Raji to visit Redskins

[tml6157]

If Raji is there at 13 you pull the trigger. Look at the Giants. Their DL is good but that doesnt stop them from making it unstoppable. Raji and Haynesworth would instantly make our LBs and secondary a lot better.

[eljeasel]

If Raji is there at 13 you pull the trigger. Look at the Giants. Their DL is good but that doesnt stop them from making it unstoppable. Raji and Haynesworth would instantly make our LBs and secondary a lot better.

I think thats the right attitude man. Never hurts to have beastly DL

[DiscoBob]

I agree that OL is more of need, but the difference (IMO) is that you could find a serviceable RT/DT in the 3rd round, but we already have serviceable DTs right now. So if we could turn our DL from a huge weakness, into a huge strength, in one year, while getting a serviceable RT to take over for Jansen/Heyer, then I think it's our best option....

I love the idea of having 2X "You better double team me fatty's in the middle"

[ChillSkinzFan84]

If he is available you get him asap. You must be a idiot if you dont want this guy at the 13th pick.

[Oldskool]

This is just like the Sanchez visit; he's here to get worked out and the team will evaluate what they think they can get for him in a trade if he slips to #13.

[Going Commando]

It's not Haynesworth that sucks, it's the other 3.

Simply not true, and I doubt you'd be able to give a substantial argument that would defend your opinion. Griffin is a very good 3 technique tackle, and both Montgomery and Golston are starting caliber lineman who will provide fantastic depth. We have 4 starting caliber defensive tackles on the roster, and it shows in the money we've invested in the position. It's a situation similar to what we had last year at CB, I doubt there is a single team in the league that can match our DT corps in top to bottom quality.

Besides, if anything, our questions should be with Haynesworth, since he hasn't played a down for us yet.

If he slips to #13 on draft day you HAVE to draft him.....You don't pass on top 5 talent like that to reach for another need position.

Very true, but to consider Raji anything other than an extreme luxury pick is ludicrous. He is a 1 technique 4-3 tackle or 0 technique 3-4. Obviously we don't run a 3-4, so we'd be drafting him to play the 1. Now if I'm not mistaken, we just signed a 27 year old player to a three year, 41 million dollar contract to be our starting 1 technique, making Raji a redundancy.

Selecting Raji is absolutely, without a doubt, an even greater luxury pick than taking a WR, HB, or QB at 13, no matter which way you examine it.

First, we've invested far and away more money into the 1-technique position than any single spot on the roster. If you add Raji into the mix, he would almost definitely be a third stringer his rookie year. Eventually, he would probably supplant Montgomery behind Haynesworth, but then he still has to sit behind the best 1 technique in the league for several seasons. We are hoping to get at least 4 solid seasons from Haynesworth, would you really want to wait 5, maybe more seasons just to see your 13th overall pick start? With a mid first round contract he would be one of the most expensive backups on our team.

Maybe you could move Haynesworth around on the line, but my thinking is that if you are going to pay a man 41 million for three years, you let him play his natural position where he is going to be far more effective than anywhere else. Besides defensive line positions are not interchangeable. Remeber what happened with the Jason Taylor experiment (one of the most versatile players in the league) when we tried to move him around on the line.

If you are going to draft a DT for luxury, trade back and pick Peria Jerry instead because he is the natural 3 technique tackle that could succeed Griffin in a few seasons.

Second, Raji would be a defensive luxury pick, when everyone knows that Defense has been our strong suit for the past several seasons. We have youth, talent, and depth, on defense in far greater quantities than on the other side of the ball. It doesn't make good football sense to completely sell out to one phase of the game.

Lastly, if we were going to go the BPA route and make a luxury selection, it makes far more sense to do it at HB or QB or even possibly WR than it does to pick a 1 technique DT.

We simply aren't certain that Campbell is our longterm QB, so its easy to make an argument for drafting Sanchez and letting him develop while we wait and see what happens with JC.

At HB Portis is entering the final few seasons of his career, as he will turn 28 this season and already has almost 10,000 yards and over 2,000 carries under his belt. And further, Portis is the youngest back on our team! Both Betts' and Cartwright's ships have sailed as starters in the league, meaning we have no available youth at the RB position. Drafting Knowshon Moreno makes more short and long-term sense than taking Raji.

And at WR, we have no idea what we are going to get from Kelly or Thomas, and we are all pretty sure that Randle El shouldn't be our starting #2. Add to that fact that we absolutely don't have a receiver on our roster with a similar skill set to Michael Crabtree, if he somehow drops to 13, you have to take him over Raji as well.

[alwaysaskin]

I like the idea of Haynesworth and Raji on the D-Line. That is a combo you will have to commit to on offense, this can free up Carter to get some sacks, even Daniels could get sacks, if A. Smith and Oher are gone and Raji falls to us I'd say draft him

[The Full Monty]

First, we've invested far and away more money into the 1-technique position than any single spot on the roster. If you add Raji into the mix, he would almost definitely be a third stringer his rookie year.

