Combine news: Redskins have needs beyond QB

INDIANAPOLIS — The Washington Redskins have a pressing question as they enter this week’s NFL scouting combine: Who will be the team’s starting quarterback in Week 1? With Alex Smith still recovering from a devastating knee injury, the annual rookie showcase offers a chance to see the incoming crop of talent up close.

But quarterback is far from the Redskins’ only need.

With the 15th overall pick and nine picks total in April’s draft, the Redskins will use the combine, which runs through Monday, to meet with quarterback prospects and evaluate the options as safety, guard and wide receiver — where the team could also use upgrades and depth.

“When I look at this draft kind of big picture … to me it’s all about big guys,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said on a conference call. “Premier talent and depth at the defensive line position, inside, outside, it’s outstanding, and it carries deep into the draft.

“Offensive line-wise, while there’s not a premier guy … it’s a really, really good group, especially once you get to the middle of the first round probably all the way to the middle of the third and around the fourth round range, really good offensive line.”

All eyes, as usual, will be on signal-callers. Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray and Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins are regarded as the best in what’s seen as a weaker class. If they were in last year’s draft, Jeremiah said, Murray and Haskins would have each ranked behind Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen and Baker Mayfield.
Haskins and Murray will have opportunities to address that skepticism at the combine.

Murray, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, is not expected to throw in Indianapolis, but his measurements could go a long way to ease concerns that he’s too small for the NFL.

Listed in college at 5-foot-10, Murray also has to convince teams he’s truly “all-in” on football after mulling professional baseball.

For Haskins, a standard pocket-passer at 6-foot-3, there are concerns about his mobility.

He also started only one season at Ohio State, so teams will have to figure out if he can be a player who can come in and play right away.

If Murray and Haskins are both gone by the time the Redskins pick at No. 15, Jeremiah ranks Missouri’s Drew Lock, Duke’s Daniel Jones and North Carolina State’s Ryan Finley in the next tier of quarterbacks. Would any of those players make sense that high? In mock drafts, Lock and Jones have been pegged around that range.

Redskins president Bruce Allen has pushed back against the idea Washington “has” to take a quarterback in the draft. The team is high on Colt McCoy and they could also add a veteran in free agency, which starts a month before the draft.

If the Redskins don’t take a quarterback in the first — or at all — then there are prospects who could fill needs. Alabama’s Jonah Williams is an offensive lineman who has been a floated a mid-first talent — and the Redskins have certainly shown their affection for the Crimson Tide in recent years.

“He’s got a chance to be special inside,” Jeremiah said, comparing Williams to Dallas’ Zack Martin.

Over the last two years, the Redskins have relied heavily on drafting defensive players — using 11 of their 18 picks to build the defense. But that side of the ball still remains a problem as Washington finished 20th in defensive efficiency in 2018.

Because of the lack of depth along the defensive line, the Redskins could also seek a pass-rusher to replace Preston Smith, if he leaves in free agency. If the Redskins could go that route, they could have a variety of talent to choose from — Jeremiah has nine edge rushers ranked in his top 40.

As for other needs, Alabama’s Deionte Thompson and Mississippi State’s Jonathan Abram could fill a void at safety. Jeremiah lists four receivers — Oklahoma’s Marquise Brown, Mississippi’s D.K. Metcalf, Georgia’s Riley Ridley and Mississippi’s A.J. Brown — in his top 50.

The Redskins, like all other teams, will use this week to find out as much information as they can to fine tune their draft board.