Assessing Redskins first-round options: Clemson DEF Isaiah Simmons

How Isaiah Simmons fits the Redskins

From a need perspective, Isaiah Simmons’ fit with the Redskins is simple. The Redskins have a lot of questions to answer at the linebacker position, and on the back end, Montae Nicholson seems, at best, unlikely to reprise his role as the starting free safety. The Redskins could use more reliability and playmaking potential on the second and third levels, and that’s exactly what Simmons can provide in spades.

But the main question isn’t whether Simmons can fill a need for the Redskins defense. The main question is whether or not the Redskins can give Simmons what he needs to maximize his potential. Simmons needs a creative defensive mind who will know how to move him around and best utilize his versatility on a play-by-play basis. Ron Rivera is an experienced defensive mind, but is he modern, in the sense that he’ll be willing to lift the traditional positional bounds for Simmons’ development?

Rivera didn’t often experiment with hybrids in Carolina, and both he and Jack Del Rio have more of an affinity with traditional defenses. Simmons would still fulfill a valuable role in a more stringent defensive scheme, with his athleticism, but the negative externality would, of course, be the unseen developmental sacrifices incurred by that lack of flexibility.

To put it more simply, were the Redskins to confine Simmons to a specific role, they’d be capping his impact potential, and locking him in a box of sorts. Just as important as the player himself is how the player is used, and in a draft discussion that also contains Chase Young, that question could be enough to sour sensationalization of Simmons’ potential. Yes, it’s exciting, but he has to be used the right way. Otherwise, using more traditional player molds might be more effective.