ASHBURN – Even if the Redskins want to trade up in the first round — at this point every option remains possible — reality could intrude. The Redskins would have to make a decision: How much can they afford to give up to select one player?
With no picks in the third or fourth round, if the Redskins wanted to move up to get quarterback Blaine Gabbert as some reports suggest, they would need to give up their second-round pick and a high 2012 choice as well. Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said trading up might be too much of a luxury.
“It’s a little tougher when you don’t have multiple picks, especially in the third or fourth rounds,” he said.
Which means if the Redskins trade that pick, their best option is to move back and acquire more picks. Shanahan said there are three or four players they’re targeting at No. 10.
“Now we’re talking about the possibility of moving back to get an extra draft pick or get multiple picks,” said Shanahan, who traded up five times in the first round between 2000 and 2008 with Denver and back twice.
In the past three years, the Redskins have tried but failed to acquire quarterback Jay Cutler and move up in the draft to get Mark Sanchez and Sam Bradford. They traded for Donovan McNabb last year, a move that did not work out.
Shanahan wouldn’t say that the Redskins had to exit the draft with a quarterback of the future — and he also said “more mistakes are made on quarterbacks if you look through history.” But Shanahan did say this position is “much deeper than what I’m accustomed to since I’ve been in the NFL.”
“Everybody looks for something differently in quarterbacks, and sometimes it’s a hard one to figure out,” he said. “A lot of times you have to adjust your system to your quarterback … because you’re not going to get that perfect guy.”
