cosmi, at a minimum. Not worth it.
We won’t truly know how good this draft was for a season or to, but congratulations to Ron Rivera and his staff for putting together what seems to be one of Washington’s best drafts in years.