You must really think we're deep with DT's to say Raji would "almost definitely" be a third stringer his rookie year. Monty and/or Golston are warm bodies.

[ChillSkinzFan84]

Your crazy if you think Raji would be a 3rd stringer his rookie year. So your saying pass on potentially the next Warren Sapp because we have 1 great DT, 1 good DT who will probably be gone next yer, and 2 average dt's who barely signed to come back this year. Yea that makes alot of sense. But yet you want to get a QB who we know for sure wont play this year and would take 2-4 years to be really good. Yea buddy I like your thinking...NOT

[Going Commando]

You must really think we're deep with DT's to say Raji would "almost definitely" be a third stringer his rookie year. Monty and/or Golston are warm bodies.

Golston and Montgomery are 25 year old starting caliber DTs. They may not be superstars, but they are better NFL DTs than Raji is right now. He would come in and be a thirdstringer unless we managed to trade some guys away. Yes Raji is an upgrade over them in the longterm, but he isn't an upgrade over Haynesworth in any term. To get Raji to start, we'd have to play Haynesworth out of position at LDT and that is just not smart seeing as how we've paid such a dear price for him. We tried to do the same thing with Jason Taylor and that failed miserably.

[Going Commando]

Your crazy if you think Raji would be a 3rd stringer his rookie year. So your saying pass on potentially the next Warren Sapp because we have 1 great DT, 1 good DT who will probably be gone next yer, and 2 average dt's who barely signed to come back this year. Yea that makes alot of sense. But yet you want to get a QB who we know for sure wont play this year and would take 2-4 years to be really good. Yea buddy I like your thinking...NOT

Raji the next Warren Sapp? His skill set is nothing like Sapp's. Glenn Dorsey is much more in the Sapp vein than Raji. If anything, Raji looks more like a future Casey Hampton -- a very good nose tackle but redundant for our purposes.

[Stophovr6]

Have we worked out any offensive linemen?

[Shilsu]

BJ Raji is a 3-technique. Some teams are looking at him and considering using him as a NT in a 3-4 or a 1-technique, but he was a 3-technique throughout college.

[Going Commando]

BJ Raji is a 3-technique. Some teams are looking at him and considering using him as a NT in a 3-4 or a 1-technique, but he was a 3-technique throughout college.

Are you sure about that? Because he is a 6-1, 330 pound fatty where the best part of his game is walling off against the run and bull-rushing. He is not a polished pass-rusher and his first step isn't all that remarkable. His future looks like it is at the 1 and not the 3. Besides, I don't know how a 3 technique can also be considered as being interchangeable with a 0. Some scout has got to be wrong on their assessment if that were the case.

He may have played the 3 in college but I bet every first round DT prospect plays the 3 in college. It's a far cry from being able to play that position in the pros.

[ChillSkinzFan84]

Go look at Raji on youtube. He is a DT that can do the Dwight Freeney spin move. and he does it with speed. Yea that sounds like Casey Hampton...yea right. I say the next Warren Sapp because he has speed, nimble feet and hips. If he was like Casey Hampton do you really think he woud be talked about going in the top 5?

[ChillSkinzFan84]

Your saying he is slow? Im starting to think that you havent see this kid play

[Going Commando]

Go look at Raji on youtube. He is a DT that can do the Dwight Freeney spin move. and he does it with speed. Yea that sounds like Casey Hampton...yea right. I say the next Warren Sapp because he has speed, nimble feet and hips. If he was like Casey Hampton do you really think he woud be talked about going in the top 5?

First off, I think you are operating on a lot of misconceptions. Raji isn't a top 5 pick in the sense that he is one of the 5 best players in the draft, he is a possible top 5 pick because of the team needs of the first 5 teams in the draft.

Second, the Casey Hampton comparison was actually a compliment because Hampton is a very good player. And it's accurate, if anything, Raji is even a little fatter than Hampton at around 340 lbs.

Third, nose tackles are just as valuable in terms of draft position as 3 technique tackles like Sapp. If anything, dominant ones are even harder to come by. You can list on one hand the number of outstanding 3-4 NTs in the league. And Casey Hampton went 16th overall.

Where is the Warren Sapp comparison coming from? Their skillset isn't similar and their body type and athletic ability aren't either.

Your saying he is slow? Im starting to think that you havent see this kid play

Don't know where I said this but maybe you interpreted my saying his first step is nothing special as me saying he is slow. He is more athletic than most men his size, but he is no where near the prospect Dorsey or Ellis were in terms of speed and agility.

What exactly are you basing your speed assessment on anyway? Forgive me if I trust the opinion of professional scouts over watching a few youtube highlight clips.

