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ASHBURN, Va. -- Air Snyder made one last pre-draft trip Thursday. A contingent of Washington Commanders coaches and officials, led by owner Daniel Snyder and coach Joe Gibbs, flew to Columbus to examine the physical and mental condition of wideout/kick-returner Ted Ginn Jr.
Snyder cautioned me Thursday afternoon, back at Commanders Park, not to read much into the trip to see Ginn. It's part of the team's tour to either visit the top 25 prospects in the draft, or have them visit the team's facility in northern Virginia. And I buy that. Ginn's not a fit for the Commanders, not at No. 6 in the first round. But if one of the Commanders' options Saturday comes through -- like trading down to acquire more picks, seeing that they have only one measly choice in the first four rounds -- then I see guys like Ginn and defensive end Adam Carriker very much on their radar screen.
Rough weekend for the Commanders. What to do, what to do. When you pick sixth overall, then you don't pick 'til the middle of Sunday afternoon (fifth round, pick 143 overall), getting that one selection right might be the most important single decision any team has to make this draft weekend. Unless, of course, Washington wheels and deals that No. 6 pick into something else. So I asked Joe Gibbs on Thursday: Why don't you do what this organization almost always does -- borrow from next year's draft to move up this year and take the player you really want.
(Snyder Interlude: When I told Snyder, "Hey, why don't you just package next year's one and this year's top pick to move up and take Calvin Johnson, he wailed, "Nooooooo! Not next year's one!'' Well, that's what it's going to take -- unless the Commanders can figure a way to make cornerback Shawn Springs and one of their smurfy receivers acceptable trade bait to move up to Detroit or Tampa Bay to get the pick to take Johnson.)
Back to Gibbs. The Commanders have been on-record saying they don't want to touch next year's full complement of draft picks. And they've been telling teams in trade talks they're not dealing next year's selections. But I am dubious. Very dubious. And Gibbs sort of fed into that on Thursday, telling me, "It depends on the situation. We'd love to have a full draft next year. But if a situation comes up like with Chris Cooley a couple of years ago [in 2004, Washington traded a second-round pick in the 2005 draft for a third-round pick that they used on Cooley], we're going to investigate it.''
On the plane ride back from Columbus, the three-headed decision-making Politburo of the 'Skins -- Gibbs, Snyder and vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato -- went over the various scenarios they'll face in the next couple of days. They discussed moving up (Snyder and Detroit's MattMillen talked on the phone today), moving down and standing pat. They discussed how willing they'd be to touch next year's crop of picks. At the end of the chat, Gibbs said, "OK, now we're all thoroughly confused. What are we doing?''
And that, ladies and gentlemen, sums up a lot of what's happening in draft rooms around the league.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/04/26/draft.five.things/index.html
Snyder cautioned me Thursday afternoon, back at Commanders Park, not to read much into the trip to see Ginn. It's part of the team's tour to either visit the top 25 prospects in the draft, or have them visit the team's facility in northern Virginia. And I buy that. Ginn's not a fit for the Commanders, not at No. 6 in the first round. But if one of the Commanders' options Saturday comes through -- like trading down to acquire more picks, seeing that they have only one measly choice in the first four rounds -- then I see guys like Ginn and defensive end Adam Carriker very much on their radar screen.
Rough weekend for the Commanders. What to do, what to do. When you pick sixth overall, then you don't pick 'til the middle of Sunday afternoon (fifth round, pick 143 overall), getting that one selection right might be the most important single decision any team has to make this draft weekend. Unless, of course, Washington wheels and deals that No. 6 pick into something else. So I asked Joe Gibbs on Thursday: Why don't you do what this organization almost always does -- borrow from next year's draft to move up this year and take the player you really want.
(Snyder Interlude: When I told Snyder, "Hey, why don't you just package next year's one and this year's top pick to move up and take Calvin Johnson, he wailed, "Nooooooo! Not next year's one!'' Well, that's what it's going to take -- unless the Commanders can figure a way to make cornerback Shawn Springs and one of their smurfy receivers acceptable trade bait to move up to Detroit or Tampa Bay to get the pick to take Johnson.)
Back to Gibbs. The Commanders have been on-record saying they don't want to touch next year's full complement of draft picks. And they've been telling teams in trade talks they're not dealing next year's selections. But I am dubious. Very dubious. And Gibbs sort of fed into that on Thursday, telling me, "It depends on the situation. We'd love to have a full draft next year. But if a situation comes up like with Chris Cooley a couple of years ago [in 2004, Washington traded a second-round pick in the 2005 draft for a third-round pick that they used on Cooley], we're going to investigate it.''
On the plane ride back from Columbus, the three-headed decision-making Politburo of the 'Skins -- Gibbs, Snyder and vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato -- went over the various scenarios they'll face in the next couple of days. They discussed moving up (Snyder and Detroit's MattMillen talked on the phone today), moving down and standing pat. They discussed how willing they'd be to touch next year's crop of picks. At the end of the chat, Gibbs said, "OK, now we're all thoroughly confused. What are we doing?''
And that, ladies and gentlemen, sums up a lot of what's happening in draft rooms around the league.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/04/26/draft.five.things/index.html
