Why not an OT, and why a TE and WR instead?

[frankcal20]

I'm guessing that like every year, there will be a ton of guys who get cut at the end of training camp and we can bring them in to compete for a spot. I think they like the current health at the positions. Another thing though is that there is so much money committed to the position that they can not bring in high priced guys who've been in the league for years b/c even if they get the vet. minimum, its still too much for us. Its gonna be UFA's, 1 year or 2 year guys. Thats it.

[Irn-Bru]

Or every team's strategy, since no team picked him until the 5th round?

Well, very few people on THN aside from CanesSkins and brad are calling Cody Glenn a 'reach'. If all it takes is a team picking the player to legitimize him where he went, then why shouldn't the Redskins' decision not to take Meredith be open for questions?

When we picked the CB in the 3rd round, Meredith was near the top of Kiper's "Best Available" list. We could have picked him again in the 5th round, and I'd be willing to bet that most of THN would be calling it a great "value" pick—to meet an area of need to boot. It seems to me as though a lot is turning on the historical accident of whether or not we took him.

[Irn-Bru]

Mike Williams is a former #4 overall pick. I'm guessing they figure to go into this season with what we already have, and address the OL in future drafts, when we have more picks and a deeper field from which to choose.

Yeah, this is the conclusion I'm reaching about what our FO is thinking. I can't say that I agree with the strategy, though.

[frankcal20]

We can carry a ton of guys into camp right now so why not bring him in for this weekends mini-camp and see if he can hang. If not, cut him.

[DEHog]

Or every team's strategy, since no team picked him until the 5th round?

Well, very few people on THN aside from CanesSkins and brad are calling Cody Glenn a 'reach'. If all it takes is a team picking the player to legitimize him where he went, then why shouldn't the Redskins' decision not to take Meredith be open for questions?

When we picked the CB in the 3rd round, Meredith was near the top of Kiper's "Best Available" list. We could have picked him again in the 5th round, and I'd be willing to bet that most of THN would be calling it a great "value" pick—to meet an area of need to boot. It seems to me as though a lot is turning on the historical accident of whether or not we took him.

Well said

[NJ-SKINS-FAN]

we needed OL

all you have to do is read my sig and you can see we need OL to help this "O"

[CanesSkins26]

We can carry a ton of guys into camp right now so why not bring him in for this weekends mini-camp and see if he can hang. If not, cut him.

Do you mean Mike Williams? He wont be participating in this weekend's mini-camp because he currently weighs over 400 pounds.

Zorn also said that tackle Mike Williams, signed Friday, will miss minicamp as he begins trying to shed weight. Williams is at 410 pounds - at one point he reached 450, Zorn said - and the Redskins hope to have him around 370 by training camp. Williams has not played an NFL game since 2005.

[Gibbs4Life]

We blew it on getting Meredith or Murtha. Cody Glenn was a special teams pick and Henson will be groomed at MLB, still for this season OL was a need and we ignored it in the draft.

[NJ-SKINS-FAN]

We can carry a ton of guys into camp right now so why not bring him in for this weekends mini-camp and see if he can hang. If not, cut him.

Do you mean Mike Williams? He wont be participating in this weekend's mini-camp because he currently weighs over 400 pounds.

Zorn also said that tackle Mike Williams, signed Friday, will miss minicamp as he begins trying to shed weight. Williams is at 410 pounds - at one point he reached 450, Zorn said - and the Redskins hope to have him around 370 by training camp. Williams has not played an NFL game since 2005.

450!!
410!!
DOWN TO 370???????

HAS NOT PLAYED SINCE 2005?????????????? 4 YEARS......WASTE OF TIME

THIS GUY IS A WASTE OF TIME........WILL NOT MAKE THIS TEAM, IF HE DOES IT IS CAUSE HE IS A FILLER ON OL FOR EXTRA POINTS

[SkinsFreak]

Or every team's strategy, since no team picked him until the 5th round?

Well, very few people on THN aside from CanesSkins and brad are calling Cody Glenn a 'reach'. If all it takes is a team picking the player to legitimize him where he went, then why shouldn't the Redskins' decision not to take Meredith be open for questions?

When we picked the CB in the 3rd round, Meredith was near the top of Kiper's "Best Available" list. We could have picked him again in the 5th round, and I'd be willing to bet that most of THN would be calling it a great "value" pick—to meet an area of need to boot. It seems to me as though a lot is turning on the historical accident of whether or not we took him.

