Two and a half years after the Washington Redskins traded a plethora of draft picks to the St. Louis Rams for the chance to select Robert Griffin III, the two teams will face off this weekend with Griffin standing on the sideline and the Rams continuing to develop four starters.
The Redskins traded the No. 6 pick and the No. 39 pick, as well as first-round selections in 2013 and 2014, to the Rams for the No. 2 pick. They used that selection on Griffin, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback out of Baylor.
Between that trade, and others the Rams made involving those picks, they’ve added defensive tackle Michael Brockers, outside linebacker Alec Ogletree and cornerback Janoris Jenkins, as well as left tackle Greg Robinson — all of whom are currently starting. They also picked up a pair of running backs, Zac Stacy and Isaiah Pead, as well as wide receiver Stedman Bailey.
“We’re building to compete in the division, and because of the trade, we got off to a great start,” said Rams coach Jeff Fisher.
Brockers, taken with the No. 14 pick in 2012, had eight tackles in the Rams’ 52-0 victory over Oakland on Sunday and had 75 tackles last season, the most on the defensive line. Ogletree, the No. 30 pick in 2013, had a team-high 155 tackles as a rookie and has forced nine fumbles in 28 games — second only to teammate Robert Quinn for the most in the league since the start of last season.
Jenkins, taken with the No. 39 pick in 2012, has returned two interceptions for a touchdown this season; Robinson, the No. 2 pick in May, has taken over as the starting left tackle after a season-ending injury to Jake Long; and Bailey, drafted in the third round in 2013, had five receptions for 100 yards on Sunday.
Fisher said there was no trepidation in making the trade, which was significantly easier to pull off because the team had taken Sam Bradford with the No. 1 overall pick two years prior and didn’t feel compelled to participate in the quarterback derby that year.
“It wasn’t difficult for us [to make the trade],” Fisher said. “We came in here and looked at our roster in detail, as I did prior to taking the job, but I had a couple months to recognize that we had a lot of holes and had a lot of work to do, so it was an easy decision on us.”
Griffin, meanwhile, was benched for the second consecutive season last week, with Colt McCoy taking over as the Redskins’ starting quarterback after Griffin has struggled.
“We played Robert early his first year and he was making a lot of plays to get that team into the playoffs,” Fisher said. “As a rookie, he was pretty impressive. Unfortunately for him, he was dealing with an offensive scheme change in addition to an injury. Those two things, from a quarterback standpoint, are just difficult to overcome. I think he’s an outstanding talent and very hard to defend.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.