Early draft advice for the Washington Football Team

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 50+ years of rooting for the Washington Football Team, it’s that fans are always looking ahead. That’s why, in the middle of a two-game win streak that has put the team back into the playoff hunt, I am writing about next year.

I would never be presumptuous enough to call what follows “rules.” That sounds so authoritarian. Let’s just say these are three pieces of helpful advice that I am offering for next season. The team certainly doesn’t have to follow them. If they want to win, I’d suggest that they do, but, you know, if they are content to wallow in mediocrity, ignore my advice. I won’t take it personally in the least.

Early advice for Washington before 2022 Draft

1. Avoid receivers 6’2” and above

Sure, you can point to plenty of exceptions to this rule. (Oh – I forgot – these aren’t rules.) You can point to plenty of exceptions to this suggestion. Mike Evans and Adam Thielen.  Julio and Keenan. Tall receivers who have stayed healthy and produced.  Perhaps DK Metcalf will turn into one of them too.

Or maybe Metcalf will turn into Michael Thomas – the next big thing only yesterday, whose return to the football field has been in doubt for almost two seasons now.

Tall receivers get hurt. It’s usually a hamstring, but it’s always something. (Except when it isn’t – as I said, there are exceptions.) Give me Diggs and Hill, Hopkins and Jefferson, Brown and Brown (AJ and Antonio). Give me Davante. Give me Terry. All 6’1” and under.

And even if you personally fall in love with some tall, lanky giant with 4.4 speed and a catch radius of six miles, I can tell you that it is unlikely to work … for this particular team. Antonio Gandy-Golden is just the latest small-scale example of a tall receiver who can’t stay healthy for the Washington Football Team. Do I really need to remind you of Josh Doctson and Michael Westbrook? Mr. 50/50 Rod Gardner? The two-fer of Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly?

Sure, 40 years ago they found Art Monk. The glorious exception to the rule.

(BTW – for those of you who read and remember what I write, I will own up to the fact that I didn’t follow my own rule – I mean, suggestion – last season when I pushed for signing 6’4”, never-healthy Kenny Golladay. Some lessons need to be learned over and over.)

2. Look small – as in school

The Washington Football Team drafted six players from the University of Alabama in the five drafts between 2015 and 2019. I get it. Alabama has had the best program. (Sorry, Clemson fans.) It follows that they have the best players. There was about a 30-year stretch where every varsity basketball player who suited up for Morgan Wooten at DeMatha High got a college scholarship. Didn’t matter if he was the last guy on the bench. Colleges wanted well-coached players from winning programs.

When the Washington Football Team has drafted a blue-chip first-rounder – as in Jonathan Allen or Daron Payne – the results have been pretty good. But quick, name the four other Crimson Tiders who were not taken in the first round. I’ll wait.

Ryan Anderson, Shaun Dion Hamilton, Ross Pierschbacher, Arie Kouandjio. See a pattern? (Hint: none are still with the team.)

So, here’s my idea. Take a kid from a small school late in the draft. It’s not a sure thing, but neither is Alabama.

There were four players drafted from D2 and D3 programs last year. None have been particularly special, though three of the four – Quinn Meinerz in Denver, Mike Strachan in Indy and Chris Garrett in LA (Rams editions) – made their rosters, while the fourth – Zach Davidson – is on the Vikings practice squad.

I’ll admit that I don’t watch enough small school tape to have any kind of definitive ranking, but I have seen all of the following guys play, and they all deserve a look:

QB Aqeel Glass (Alabama A&M)

WR Xavier Smith (Florida A&M – and only 5’10”)

S Markqese Bell (who was in College Park ever so briefly before being suspended and leaving Maryland)

CBs Sam Webb (Missouri Western State) and Joshua Williams (Fayetteville State)

And finally – Central State does not have a good football team, but they have two very productive linebacker prospects in Kailen Abrams and Jamal Holloway. Abrams is more of 3-4 inside backer who may not be a great fit, but Holloway is an edge player who reminds me a lot of the 7th-rounders the Washington Football Team has been gobbling up in recent years.