Sure it's open for questions.... from all 32 teams. Even though Kiper had Meredith listed on his best available list starting in the 3rd round, the fact still remains that 32 NFL GM's and scouts passed on the guy... several times.

Is it really a reach to consider that perhaps the Skins scouts didn't have a high grade on the guy?

Is it really a reach to consider that perhaps the Skins scouts felt a few other players graded higher and considered them to be of better value?

Is it really a reach to consider that perhaps the Skins scouts and player personnel people simply felt that guys like Jansen, Heyer, Chad Rinehart (yes, Rinehart started 37 games at left tackle at Northern Iowa) Devin Clark, D’Anthony Batiste (has NFL starting experience), Will Montgomery (has NFL starting experience), Ruben Riley and Isaiah Ross might be better options for depth purposes? I know these guys aren't going to become perennial Pro Bowlers, but as Meredith is being discussed for depth purposes, these guys have to be considered for depth as well.

And I think most don't even realize that we already have a back-up center/long snapper on the roster by the name of Jeremy Cain, who has three years of NFL experience, having played in 17 career games, although primarily as a long snapper and on special teams.

Both Zorn and Cerrato said in their pressers that they were trying to find o-line help, but the draft board and players available didn't fall the way they had hoped. Therefore, I refuse to believe that the coaches and scouts think our o-line is perfect or they simply overlooked it. They've graded these draft prospects and they've also graded our current roster.

[SkinsFreak]

We blew it on getting Meredith or Murtha. Cody Glenn was a special teams pick and Henson will be groomed at MLB, still for this season OL was a need and we ignored it in the draft.

Yet they signed some o-lines guys about 5 minutes after the draft ended.

[Deadskins]

Zorn also said that tackle Mike Williams, signed Friday, will miss minicamp as he begins trying to shed weight. Williams is at 410 pounds - at one point he reached 450, Zorn said - and the Redskins hope to have him around 370 by training camp.

Don't understand why he would have to miss mini-camp, though.
Couldn't he lose weight and attend? It's not like the two are mutually exclusive.

[brad7686]

We blew it on getting Meredith or Murtha. Cody Glenn was a special teams pick and Henson will be groomed at MLB, still for this season OL was a need and we ignored it in the draft.

Yet they signed some o-lines guys about 5 minutes after the draft ended.

Yea, bad ones that won't make the team.

[SkinsFreak]

Redskins Look to Young O-Linemen to Step Up
By Gary Fitzgerald
Redskins.com
Posted: April 27, 2009


Offensive line was widely regarded as a need for the Redskins heading into the 2009 NFL Draft.

The way the draft board lined up, the team was not able to come away with an offensive lineman in their six picks.

Vinny Cerrato and Jim Zorn both said the Redskins will look to some of the team’s young linemen to emerge in 2009.

That group includes third-year player Stephon Heyer and second-year players Chad Rinehart and Devin Clark.

Zorn also mentioned D’Anthony Batiste, a third-year player signed last December, as a prospect to watch.

“I’m not disappointed we haven’t drafted an offensive lineman,” Zorn said. “We are developing some of our linemen. We are hoping that Chad Rinehart develops into an outstanding offensive lineman. D’Anthony Batiste--we hope he can develop.”

Added Cerrato: “It wasn’t a deep draft for offensive linemen. For guards, it was not a very good draft. There were some good centers, but they all went late in the first round and we didn’t have a second round pick.

“When we got to the third round, [cornerback] Kevin Barnes was the highest rated guy we had on the board. That is why we went that direction. There really wasn’t an offensive lineman we liked at that spot.”

Now that the draft is over, the Redskins are expected to sign offensive linemen as undrafted rookie free agents.

Coaches are prepared to enter training camp this summer with a competition at right tackle.

Heyer and incumbent Jon Jansen, a 10-year veteran, are expected to battle for the starting job.

Team officials are also keeping an eye on Randy Thomas, who had neck surgery this offseason.

Thomas and Chris Samuels, recovering from triceps surgery, are not expected to participate in mini-camp and the early part of OTAs.

And then there’s newcomer Mike Williams.

Williams signed with the Redskins on April 24, one day before the start of the NFL Draft.

Williams, 29, is a 5-year NFL veteran who has played for the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars. He has played both tackle and guard in his career.

