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skinsdad62
US ARMY retired /mod.
On the surface, this doesn’t seem like much, but when you look back at some of the players and values teams have acquired with similar selections, you begin to realize this was a valuable asset. If you still need convincing then just check out the last five players picked at #78 overall and all of the Redskins’ third-round draft choices of the last five years.
Year WAS 3rd-Rd Picks Pick # 78
2013 Jordan Reed Marquise Goodwin
2014 Spencer Long Spencer Long
Morgan Moses
2015 Matt Jones P.J. Williams
2016 Kendall Fuller Joe Thuney
2017 Fabian Moreau Tim Williams
Most of those names need no introduction, so I’ll just add this: those 11 picks have gone on to play in 331 (30.1 average) and start in 193 games (17.5 average) over the last five years.
And we didn’t even go back that far. Look further into the past and you find that All-Pro guard Louis Vasquez and former Redskins wideout Laveranues Coles were taken 78th overall. Explore some more of the Redskins’ draft history and you’ll notice that franchise legends Russ Grimm, Charles Mann and Chris Cooley were also picked in the third. Don’t even get me started on the idea of trading down to get more picks in the fourth round (Kirk Cousins, Bashaud Breeland, Jamison Crowder, Montae Nicholson).
Every single year teams find gems in the third round between the 75th and 95th picks: Cliff Avril, NaVorro Bowman, Jimmy Graham, Russell Wilson, T.Y. Hilton, Keenan Allen, Trai Turner, David Johnson, Danielle Hunter, Kareem Hunt, the list goes on and on.
Hitting on guys in this range is far from a sure thing, but you want to take every chance you can get at acquiring players of this caliber for the bottom-basement price the CBA calls on teams to pay players taken in this part of the draft. Over the Cap projects the 78th pick in this year’s draft to receive a contract of under $3.5 million total. That is virtually nothing in today’s NFL.
the puppets think this is a run of the mill picks
When you miss out on a value like this or you give it away, as the Redskins did in our next case, you have to go out and find a replacement that is likely going to be much more costly in terms of hits to your salary cap.
Before his breakout sophomore campaign last season, Fuller struggled mightily as a rookie in 2016. He gave up more receiving yards in the slot than any other player (554 yards) and finished the year ranked 111th out of 118 qualifying cornerbacks in passer rating allowed (120.9), yards per coverage snap (1.78) and coverage snaps per reception (7.3).
Bleacher Report’s NFL 1000 series ranked him 89th out of the 133 corners they graded, and Pro Football Focus tagged him with an abysmal grade of 45.5. Simply put, Kendall Fuller was horrible in coverage as a rookie.
The Redskins used a third-round pick to acquire the other asset they surrendered in the Alex Smith trade. They will not be able to replace him with a third rounder this year, and in all likelihood, they will have to use their first-round choice (13th overall) if they hope to immediately plug someone in who can make as big an impact as he did in 2017.
There were reasons for his struggles, though. In 2016, Fuller was one of the youngest players in the league, he was learning how to play a new position (slot corner) and he was recovering from a major injury that limited to him to just 170 defensive snaps in his final college season. The writing was on the wall for a bounce-back, but nobody saw Fuller’s 2017 coming.
In just one year, he essentially went from worst to first among slot defenders. The same Bleacher Report series which ranked him 89th in 2016, gave him the highest grade among all slot corners in 2017. Eagles’ CB Patrick Robinson was the only one at the position with a higher PFF grade (90.6 to Fuller’s 90.0).
Fuller wasn’t just one of PFF’s highest graded defensive backs (ranked 6th among cornerbacks and 9th among all DBs in the NFL), he was the highest graded player on the entire Redskins’ roster. That’s pretty amazing, considering he was the 6th youngest player on the team last season - only Montae Nicholson, Samaje Perine, Robert Davis, LeShun Daniels and Su’a Cravens are younger.
the puppets say this is easily overcome
Year WAS 3rd-Rd Picks Pick # 78
2013 Jordan Reed Marquise Goodwin
2014 Spencer Long Spencer Long
Morgan Moses
2015 Matt Jones P.J. Williams
2016 Kendall Fuller Joe Thuney
2017 Fabian Moreau Tim Williams
Most of those names need no introduction, so I’ll just add this: those 11 picks have gone on to play in 331 (30.1 average) and start in 193 games (17.5 average) over the last five years.
And we didn’t even go back that far. Look further into the past and you find that All-Pro guard Louis Vasquez and former Redskins wideout Laveranues Coles were taken 78th overall. Explore some more of the Redskins’ draft history and you’ll notice that franchise legends Russ Grimm, Charles Mann and Chris Cooley were also picked in the third. Don’t even get me started on the idea of trading down to get more picks in the fourth round (Kirk Cousins, Bashaud Breeland, Jamison Crowder, Montae Nicholson).
Every single year teams find gems in the third round between the 75th and 95th picks: Cliff Avril, NaVorro Bowman, Jimmy Graham, Russell Wilson, T.Y. Hilton, Keenan Allen, Trai Turner, David Johnson, Danielle Hunter, Kareem Hunt, the list goes on and on.
Hitting on guys in this range is far from a sure thing, but you want to take every chance you can get at acquiring players of this caliber for the bottom-basement price the CBA calls on teams to pay players taken in this part of the draft. Over the Cap projects the 78th pick in this year’s draft to receive a contract of under $3.5 million total. That is virtually nothing in today’s NFL.
the puppets think this is a run of the mill picks
When you miss out on a value like this or you give it away, as the Redskins did in our next case, you have to go out and find a replacement that is likely going to be much more costly in terms of hits to your salary cap.
Before his breakout sophomore campaign last season, Fuller struggled mightily as a rookie in 2016. He gave up more receiving yards in the slot than any other player (554 yards) and finished the year ranked 111th out of 118 qualifying cornerbacks in passer rating allowed (120.9), yards per coverage snap (1.78) and coverage snaps per reception (7.3).
Bleacher Report’s NFL 1000 series ranked him 89th out of the 133 corners they graded, and Pro Football Focus tagged him with an abysmal grade of 45.5. Simply put, Kendall Fuller was horrible in coverage as a rookie.
The Redskins used a third-round pick to acquire the other asset they surrendered in the Alex Smith trade. They will not be able to replace him with a third rounder this year, and in all likelihood, they will have to use their first-round choice (13th overall) if they hope to immediately plug someone in who can make as big an impact as he did in 2017.
There were reasons for his struggles, though. In 2016, Fuller was one of the youngest players in the league, he was learning how to play a new position (slot corner) and he was recovering from a major injury that limited to him to just 170 defensive snaps in his final college season. The writing was on the wall for a bounce-back, but nobody saw Fuller’s 2017 coming.
In just one year, he essentially went from worst to first among slot defenders. The same Bleacher Report series which ranked him 89th in 2016, gave him the highest grade among all slot corners in 2017. Eagles’ CB Patrick Robinson was the only one at the position with a higher PFF grade (90.6 to Fuller’s 90.0).
Fuller wasn’t just one of PFF’s highest graded defensive backs (ranked 6th among cornerbacks and 9th among all DBs in the NFL), he was the highest graded player on the entire Redskins’ roster. That’s pretty amazing, considering he was the 6th youngest player on the team last season - only Montae Nicholson, Samaje Perine, Robert Davis, LeShun Daniels and Su’a Cravens are younger.
the puppets say this is easily overcome