Washington Football Team unlikely to land Round 1 quarterback after Dolphins trades

The NFL landscape changed drastically on Friday afternoon where there was a trade atop the 2021 NFL Draft.

The San Francisco 49ers moved all the way up from the No. 12 spot to the No. 3 spot. They swapped spots with the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a haul of draft picks that included three future first-round picks.

After that trade, the Dolphins moved back up to No. 6 with the Philadelphia Eagles dropping down to the 12th spot and picking up an extra first-round pick. As such, the 2021 NFL Draft has an entirely new feel to it, and it will impact the Washington Football Team.

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How Friday’s trades impact the Washington Football Team

The fallout from this series of moves is simple. The 49ers moved up to the No. 3 spot to land a quarterback. Whether that’s Justin Fields, Trey Lance, or even Mac Jones, as some rumblings have suggested, it’s unclear.

But the 49ers wouldn’t give up three first-round picks to make that kind of leap if it wasn’t for a quarterback.

With that said, it now appears that three of the first-round quarterbacks will be off the board with the first three picks. After that, there’s a long list of teams that could consider adding a quarterback before the Washington Football Team picks at No. 19.

That includes the Atlanta Falcons (No. 4), Carolina Panthers (No. 8), Denver Broncos (No. 9), Eagles (now No. 12), and New England Patriots (No. 15).

So, barring some sort of miracle or a huge trade up from Ron Rivera, it doesn’t look likely that Washington will have a shot at any of the top quarterbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft. Sure, maybe Rivera, Martin Mayhew, and Marty Hurney could pull the trigger on a deal. Or maybe the non-top-three quarterbacks slide a bit and Washington gets lucky.

But all told, it feels like the quarterbacks are out of reach.

The good news is that Washington is prepared for this situation. That’s why they added Ryan Fitzpatrick to the fold. He’s not a sexy starting option, but the team can get by with him for a year as a stopgap while they see if either Kyle Allen or Taylor Heinicke can develop into a solid starter.

If not, they will need a quarterback during the 2022 offseason, but the rest of their roster should be a strength at that point. So, they may be better positioned to trade up at that time, in that case.

The draft is unpredictable, so nothing can be ruled out, but it certainly looks like Washington will be picking a non-quarterback with the No. 19 pick this year.