TJ Hockenson, Tight End, Iowa. Yes this may seem like a luxury pick for a team with so many holes but as I said in my last piece, the Redskins need star power. Hockenson is a star. He is widely considered to be one the top 5 players in the draft, maybe even the best. However, he falls to 15 because of the position he plays. Tight ends are similar to running backs in the sense that you can find starters and even stars in the later rounds so teams tend to pass on taking them early. I hope the redskins are not one of those teams.
Hockeson is the real deal. He has great hands, is great in the red zone, and great in run pro. Honestly his only weakness is possibly his speed (ran a 4.7 40 in the combine). He led Iowa with 49 catches for 760 yards and 6 touchdowns last year. What stood out to me on the film was his ability to make the big catches under duress. Iowa did not have the best players last year and opposing teams were determined to shut down Hockenson. He was constantly double covered yet he still made play after play. He only has two drops in his entire career. Two! He is a great route runner and is able to create separation in and out of breaks. NFL.com compares him to Travis Kelce but I see Zach Ertz. Both are excellent pass catchers but I see Hockenson as a better route runner than Kelce.
With this pick, the redskins would check off a lot of boxes on offense. The would add the receiver they so desperately need. It would also make the offense more unpredictable. Chris Cooley pointed out that the Redskins would run the ball 99% of the time when they went to a two tight end set with Jeremy Sprinkle in the game. Adding Hockenson would give you the blocking tight end you need on 3rd and short situations and give you that clutch catch on 3rd and long. Also, pairing him with Reed would be a nightmare for defenses.
If Hockenson falls past Green Bay at #12, this would be a slam dunk for the Redskins at #15.
I’m back baby! Nothing gets me more excited about the upcoming Redskins season than the speculation on who we’re going to draft at #15 (or who we’re going to trade that pick for *cough Rosen cough*). However, let’s take a moment a recap what has happened since the off-season began.
RECAP:
Case Keenum acquired for peanuts (swapped 6th for broncos 7th rounder – broncos paying half his salary)
Zack Brown cut
Landon Collins signed for 6yr/ $84 mil/ $45 mil guaranteed
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix signs with Bears
Adrian Peterson re-signed for 2yr/ 8 mil
Matt Ioannidis signs 3 year/ $21.5 mil extension
Rueben Foster not given a suspension
No one on the coaching staff got fired – HOW?!
Bruce Allen/ Doug Williams and all their minions did not get fired either – HOW?!
The off-season started off ugly when the Snyder essentially ignored the fan base when the hashtag #FireBruceAllen was plastered on every redskins social media post. However, as much as I wanted everyone to get fired at the end of the season, I’m content with how things have played out. Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener. For example, the Cardinals are now on to their 2nd head coach in consecutive years after Arians was fired and are drafting #1 overall. Further, they hired a head coach that did not have a winning record at Texas Tech and is already making headlines with his unorthodox coaching habits (Kliff Kingsbury plans to give Cardinals ‘cellphone breaks’ because they need ‘that social media fix’). The Jets hired crazy eyes Adam Gase from the Dolphins (below)
And the Bucs hired Bruce Arians – the guy the Cardinals fired! So all in all, cannot tell me that keeping Jay Gruden was a bad call given the coaches that were available. Just answer this question to yourself when you’re upset about retaining Gruden – were the Redskins in playoff contention when Alex Smith got hurt? Yes they were heading for 6-4 but at that moment they were 6-3 and on top of the division with a chance to bury the Cowboys on Thanksgiving the next week.
You can make the argument that last season was yet another year lost to injuries considering we, once again, had the most players on IR than any other team in the league. I mean heck, it felt like losing Guice in preseason was enough to de-rail the team. Luckily we were able to pick up Peterson and ride him to some early season success. Losing Scherff midseason was almost as big as losing Smith. He truly was the anchor to the run game and it became all too apparent towards the end of the season. Losing Paul Richardson early didn’t hurt as much it felt like Alex Smith couldn’t throw the ball further than 10 yards at times and losing Thompson and Reed are just expected at this point. Defensively, losing Dunbar hurt the secondary and having Montae Nicholson get in a bar fight midseason thrust Ha Ha Clinton Dix into the spotlight where he was able to single handedly give our rivals playoff berths. I digress.
The redskins have holes at every position outside of defensive line; every position is a position of need. This is one of the most important drafts in a long time for the organization. The front office believes that without the record setting injuries we’ve had over the last two years, we’re a playoff team. However, most fans think the redskins are closer to 2-14 than they are the playoffs and think we should tank for two years for a chance at Clemson star QB Trevor Lawrence. So where are we?
Bill Parcel’s said it best, “You are what your record says you are”. The Redskins were 7-9 last year even with another record number of injuries. The defense was one of the best in the league before they brought in Clinton-Dix. There were analysts that said the Redskins had a defense that was “Super Bowl worthy” at one point. My only word of advice to Redskins front office – keep it simple, stupid(s). Build the defense. Luckily already started by brining in Landon Collins who should stabilize the backend of the defense far better than Swearinger ever could (and especially without all the finger-pointing in the media). Sean Dion-Hamilton now steps into the Mason Foster role in his second season at ILB and hopefully turns Rueben Foster into the beast he was at Alabama. You have leadership from the front with Jonathan Allen and DaRon Payne who create havoc up the middle and Kerrigan is good for 10-14 sacks a year.
However, they lack a consistent offense. When the running game is on, the offense is on. When it’s not, the offense is not. Gruden’s offense is widely praised for ‘scheming’ receivers open but that has not led to much success after Cousins left.
What the Redskins desperately need is star power. I hoped that Guice could have been that star we so desperately needed but he was hurt in the blink of an eye. Paul Richardson was supposed to be our deep threat but he couldn’t stay healthy and Smith couldn’t make the throws. Reed was supposed to ‘take the next step’ with Smith who loves targeting TE’s but he never seemed to gel with Smith and as he’s shown throwout his career, he could not stay healthy. Our offensive line was supposed to be the best in the league but once one player goes down, our depth is exposed.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE:
Our picks are as follows: Rd1 #15, Rd2 #46, Rd3 #76, Rd3 #96, Rd5 #153, Rd5 #173, RD6 #206, Rd7 #227, Rd7 #253. We have four picks in the top 100 and nine picks in the whole draft. The Redskins need star power but most importantly they need depth. Both are easier said than done. Their late round picks are just as important as the first four. Their is no reason to believe that our best players will be healthy for all 16.
The Redskins made a good decision picking up Keenum. Keenum is a safety blanket in case they can’t land a QB in this draft and assurance that we will never see Mark Sanchez ever again. I can see the Redskins taking a number of players at #15 and I’d be happy with all of them. Honestly, the only mistake the Redskins can make in the 1st round is either trading up and mortgaging their future for one of these QBs. In the next few blogs, I’ll start my breakdown of every position and go through some draft day scenarios.
The Skins Skinny 