ASHBURN — After Scot McCloughan traded the Washington Redskins’ fourth-round pick to the New Orleans Saints, he had two fifth-round picks last Saturday, just six spots apart at 152nd and 158th overall.
The first pick, acquired from the Saints along with a 2017 fifth-rounder, was used on Temple defensive end Matt Ioannidis. Rather than reaching for a player he wasn’t totally sold on, McCloughan flipped the 158th pick to the New York Jets for a fourth-rounder in 2017.
“The thing about it was, if I was dead set on the guys on the board at that pick, I would have taken them,” McCloughan said on Monday. “But knowing I can get a fourth next year for them and knowing that it gives me ammunition to trade around too later if need be this year or next year? Yeah, it’s valuable.”
A premium is often placed on winning now rather than later. Passing on the opportunity to draft a player that could impact a team immediately for a draft pick in the future has become something teams appear unwilling to do. There were 25 trades made during the draft and only six teams, including the Redskins, received future picks.
Being disciplined in this approach allowed McCloughan to acquire three 2017 picks: a fourth-round pick from the Jets, a fifth-round pick from the Saints and a sixth-round pick from the Houston Texans after moving back one spot in the first round to No. 22.
“A lot of people don’t want to do it because it’s not immediate impact,” McCloughan said. “’Well, that’s next year. What about this year?’ Coaches want this year, which I understand completely, but what it gives me the opportunity to do is not just worry about next year’s draft and trading up and that kind of stuff, but this offseason and during the season trading. We’ve got multiple picks now.”
SEE ALSO: Redskins cut cornerback Chris Culliver after adding Josh Norman, Kendall Fuller
The Redskins’ draft class included seven players as well as the three future draft picks, and the decisions reflected McCloughan’s comfort with the depth chart after last year’s 9-7 season. There was flexibility to add depth for the future, not only with more draft picks, evidenced by the Redskins’ decision to take TCU wide receiver Josh Doctson in the first round.
The move positioned the team for 2017, when veteran wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon are scheduled to become free agents. McCloughan reiterated Jackson and Garcon will remain on the team through this season, dispelling the notion that drafting Doctson would allow the team to release one of their hefty salaries.
“They’re both really good football players,” McCloughan said. “We won the NFC East last year with them. They’re not going anywhere. They’re football players and I respect it. We just took the best player. The thing that happens is injuries and stuff goes on and this and that. No, I want to build this roster with 53 [players]. It’s not about two, it’s not about five, it’s not about 10. It’s about 53, and that’s how we’re going to win and lose on Sundays.”
“If you have talked to me before the draft, I would have never thought [taking Doctson] would happen. I thought he’d be gone. You know, we’re watching the board. It’s shaking out and all of a sudden, boom, he’s the guy. And again, it’s just not the player. It could be a 6-foot-2, 200-pound receiver that’s very, very talented but also [a good] person, and it was a slam dunk. Now you guys can understand what I preach about [character], ’cause I’m sure none of you thought I would take a receiver because we have got depth and we’ve got a good core, but he was the best football player on the board.”
For McCloughan, trusting this philosophy was easier than it was last year, when he was named general manager just three months before the draft. When he was hired, he made the decision to maintain the scouting staff, a move he has referred to as a “leap of faith.” The challenge was getting on the same page with those scouts and the coaching staff and aligning how they value players, both on and off the field.
“The whole organization did a really, really good job this week,” McCloughan said. “From the coaches, from the front office, from the scouts, just really quality, quality work. Last year, I came in, I was kind of rushed into it. I was kind of nervous about certain things. We’re all on the same philosophy now, same vision, and I think it helped out a lot this year, just, with movements made, with trades, and the players we drafted. It was an excellent, excellent three days for us.”
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.