The team ended up with just seven draft picks in 2016, but after three trades during the weekend picked up three more picks for next year's draft.
Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan said casually a couple months before the 2016 NFL Draft that he would like to turn the team's eight picks into 12 if he could. It seemed like a stretch, but the goal fit McCloughan's general philosophy -- stockpiling picks and building his football team through the draft.
Once everything had settled Saturday evening and the NFL Draft had officially ended, the Redskins ended up with seven selections, one less than they entered with Thursday, but gained three additional picks for 2017.
That might seem surprising and quite a pivot from McCloughan's initial desires, but the Redskins, as opposed to last year's foundational strategy, drafted from a position of strength over the weekend, taking players less on needs and more for depth. Or, in McCloughan's popular terms, to find "football players," regardless of their position or potential to fill holes.
McCloughan and company ended up making three trades over the draft's seven rounds, though only one came within the first three, when the Redskins decided to move their first round pick one spot back. They swapped with the Houston Texans, trading down from the 21st pick to the 22nd, taking TCU wide receiver Josh Doctson and collecting a 2017 sixth-round pick in the process.
Future planning took place on Saturday, when the Redskins traded away their fourth-round draft pick to the Saints for a fift-round pick later that day and one for 2017, as well. McCloughan used New Orleans' fifth-rounder to choose defensive linemen Matt Ioannidis from Temple. Shortly after, he sent Washington's own fifth-round draft pick to the Jets for a 2017 fourth-round selection.
The Redskins held steady for the remainder of the draft, picking up Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld in the sixth round along with Boston College linebacker Steven Daniels and Georgia running back Keith Marshall in the seventh round.
As it stands now, and after losing a fifth-round pick next year for tight end Derek Carrier's addition, the Redskins will have nine draft picks in 2017.
"You talk about adding picks for next year, which is great," head coach Jay Gruden Saturday. "We're all interested in this year coming up obviously, but you're talking about the foundation of this football team and this organization. You add picks for next year and you get quality players this year, and that's what it's all about. We're sitting in a good spot. We feel good about the young guys we got."
Gruden said the team's current roster, and the depth of this year's draft, allowed the Redskins to trade back and still acquire the draft picks they wanted, worrying more about finding depth and young players than just supplementing positional weaknesses.
"It's hard, but I think Bruce [Allen] and Scot [McCloughan] both have a great vision for what this franchise needs and what's good for it," Gruden said. "At the time they felt like giving up a pick maybe to get some better picks next year was good for us, and I think that speaks to the team that we have already in-house. I think a couple of years ago we probably wouldn't have been able to do that, but I think now as we start to grow our depth and the type of guys that we want in this building. We had that luxury this year and I think it will be better for us, obviously, in the future."
Here's a list of Redskins draft picks for 2017:
- First round (1)
- Second round (1)
- Third round (1)
- Fourth round (2 -- own, acquired from Jets)
- Fifth round (1 – acquired from Saints, lost one for 2015 trade for tight end Derek Carrier)
- Sixth round (2 -- own, acquired from Texans)
- Seventh round (1) .
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