Redskins 2019 NFL Draft top twenty edge rusher big board
By Ian Cummings
The Redskins have a lot of needs, and not a lot of picks.
Nine draft selections might seem like a sizable haul, and most teams would consider themselves lucky to have four top 100 picks. But the Washington Redskins can’t act as if they’re safe by quantity alone. With lots of needs and little time to waste, the Redskins need to hit on their early picks, and they need to plan accordingly, if they have any late-round targets who they view as potential gems.
One position where the Redskins could have some flexibility is edge rusher. There are arguably five edge rushers in the top twenty of this year’s draft class, but also many in the later rounds who have the traits to succeed, if they enter the right situation.
For the Redskins, who have Ryan Kerrigan, three very good interior linemen, and one recently re-signed in Matt Ioannidis, situational flexibility is an asset. They could settle at edge rusher, and rely on the rest of the defensive line to produce. Or they could use an early pick, and put their front seven over the top as one of the league’s best. What should the Redskins do? To answer that, let’s take a look at the top twenty edge rushers in the 2019 NFL Draft.
A quick note: Players who translated better to the NFL as interior linemen, such as Rashan Gary, Charles Omenihu, Zach Allen, John Cominsky, and L.J. Collier, were left out of these rankings.