A former first-round draft pick by the Bills, Williams has not played since 2005 and he has not been on an NFL roster since 2006.

Williams, who stands at 6-6 in height, currently weighs about 410 pounds, according to Zorn. When he last played in the NFL, he was 360 pounds.

Williams is expected to work with the team’s strength and conditioning coaches to get his weight down and get in playing shape.

“What we are going to do with Mike is for this first month, he will work with the strength coaches and the rehab guys, work on conditioning and work on some drill work with Joe Bugel to get ready for June OTAs,” Cerrato said.

Williams had been living with Derrick Dockery and his wife in Northern Virginia prior to the team signing him.

“Derrick told me about him and asked, ‘Will you contact him?’” Cerrato said. “We said we wanted to bring him over and work out before the draft and see what he looked like. We thought it might help us decide what we are going to do in the draft.

“When you get past the point in the draft where you don’t feel like there is a starting guy there, then you just go on to other positions.”

[brad7686]

Jamon Meredith

2nd among all Offensive Linemen in the 40

t-4th among all Offensive Linemen in the bench

Projected to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick by every major scouting entity out there, and keep in mind, these guys work hand in hand with NFL teams.

Finished high in the broad jump, although I don't know if that means anything.

The Packers took him even though they took an OT equally as talented a round earlier, just because they couldn't believe he was still there. McShay praised them for getting him in the fifth and believes he could start there in a year or two.

Only real knock is that he could add a few pounds to his frame.

Was on Kiper's best 10 players available since the beginning of round 3.

Who did we get instead? Cody Glenn. Well done.

[SkinsFreak]

Brad, Meredith is already being discussed in this thread. Please keep all related discussion here. Thanks amigo...

[brad7686]

Brad, Meredith is already being discussed in this thread. Please keep all related discussion here. Thanks amigo...

My bad

[HEROHAMO]

I am surprised that some of you are surprised.

We all knew that Snyder and Cerrato where gonna do a couple things that did not make sense. Why did we draft a tight end? Why did we not take at least the best tackle left on there talent board? Yes many of us question the moves.

I am at the point where I am just happy that they have a strategy and are sticking with it. We drafted Orakpo and am pretty stoked with that move. Really Really happy we did not give away draft picks.

Oh wait we still have a whole year to go till next season. Anything can happen between now and then. So far so good.

[PulpExposure]

Jamon Meredith

2nd among all Offensive Linemen in the 40

t-4th among all Offensive Linemen in the bench

Projected to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick by every major scouting entity out there, and keep in mind, these guys work hand in hand with NFL teams.

Finished high in the broad jump, although I don't know if that means anything.

The Packers took him even though they took an OT equally as talented a round earlier, just because they couldn't believe he was still there. McShay praised them for getting him in the fifth and believes he could start there in a year or two.

If the Packers really liked him, or thought that much of him, they would have gotten him with their earlier pick.


Again, it wasn't just the Redskins who passed on this guy.

EVERY NFL TEAM PASSED ON THIS GUY, multiple times, until he was picked in the 5th round.

[Deadskins]

Why did we draft a tight end? Why did we not take at least the best tackle left on there talent board? Yes many of us question the moves.

Maybe because they aren't planning to play him as a TE?
Maybe they thought he has a better chance of contributing this year than an OT that was rated further down their board at the time of the pick. I'm pretty sure they didn't just forget that we need OL help, and took a TE just because Jason likes to dump off short passes to ey.

[brad7686]

Jamon Meredith

2nd among all Offensive Linemen in the 40

t-4th among all Offensive Linemen in the bench

Projected to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick by every major scouting entity out there, and keep in mind, these guys work hand in hand with NFL teams.

Finished high in the broad jump, although I don't know if that means anything.

The Packers took him even though they took an OT equally as talented a round earlier, just because they couldn't believe he was still there. McShay praised them for getting him in the fifth and believes he could start there in a year or two.

If the Packers really liked him, or thought that much of him, they would have gotten him with their earlier pick.


Again, it wasn't just the Redskins who passed on this guy.

EVERY NFL TEAM PASSED ON THIS GUY, multiple times, until he was picked in the 5th round.

