Washington Redskins Must Avoid Reaching For Positions Of Need In 2017 NFL Draft
Rich Tandler’s Thoughts
CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Rich Tandler seems to think that the team may shift to a needs based strategy, and wrote this in a recent piece:
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"Perhaps a more defining tell for which end of the scale this Redskins draft will favor came from defensive coordinator Greg Manusky. Last week on ESPN 980 he said, “Right now, we might be in a situation where we’re looking for a nose [tackle] in the draft.” If they draft a nose tackle in the first three or four rounds it’s likely a need pick. Fans should just hope it’s not too much of a reach. Nothing is worse for building your team that drafting for need and then still having the need a year later because you reached for the wrong guy."
I would tend to agree with Tandler. The fact is that reaching for a need or passing up a better available player can come back to hurt a team. Personally, I would rather see the team take a game changing tight end in Round 1 than reach for a nose tackle. A guy like Montravius Adams would make sense in the second round, but spending a first rounder on him would be a highly inefficient move.
At the end of the day, the Redskins just need to be sure of two things. They need to be confident in their draft board, and they need to understand the value of the players available. It would be fine for them to draft based off of need. That obviously makes sense. But if they reach to do so, then it will hurt them in the future.