Redskins draft center Keith Ismael & linebacker Khaleke Hudson in round 5
April 25, 2020
by Steve Thomas
The Redskins drafted center Keith Ismael from San Diego St. with pick 10 of round 5, #156 overall, and outside linebacker Khaleke Hudson from the University of Michigan at pick 16, #162 overall. Ismael represents one half of the return Washington received from the San Francisco 49ers in the trade for left tackle Trent Williams.
Ismael was measured at 6’3” and 309 pounds at the NFL Combine. A native of Oakland, California, he spent for years at San Diego St., including a redshirt freshman year in 2016. He was a 3 year starter in college at both guard and center, and earned First Team All-Mountain West honors in both 2018 and 2019.
At the NFL Combine, Ismael ran the 40 yard dash in an unofficial 5.34 seconds, jumped 32 inches in the vertical leap and 9’0” feet in the standing broad jump, and ran the 20 yard short shuttle in 4.65 seconds and the 3 cone drill in 8.14 seconds, but did not do the bench press test.
Analysts view Ismael as a versatile interior lineman best suited to a zone scheme rather than a pure power scheme, with eventual starter-level potential. He is athletic and agile, but reportedly lacks power. With starting center Chase Roullier entering a contract year, Ismael may have a chance to prove himself as a worthy successor to Roullier as the center of the future, or at a minimum as a backup interior swing lineman behind Roullier and guards Brandon Scherff, and Wes Martin and/or Wes Schweitzer.
Hudson is 5’11” and 224 pounds and is a native of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He played a total of 44 games in four years at Michigan, with 225 tackles, including 114 solo tackles and 23 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, and 2 interceptions. In 2019, he played 13 games, making 101 tackles, including 45 solo and 3 tackles for loss. He earned Third Team All-Big Ten honors in 2017 and Second Team All-Big Ten Honors in 2019.
At the NFL Combine, Hudson ran the 40 yard dash in 4.56 seconds, did an impressive 30 reps on the bench press, and jumped 33 inches in the vertical leap and 10’0” in the standing broad jump.
Hudson is a safety / linebacker hybrid who is a bit of a “tweener” but probably projects as either an in-the-box strong safety or possibly a dime linebacker in the NFL. His coverage skills are viewed as lacking. He has decent top-end speed, as evidenced by his 40 time, and is known to have good burst off the line of scrimmage. He is also aggressive and a good tackler, which is something the 2019 Redskins defense lacked.
Interestingly, Hudson was known as a punt blocker in college, and spoke of his pride in this skill, being quoted in USA Today as stating, “I take a lot of pride in that . . . I work every day, every practice with Coach Partridge, trying to perfect my craft. Big plays at the end of the game, those are game-changing plays and I (pride) myself on making game-changing plays. It’s just important to the team, it’s important to myself also.”[1] It seems likely that the Redskins drafted him with special teams in mind, at least early on in his career, and he will likely be expected to achieve results in this area in order to stick on the active gameday roster.
[1] https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/2019/11/25/michigan-football-against-ohio-state-punt-blocking-bigger-factor-than-expected/