The Redskins' vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato spent time with Redskins.com and the local media in the days leading up to the NFL Draft. Here's a portion of that discussion:
Q: When the team made the move for the 25th pick in the trade with Denver, losing a third-round pick this year and two picks next year, it opened up a lot of options in the first round. What options are you exploring right now?
A: "What you can do is take the 25th and 9th pick and move up and get a higher pick. You can trade back and gather more picks and recoup some of the things that you lost. Or you can stay at nine and 25 and get two quality players. Basically we're looking at every option right now. There's a lot of different scenarios to look at."
Q: When trading up or trading down, how hard is it to evaluate who other teams will select?
A: "In this day and age, teams identify a player and they try to go get him. I think because of free agency and the salary cap, you don't have the luxury of taking the best player available. You have to fill needs. That's what most teams do at the top. It's kind of easy to figure out who's taking."
Q: What about teams like the 49ers and the Dolphins, who have a lot of positions to fill?
A: "They're still going to fill a need. When you read the papers and talk to people around the league, you can pinpoint who teams are talking to. With San Francisco, you know it's one of three players they're looking at. They can control which way things are going to fall."
Q: How would you rate the cornerback class?
A: "I think it's a pretty deep cornerback draft. There's a chance six or seven corners could go in the first round."
Q: How much did you work with Redskins coaches on making draft decisions?
A: "When we watch the tape, I will go around the room and ask everyone's opinion. I'll say to Gregg (Williams, assistant head coach-defense), 'What do you think?' I'll ask Coach Gibbs, 'How does he fit? What do you think?' The last two guys we talk to is Gregg and the coach. Those two guys carry a lot of weight."
Q: How difficult is it to find a player to fit into Joe Gibbs system?
A: "The nice thing about our coaching staff is if the player is tough and he is smart, then just about anyone can fit into this system. We can take advantage of what that player does well. I think that's what's great about our coaching staff."
Q: It's been reported that this draft is deep in the areas the Redskins need to address. Agree?
A: "I think so. After going through all of the film work and the evaluations, the draft does have depth at positions we do have needs for."
Q: With two picks in the first round, is it possible the team will be done after round one on the first day?
A: "You can never say that. You could have thought that last year, but we moved up to get Chris Cooley. You are never done until Sunday night."
