Washington Redskins Training Camp Profile: WR Robert Davis

For teams like the Redskins, every draft season, there is a checklist that prospects are run through, one by one.

Whether the Redskins actually have a physical checklist is unknown, but throughout draft season, every year, teams subliminally or actively run prospect profiles through these pre-made checklists, to penalize the prospects who lack multiple key traits, and to separate the prospects who possess most or all key traits from the rest of the pack. Traits to diagnose include athleticism, production, versatility, character, and many more.

The search for the complete prospects is a long one, but the acquisition process doesn’t take nearly as long. On Day 3 of the NFL Draft, the complete prospects are usually gone, or close to it, leaving the projects and the incomplete skill sets for teams to sift through, with arbitrary grading methods, weighing traits in different ways.

Occasionally, however, a relatively complete prospect could slip into the latter stages of Day 3. This can happen for various reasons. Injuries, unsatisfactory competition, coaching, and team talent all play a part in skewing the checklist grade. It sometimes makes for a non-linear, confusing process, but an exciting cause and effect precipitates from this. Sometimes, the gems in the rough enter the league, and they take the role they should have had all along.

There was talk, two years ago, that Washington Redskins wide receiver Robert Davis could be a gem in the rough. Drafted by the Redskins in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL Draft, Davis possessed the athleticism and the production that would suggest a higher-rated prospect. But yet, Davis fell, and now, in 2019, he has another chance to break onto the scene in Washington. This is what makes Davis unique, and this is why he could finally surprise.