With the Redskins' 2015 season now over, the next phase of the rebuild process will begin shortly. This season, the Redskins hold the No. 21 overall selection in the 2016 NFL Draft.
With yesterday's 35-18 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, the Washington Redskins now know they will have the 21st-overall selection in this year's NFL Draft.
For a second consecutive year, the NFL Draft will take place in Chicago starting on April 28.
The first round – there will be only 31 first-round picks this season as the New England Patriots are required to forfeit their pick – will take place on Thursday, April 28.
On Friday, April 29, the second and third rounds will take place before the final four rounds are held on Saturday, April 30.
Last season, the Redskins selected Brandon Scherff with the fifth-overall pick.
The University of Iowa product would appear in all but one offensive snap this season at right guard, providing the Redskins a young and consistent talent in their interior of their revamped offensive line.
The Redskins also selected Preston Smith – who led all rookies in sacks this season with eight – in the second round.
General manager Scot McCloughan believes the draft is "the lifeline" of any successful organization.
"You know, you start dabbling too much in free agency sometimes, you're getting older guys; you're getting medical history," McCloughan said last year. "The thing I liked about what we did in San Fran, what we did in Seattle, we drafted our own, molded our own and re-signed the ones we wanted to re-sign. So all of a sudden now, you train them how you want to train them. See, in Washington, we're going to draft these guys and we are going to draft them and mold them as Redskins. We're not going to have to go out to other organizations and bring in 32 and 33 year olds who have different plans. I think the best case scenario is you draft and mold your own and re-sign your own. But free agency is still there to be used to make your roster stronger too. You can't lose sight of that."
The first draft event will take place later this month, in Mobile, Ala., at the 67th Senior Bowl.
This year's Senior Bowl – which will be divided into two teams of prospects – will be led by the Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars coaching staffs.
Among the Redskins who participated in last year's Senior Bowl were Smith and wide receiver Jamison Crowder, who set a Redskins rookie record for receptions with 59.
"It was huge for me," Crowder said. "I think that the Senior Bowl really helped boost my stock as a receiver. Went down there, had some really good days in practice and did okay in the game, but the Senior Bowl really helped me out. And going against the top, pretty much the top competition that was coming out in last year's draft. So going down there, just making the plays, really helped me out, really helped boost my stock."
In late February, the annual NFL Combine will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The combine, of course, tests prospects in the 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone drill and the shuttle run, while teams get exclusive chances to conduct one-on-one interviews with the participants.
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