The first round of the 2014 NFL Draft has now concluded. Round two begins at 7pm Friday night. It won’t take long for the Washington Redskins to get on the clock as they have the second pick of the night.
As usual, the first round was full of surprises. But there was a few picks that certainly created a bit of a domino effect for the Redskins with their second round slot.
Let’s take a look:
- The first domino of the night was the Miami Dolphins selecting Tennessee OT Ja’Wuan James. It wasn’t a shock, as I felt they would select one of three players: James, Cyrus Kouandjio or Morgan Moses. With them selecting James, that left Kouandjio and Moses on the board.
- The Kansas City Chiefs selecting Auburn pass rusher Dee Ford could have also been a domino. I wasn’t as high on Ford as others, but it’s no secret — the Washington Redskins have been interested in rush LBs. Louisville LB Marcus Smith going to the Philadelphia Eagles also created an even thinner rush LB crop.
- Darqueze Dennard to the Cincinnati Bengals and Jason Verrett to the San Diego Chargers are two corners the Redskins could have looked at in round two.
- Deone Bucannon to the Arizona Cardinals took a potential safety prospect off the board. Not to mention, the San Francisco 49ers drafting Jimmie Ward could have been a domino.
My top players remaining at positions of (possible) interest:
Wide Receiver:
- Marqise Lee, USC
- Cody Latimer, Indiana
- Martavis Bryant, Clemson
- Allen Robinson, Penn State
- Paul Richardson, Colorado
Tight End:
- Jace Amaro, Texas Tech
- Troy Niklas, Notre Dame
- C.J. Fiedorowicz, Iowa
- Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Washington
- Crockett Gilmore, Colorado State
Right Tackle:
- Cyrus Kouandjio, Alabama
- Joel Bitonio, Nevada
- Morgan Moses, Virginia
- Ju’Wan James, Tennessee
- Cameron Fleming, Stanford
Guard/Center:
- Xavier Su’a-Filo, UCLA
- Marcus Martin, USC
- Joel Bitonio, Nevada
- Gabe Jackson, Mississippi State
- Weston Richburg, Colorado State
Defensive Line:
- Louis Nix, Notre Dame
- Kony Ealy, Mizzou
- Stephen Tuitt, Notre Dame
- Will Sutton, ASU
- RaShede Hagerman
Rush/Inside Linebacker:
- DeMarcus Lawrence, Boise State
- Kyle Van Noy, BYU
- Carl Bradford, Arizona State
- Telvin Smith, FSU
- Christian Jones (FSU)/Jordan Tripp (Montana)
Thoughts on 34 overall:
- The Washington Redskins have so many options at this pick, they absolutely should attempt to trade back. If they are not able to trade back they need to select the best player available. In my opinion, if you’re not overly concerned about the knees, Cyrus Kouandjio would be the highest rated on my board. I think a guy like Xavier Su’a-Filo would make a ton of sense too. In all, I still believe offensive line leads the pack in the second round. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Washington went Tight End. I still get the feeling that they like BYU LB Kyle Van Noy a lot. Louis Nix is interesting. But they seem to like Barry Cofield at nose tackle. Receiver is another option, although it would surprise some. Washington needs a big target. They have a bunch of sub-6 footers. They will spread the field a lot and need numerous options. So a guy like Cody Latimer or Martavis Bryant could be an under the radar selection. Washington’s beset move at this point would be to move back and collect a few extra picks. But Kouandjio is still the guy my gut says they will select. Van Noy is the other guy I just have this feeling they could take.
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