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Grading Washington’s draft class at halfway point of 2021

By Jerry Trotta

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 26: Sam Cosmi #76 of the Washington Football Team and Greg Rousseau #50 of the Buffalo Bills during a play during the third quarter of the game at Highmark Stadium on September 26, 2021 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images)
ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 26: Sam Cosmi #76 of the Washington Football Team and Greg Rousseau #50 of the Buffalo Bills during a play during the third quarter of the game at Highmark Stadium on September 26, 2021 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
(Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images) /

Benjamin St-Juste

It’s not crazy to say that Benjamin St-Juste has been Washington’s top-performing cornerback for the season. Sure, Kendall Fuller and William Jackson haven’t set the bar very high, but St-Juste looks like a future stud in the making.

At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, St-Juste can match up against the bigger-bodied receivers the league has to offer. There’s no denying he’s gotten exposed in coverage. He’s currently allowing a 14.9 yards yer completion, but we’ve seen enough from him that indicates he’ll be a starter in this secondary for a long time.

That completion stat might not look pretty, but St-Juste has come dangerously close to intercepting some of those passes. Once he gets the timing down in terms of making a play on the ball, he’ll become a turnover machine.

Grade: B-

Dyami Brown

Unfortunately, the positive vibes end here.

After dominating the ACC over his final two years at Chapel Hill — across which he compiled 106 catches for 2,133 yards (20.2 yards per catch!) and 20 touchdowns — there was widespread hope that Dyami Brown would help transform Washington’s receiving corps as a rookie.

That … has not been the case. The former UNC star is set to return from a knee injury that’s bothered him for the last month, but the bottom line is that he’s posted eight catches for 81 yards on 19 targets.

The third round has been a gold mine for receivers in recent years — Terry McLaurin, Diontae Johnson, Michael Gallup, Cooper Kupp, Chris Godwin and Kenny Golladay are just some of the studs who dropped to Round 3 dating back to 2017 — so fans in Ashburn set the bar pretty high for Brown.

We’ll see if his luck changes in the second half, but it’s tough to look at the first half as anything but a huge disappointment for the former Tar Heel.

Grade: D

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