The Redskins got who many view as the best player in this year’s draft by taking Chase Young with the No. 2 overall pick, and now they're looking to add even more talent.
But Washington, which traded away this year's second-round pick to acquire Montez Sweat in 2019, heads into Day 2 with a lack of draft capital to acquire one of the prospects still available with first-round grades. As it currently stands, their next pick will be in the third round at No. 66 overall.
Many have asked if and how the Redskins planned to get back into the second round, and that question lingers with the draft resuming tonight at 7 p.m. Vice president of player personnel Kyle Smith's answer to that is, "We'll wait and see."
"If the opportunity presents itself, [we'll see] what it will take," he told local media after Round 1. "I think that's the big thing. We'll start going through that and see what the board says to us."
"Letting the board speak to you" is part of Smith's draft strategy. He lets the results of the draft determine which players are available at the team's positions of need to determine the best course of action.
"All of the sudden you're 10 picks away and you just see the guys going, and some guys go low, and all of the sudden you've got a cluster of players that you know is there and you're going to have an opportunity to take, and you're all fired up. It's more excitement than anything," Smith told Voice of the Redskins Larry Michael on Monday.
Smith and head coach Ron Rivera will use that approach with the second and third rounds. Like Rivera, Smith wants to pick the best players available, but they have to be the right fit for the team as well.
"We have in our minds on what positions to focus on and needs -- if you want to call them needs -- that we want to fulfill," Smith said. "If the best player available matches needs, then that makes it easy. Obviously if it's not, then we'll look at the board and kind of look at what player is there."
Something Smith doesn't want to do is focus one specific need. He and Rivera would certainly like to add more depth at positions like wide receiver or tight end -- two positions that many believe to require improvement -- but Smith said they're always looking to add weapons.
"Whether it's a tight end, wide receiver, running back, quarterback, on defense a corner or another pass rusher, anybody that can impact you."
Smith plans to consider that when deciding whether to trade back into the second round, but he added that they need to have enough draft picks to make the move, and they must be certain the player they take is worth giving up the capital to acquire them. The Redskins currently have six remaining picks, including two in the fourth and seventh rounds, respectively. That could offer the chance to move up in the draft for the right player.
The other way the Redskins could get back into the second round would be to trade veteran offensive lineman Trent Williams,There have been some reports of interested trade partners, but nothing has materialized yet.
Smith couldn't offer a definitive answer when asked about trading Williams, but he did acknowledge the team is working through the situation.
"It's hard to tell. You go into it hoping that something happens whenever you're trying to get something done, but it could happen in five minutes, it could happen tomorrow, it might not happen in the next few days. It's just something that we're trying to work through and we'll continue to make calls and we'll go from there."
Smith and Rivera had a plan going into the draft. They already accomplished the first step by drafting Young, and now they're moving on. Whatever their next step is will depend upon what the draft board says to them.
"We're really excited to move forward," Smith said. "We've gotten our group of guys, we've gone through the process, we've talked to the coaches. We're just ready to roll now."
