Brady Quinn and Adrian Peterson--two of the draft's most sought-after players--were still available when it was time for the Redskins to pick.
Redskins team officials braced for phone calls from teams looking to trade up.
What happened?
"It was pretty calm," head coach Joe Gibbs said. "There were some calls that took place, but everyone was pretty happy with just standing pat."
The Redskins selected LSU safety LaRon Landry with the No. 6 pick in the first round. Peterson went seventh overall to the Minnesota Vikings.
Going into the draft, it was thought that teams would trade up to obtain Quinn should the Notre Dame quarterback start to fall down the draft board.
It was thought that the Redskins, who openly courted trade offers in the weeks leading up to the draft, had a degree of leverage at the No. 6 position.
As team after team bypassed Quinn, it became apparent that demand for his services was not as fervent as believed. Quinn ended up dropping all the way to No. 22, where the Cleveland Browns traded up [with the Dallas Cowboys] to obtain him.
"At that pick, we tried to prepare ourselves for what would happen if someone called [with a trade offer]," Gibbs said. "But we also know it's very hard to get something done. Generally, you have to feel like you're going to sit there and make the pick.
"The other part is that [the trade offer] has to be something very valuable before you move off [of No. 6]. It would have to be something very enticing. The value of that pick and the fact that we felt we were getting [Landry] certainly affected us."
Instead of settling on a less-that-ideal trade, the Redskins settled on the defensive player they coveted.
The Redskins drafted Landry to help improve a defense that finished 31st overall in the NFL last season. He joins Sean Taylor, the hard-hitting safety who the Redskins selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft.
The Redskins had also identified defensive line as a position of need in the draft. The defense logged a league-low 19 sacks last season and prospects such as defensive tackle Amobi Okoye and defensive end Jamaal Anderson were considered by the team.
In the end, it was safety first.
"With our defensive line, [defensive line coach-defensive coordinator] Greg Blache feels good about it," Gibbs said. "Last year, we added two young linemen in Anthony [Montgomery] and Kedric [Golston]. We're count on Phillip Daniels coming back. We have Renaldo [Wynn] and Andre [Carter] and we're getting Marcus [Washington] back healthy.
"So we felt like there wasn't any pressure for us to do something there. Like we said, at the sixth pick you're going to take a player you feel is a sixth pick. You want that kind of [elite] player, which is what we thing we got."
The Redskins entered Saturday morning with the realization there was not a realistic chance the team could trade up in the draft, Gibbs said.
Asked about the possibility of acquiring Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs using the No. 6 pick, Gibbs replied: "It kind of died off. There were still some calls and some of it concerned that, but nothing really serious."
