WASHINGTON — Redskins GM Scot McCloughan has a glowing track record as far as draft success goes, but nobody is perfect.
McCloughan is no different. He’s whiffed on plenty of prospects, just as he’s hit on many.
While it’s still far too early to judge his success in picking the team’s 2016 draft class, the early returns aren’t promising. First-rounder Josh Doctson missing virtually the entire season is the biggest knock against the class, and that’s not McCloughan’s fault. If Doctson comes back healthy in 2017 and performs as the Redskins hoped he would in 2016, this draft class suddenly looks much better.
Second-round pick Su’a Cravens has been really good at times, but having missed two games and been banged up for several others, it’s hard to mark him as a complete positive. And while he’s timed his big plays well, such as his win-sealing interception against the New York Giants, he’s only recorded one interception, one sack and five pass breakups this season, and he’s yet to record a forced fumble or fumble recovery.
Third-round pick Kendall Fuller has been fine at best, but he has struggled plenty and also only played in 10 games.
The other picks — Matt Ioannidis (5th round), Nate Sudfeld (6th), Steven Daniels (7th) and Keith Marshall (7th) — have contributed little to nothing, due to a combination of injury and inability to get on the field. Washington did not make a pick in the fourth round, as McCloughan traded the team’s 2016 fourth-rounder for an additional fifth-rounder in 2016 and 2017.
That last note is worth keeping track of; if the Redskins find a gem in the fifth round with that pick in 2017, the 2016 draft class should get bumped up a notch.
But as it stands now, the 2016 Redskins draft class has been largely underwhelming, as noted by John Keim of ESPN and Pro Football Focus, via ESPN.
Undrafted free agents such as Rob Kelley, Anthony Lanier and Maurice Harris have all made impacts, Kelley more than the others, so give credit to McCloughan for finding those gems.
Keim grades the class at a C-minus thus far, though noting “in two years, this class’ contributions could be a lot more significant.”
PFF is even less kind, ranking the Redskins’ class the 27th out of 32 draft classes, but it completely ignores the contributions of Cravens. Aside from Kelley, “the only other impactful rookie is CB Kendall Fuller, who has been exposed at times in the slot.”
Inspired by those two lists, Grant and Danny on Wednesday discussed the Redskins’ draft class and awarded their own grades.
Danny Rouhier eventually awarded the Redskins a D for the draft, while Grant Paulsen agreed with Keim’s C-minus. Paulsen’s primary reasoning was the Redskins added two quality undrafted free agents in Kelley and Harris, while Rouhier’s thinking is the class has plenty of potential but very little as far as results so far.
Hear what they have to say above, and tell us what you think of the class thus far in the poll below.
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