Because the guy they took the round before was also a good OT. Apparently they were the only team even considering taking OT's. If he's a fifth round pick on your board instead of a 3rd, then why not take him in the fifth instead of Cody frickin Glenn

[brad7686]

Does anybody want to make a bet with me about who will be a better NFL player between Jamon Meredith and Cody Glenn? Say maybe a hundred bucks? Apparently 7/8 of this board does, so I will enjoy making that money.

[Deadskins]

Jamon Meredith

2nd among all Offensive Linemen in the 40

t-4th among all Offensive Linemen in the bench

Projected to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick by every major scouting entity out there, and keep in mind, these guys work hand in hand with NFL teams.

Finished high in the broad jump, although I don't know if that means anything.

The Packers took him even though they took an OT equally as talented a round earlier, just because they couldn't believe he was still there. McShay praised them for getting him in the fifth and believes he could start there in a year or two.

If the Packers really liked him, or thought that much of him, they would have gotten him with their earlier pick.


Again, it wasn't just the Redskins who passed on this guy.

EVERY NFL TEAM PASSED ON THIS GUY, multiple times, until he was picked in the 5th round.

Because the guy they took the round before was also a good OT. Apparently they were the only team even considering taking OT's. If he's a fifth round pick on your board instead of a 3rd, then why not take him in the fifth instead of Cody frickin Glenn

What are you gonna do if Cody frickin Glenn becomes a draft gem?

[brad7686]

Jamon Meredith

2nd among all Offensive Linemen in the 40

t-4th among all Offensive Linemen in the bench

Projected to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick by every major scouting entity out there, and keep in mind, these guys work hand in hand with NFL teams.

Finished high in the broad jump, although I don't know if that means anything.

The Packers took him even though they took an OT equally as talented a round earlier, just because they couldn't believe he was still there. McShay praised them for getting him in the fifth and believes he could start there in a year or two.

If the Packers really liked him, or thought that much of him, they would have gotten him with their earlier pick.


Again, it wasn't just the Redskins who passed on this guy.

EVERY NFL TEAM PASSED ON THIS GUY, multiple times, until he was picked in the 5th round.

Because the guy they took the round before was also a good OT. Apparently they were the only team even considering taking OT's. If he's a fifth round pick on your board instead of a 3rd, then why not take him in the fifth instead of Cody frickin Glenn

What are you gonna do if Cody frickin Glenn becomes a draft gem?

I'll pay up. He has about as much of a shot as Dallas Sartz. Everybody thought i was wrong to get on Vinny about him too. We could have Mason Crosby instead and be making field goals all over the place.

[PulpExposure]

He has about as much of a shot as Dallas Sartz. Everybody thought i was wrong to get on Vinny about him too. We could have Mason Crosby instead and be making field goals all over the place.

Or we could have drafted Josh Gaddis, or Eric Frampton, or Clint Oldenberg, etc. It's brave of you to conclude that a 5th round player is a longshot to be an NFL star. Very brave.

Again, 5th, 6th, and 7th round draft picks rarely make it in the NFL. It's a freaking guessing game at that point. And if you read my post from a few pages back, there are a grand total of 7 offensive tackles who were 2008 starters in the NFL that were drafted in the 5th-7th round. And of those, only 1 (David Diehl) is anything close to an established player.

As Rich Tandler wrote:

If you want to argue that the Skins should have taken Jamon Meredith or Duke Robinson or Fenuki Tupou instead of Cody Glenn in the fifth, fine. I'll concede that one. The rest of the league, however, didn't seem to think as much of them as Kiper, Mayock, and the rest of the draft "experts" did. We can compare over the years and see how they turn out just like we do with other players the Redskins could have had like LaRon Landry vs. Amobi Okoye or Fred Davis vs. Calais Campbell.

While you can get lucky every once in a while you aren't going to solve your problem areas for this year in the fifth round and later. If you want to debate Robert Henson vs. Tackle X or Eddie Williams vs. Tackle Y, be my guest. Again, time will tell.

The Redskins didn't lose their opportunity to take a tackle in this draft over the weekend. They lost it last August when they dealt their second-round pick for Jason Taylor and when their fourth-rounder went to the Jets for Pete Kendall two years ago. That limited their options both in terms of sheer numbers and in the opportunity to move up and down. A second-round pick such as Phil Loadholt of Oklahoma would have made the whole draft look a lot better.

But you can't draft the draft you wish was there you have to work with was actually is there. Time will tell how this one will turn out.