With the 25th overall pick in Saturday's NFL Draft now in tow, the Redskins laid out their pre-draft plans on Wednesday in an hour-long press briefing. The team is considering a broad range of players expected to be available late in the first round, but is not counting out a trade to move up or down from that spot.
Vinny Cerrato, vice president of football operations, said the team wasn't targeting a specific player when the Redskins completed the trade with the Denver Broncos on Tuesday evening. Washington gave up a third-round pick this year and a first- and fourth-round selection in 2006 for the 25th overall pick in Saturday's draft.
"To me, the reason why you do this is because in your evaluation process, you come out of it thinking there are a lot of guys in your area of need that you feel are going to be available between 20 and 35. That's what you have to look at. It gives you many opportunities."
But Cerrato emphasized that the extra pick gives the Redskins maneuverability in trading up or trading down.
"It gives us options," he said. "What you can do is take the 25th and 9th pick and move up and get a higher pick. You can stay at No. 9 and stay at No. 25 and get two quality players. Also at No. 9, you can trade back, gather more picks and recoup some of the picks that you lost [in the Denver trade].
"We've contacted all of the teams behind us in the draft, and said listen, We're willing to move back. Give us a call and we'd be willing to listen before the draft or during the draft as we're getting closer to being on the clock. Our door is open.'"
Added head coach Joe Gibbs: "We think the ninth pick has real value for us and we think the 25th pick does, too. [The trade] also gives us flexibility if we want to do something there. We'd love to have second- and third-round picks [in this weekend's draft] but we felt like having those two picks in the first round was the best spot for us to be able to help our football team."
Gibbs added that the team is prepared for all sorts of surprises come draft day.
"You may get a call from somebody that you are kind of in shock over or were not prepared for," he said. "That's the reason why you do so much work and try to stack the board. You don't dream that you are going to get a pick like [the 25th pick]. That's something that developed in the last 24 hours.
"Things are happening all the time and certainly on draft day, it gets hot."