[ChillSkinzFan84]

Im basing my opnion on what I see. I dont trust everything that scouts say. From my couch at home ive been right alot more than scouts have...which im sure you wont believe...but stick around and you will see I know what im talking about. I know casey Hampton is good but I just dont see that when I look at Raji. I say POSSIBLY the next Warren Sapp because of the athletic ability he has. I guess time will tell how he developes.

[36HAMMER]

i agree with hunter r, you take him. then you trade griffen for a pick. then you have two guys at dt that can stop the run and collapse the pocket and get after the qb.it's no brainer to me.

[REDSKINZ-RIDEORDIE]

I doubt he'll be available at #13, but if he is, I hope we don't pick him. Griffin, Haynesworth, Montgomery and Golston are enough.

Exactly, if we didnt get AH I'd be all for it.....

[REDSKINZ-RIDEORDIE]

Raji would be an awesome addition to the Redskins roster.

At 13, we may won't be able to draft him. However, if Dan and Vinny like him, the my work the phones on draft day to trade up.

IMO that would be so stupid.....We need to address our offense, our offense was HORRIBLE the second half of the year. If we do go defense we dont need to draft a dam DT. If we had all of our picks, maybe. For defense we need OLB and or a DE....No DTs.....

[moondog]

There's no way he falls to 13, the same there's no way we trade up to take him. I'd love to have a guy like him but we have WAY bigger needs and there are going to be great players available at at least one if not both of those positions. Hell, there are players available to fill all of our holes. Maualuga should be there for linebacker. Maybin will definitely be there for linebacker or DE (although if we drafted him we should trade down a bit to do it). One or both of Oher and Andre Smith will be there for O-Line.

I'm hoping for Maualuga but I would be excited for any of those guys and I think we need to focus in on them, but I'm also happy our FO does its due diligence on other high picks every year as well.

[[[ghost]]]

First off, I think you are operating on a lot of misconceptions. Raji isn't a top 5 pick in the sense that he is one of the 5 best players in the draft, he is a possible top 5 pick because of the team needs of the first 5 teams in the draft.

Not quite.

Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City, Seattle, and Cleveland don't collectively share a DT need. St. Louis drafted Carriker two years ago, KC just got Glenn Dorsey last year. Seattle doesn't particularly need DT, but its not like they're set there either. Cleveland just traded for Shaun Rogers last year, and he's filled in well.

None of them have a real need at DT. Perhaps Detroit and Seattle could use the upgrade, but its not a true need. We could use an upgrade at SS because Horton isn't upper tier, but its not like its a need.

Raji is rated as high as he is because he is strong, athletic, quick, and he's got size to go with his production.

[Going Commando]

i agree with hunter r, you take him. then you trade griffen for a pick. then you have two guys at dt that can stop the run and collapse the pocket and get after the qb.it's no brainer to me.

You are oversimplifying the issue. First, who is going to trade for Griffin? He is 32 years old, and we aren't going to get any kind of decent return for him. He is in the best possible situation he could be in here in Washington. We'll get an outstanding season from him next year before we have to decide what to do with him. Plus he is a team captain and a leader in the locker room. You have to be careful just tossing guys like that out on the street.

Second, what are you going to do with Haynesworth? By all accounts, Raji is best when he is lined up over the Center, which is where Haynesworth is best too. You are going to have to play one of them out of position to get them on the field together. I don't have a very good feeling about moving guys around on the defensive line any more after the Jason Taylor disaster.

If we wanted to get the ball rolling on replacing Griffin, and we didn't think Montgomery or Golston are merely pedestrian, we should just trade down and pick Peria Jerry who is a prototypical 3 and would compliment Haynesworth nicely.

Or here is an even wilder suggestion: Kansas City just switched to a 3-4 and needs the personnel to man that defense as bad as anyone. They also just drafted a dominant 3 technique tackle in Glen Dorsey who will be an atrocious fit anywhere in the 3-4. If Raji falls to us, why not trade the 13th pick straight up to Kansas City for Dorsey. Even better if they are hamstrung and have to throw an additional pick into the mix to get Raji.

It's a pipe-dream, but a Dorsey/Haynesworth tandem would be incredible. Forget about Kevin and Pat Williams in Minnesota, that would be the ultimate DT combo.

[SkinsAllDay34]

I know we need oline, but O line is a postion you can get in the later rounds (see dockery and others) In the third round there should be a good amount of talent at tackle.

Or we could trade back, get 25 and 44 from Miami or 23 and 47 from NE

Draft OLB with the first pick (Matthews)

Draft RT with the 2nd rounder (Loadholt- he is great RT prospect despite playing LT)

3rd round Draft Paul Kruger DE Utah, this guy has a motor

That would be ideal in my mind