Did the Washington Redskins play it right with Dwayne Haskins?

The Washington Redskins could have traded up for QB Dwayne Haskins, but decided to wait out the picks in front of them. Smart?

The Washington Redskins took a very risky approach to getting their quarterback situation solved this offseason.

With Colt McCoy making his way back from injury, the team first decided to trade for veteran Case Keenum, who gives them a decent starting option especially if he can return to the form he showed in 2017 with the Minnesota Vikings.

Picking 15th overall in the first round with a number of QB-needy teams ahead of them, however, it seemed the Redskins were going to have to take the leftovers in the NFL Draft at that position or they would have to trade up and get the guy they want.

This year’s draft bucked some interesting trends that have been happening since the 2016 NFL Draft.

Starting in the 2016 NFL Draft, every quarterback picked in round one except 2018 top pick Baker Mayfield was selected after the drafting team traded up.

Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Paxton Lynch, Mitch Trubisky, Patrick Mahomes, DeShaun Watson, and other QBs in the 2018 NFL Draft Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen, and Lamar Jackson were all taken after their teams moved up to get them.

It seemed a foregone conclusion that if anyone wanted a QB in the draft, they would have to trade up to get him.

Specifically for a team picking smack dab in the middle of the first round, this seemed even more likely.

We talked about the Redskins’ situation on the latest NFL Mocks podcast, and I can’t help but feel this team got a little too cute with the draft process.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that no team in this year’s draft needed to get a quarterback more than the Washington Redskins.

Their top two guys, as we previously mentioned, were Colt McCoy and Case Keenum.

Alex Smith isn’t playing this year and who knows if he will ever play for the Redskins again?

The Redskins also have a head coach on the hot seat in Jay Gruden, who knows he’s under pressure to make the playoffs this year or he could be done as the Redskins’ lead man.

All of those factors combined with some aggressive moves in free agency, and the Redskins stick with their original first-round pick, waiting for the QB they covet?

That doesn’t make any sense, but I guess all is well that ends well in Washington.

This decision to stay put should be the exception, not the rule. The Redskins got lucky that Josh Rosen became available to the Miami Dolphins, who decided to go that route instead of quarterback.

They also got lucky the Denver Broncos didn’t fall in love with Haskins when he wore a John Elway jersey on his visit to Denver.

They were also quite lucky the Giants decided to take Daniel Jones way earlier, because they could have gone with another position in the earlier portion of round one and perhaps been targeting Haskins later.

It’s really rare to see a team that doesn’t have the top pick in the draft sit on their original draft spot and get the top QB on their board, but the Redskins got lucky. I don’t think we’ll see this a lot unless teams are really doing a great job of smoke screening, but the Redskins’ need was obvious and they weren’t fooling anyone.

Ultimately, I think they got a steal here in round one but the way they went about it would get most teams burned in most years.