Washington Football Team 7-round mock draft: Trading up for Trey Lance

Overview

I’ll be honest, I’m feeling pretty good about this one. Let’s take a look back at the picks.

• Round 1 – North Dakota State QB Trey Lance
• Round 3 – Alabama LB Dylan Moses
• Round 3 – USC WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
• Round 4 – Cincinnati FS James Wiggins
• Round 6 – Purdue LB Derrick Barnes
• Round 6 – Texas DL TaQuon Graham
• Round 7 – SMU TE Kylen Granson
• Round 7 – Texas A&M OT Dan Moore Jr.
• Round 7 – Louisville CB Marlon Character

I know many fans are hesitant toward mortgaging the future for a quarterback like Trey Lance. But once you get past the surface-level arguments against Trey Lance and look at the value that can be compounded by capitalizing on this strong quarterback class, the possibilities begin to multiply.

Yes, the Washington Football Team will be strapped for draft capital in 2022 with this mock. That is the cost of paying for a long-term solution at quarterback. But in this mock, we managed to infuse the roster with plenty of high-upside talent, even in spite of trading away a second-rounder.

Looking at our picks, Moses, St. Brown, and Wiggins can all take on early roles as Washington’s contention window opens up, while Barnes, Graham, Granson, Moore, and Character all have the athletic upside to out-perform their draft positions.

And on top of it all, we get an elite athletic talent with high-upside traits at quarterback, and we can put him into a situation where he’ll have support, mentorship, and time to gain comfort on the NFL stage. What do you think of this mock draft? Feel free to voice your thoughts in the comments section below!

Responses to Comments

Here’s a new feature I might add for my pieces. For some reason, I can no longer access the comment board on my computer, but I can view the comments on my phone. So for those of you who present questions, I’ll do my best to answer those here.

Boston Braves Fan: Thanks for the article, Ian. Why are you supposing that Ron Rivera and the management will eschew their patient approach to building the team for a power grab in this draft? What on the vine do we need to know?

Ian: Hey, Gordon, hope you’re doing well! As far as this mock goes, it was more of a theoretical exercise than a projective one. There are conflicting reports regarding Washington’s desire to trade up. Some say that they do prefer to stay back, like you say, but others, particularly Michael Lombardi, have reported that they like Trey Lance a lot, and they’re willing to trade up for him.

Personally, I don’t put a lot of stock into what we hear this time of year. It’s misinformation season, smoke screen season, whatever you want to call it. However, I think Washington should be dynamic with their draft approach. I don’t think teams should always be conservative or always be aggressive. Certain situations call for conservative draft approaches, while others call for aggressive approaches.

Earlier in the offseason, buried behind a dozen QB-needy teams, Washington was right to be conservative. But now, with a potential trade-up window at No. 4 overall, and with teams like Carolina, New England, and Indianapolis all presumably moving forward with other QB options, and with Philadelphia out of the running, the situation has changed.

There are less trade-up suitors driving up demand. And Washington has a roster conducive to rookie development, with weapons, protection, and a veteran mentor. I think this is as good a time as any to be aggressive, take a hit, trade up, and get your franchise quarterback. We’ll see if they feel the same way.