A Look Back: The 2001 Draft

I don't think McCants and Cartwright are necessarily late-round gems in the sense that they have developed into Jessie Armsteads, Brad Johnsons, et al. What I was saying is that considering the number of late round picks that make the team that drafted them, let alone become valuable contributing members of the team, they are excellent pick-ups.

As to Sage Rosenfels being a bust.....When we drafted him I was excited. I thought he had a lot of potential. However, when I got a closer look I realized that I was wrong. Outside of the preseason, the only time I've seen him play was when Jay Fiedler was injured, Ray Lucas was injured after filling in for Fiedler, and Sage came in and looked god awful. I can't judge him based on his performance in the preseason and that one Miami game, but Washington apparently didn't think much of him. We were not exactly flush with good quarterbacks when we traded Rosenfels to Miami for a 7th round pick in the trade (remember, he was a fourth rounder). So, in my book, Rosenfels was a bust.

As to Santana Moss being a great wideout.....He looked very, very good last year. However, prior to week 3 or 4 of last season, Moss was very inconsistent. Jets fans hated Moss and often complained about how he was a wasted pick (I read the NY Time Sports Section; Online NY Jets Fan Discussion Forum). Remember the Jets brought in Curtis Conway last season to replace Coles. There was little talk of Moss filling Coles' shoes. Perhaps he just took some time to develop, but I think that overall (from their rookie years until the present) Gardner has been a better wideout. I'm not saying Gardner is an elite receiver, just that he was the second best WR from the draft.

I definately stand by my comment that Chad Johnson is best receiver to come out of the 2001 draft. I watched about 3 or 4 Bengals games last year and this guy has good hands, excellent agility and speed, and produces. Johnson is perhaps one of the best, young, underrated and emerging WRs in the league.

Yes, Snyder was very high on Moss but went with Marty on Rod. We know Rod will always be a number 2 guy, and I'm curious to see how Jacobs fits in this season. He's healthy, but will he have enough to take the three spot away from McCants?

what do you notice about all of the players in the 2002 draft listed in the first post? all offensive players. Snyder has put too much influence and pressure and drafting offensive players, when we could have picked up D lineman. I still stand by Ladell Betts, Cliff Russell, and Taylor Jacobs being absolute wastes of picks. We could have taken Mike Doss with that Jacobs pick, and then we could have taken Winslow this year and have had SS and TE locked down.

what do you notice about all of the players in the 2002 draft listed in the first post? all offensive players. Snyder has put too much influence and pressure and drafting offensive players, when we could have picked up D lineman. I still stand by Ladell Betts, Cliff Russell, and Taylor Jacobs being absolute wastes of picks. We could have taken Mike Doss with that Jacobs pick, and then we could have taken Winslow this year and have had SS and TE locked down.


It's way, way, way to early to say that Taylor Jacobs was a wasted pick. He was considered a mid-first round talent. Sure, Mike Doss would have been a nice addition to the team, but I agree with the philosophy that you take whoever is the best player on the board. Remember, people thought Ohalete would develop nicely and Bowen would be a solid addition. So, I don’t think criticism of the Jacobs pick is warranted.

Also, you are right that Snyder helped pick a lot of offensive weapons and few defensive weapons in 2002. However, we only had three picks, Taylor was a great bargain in the 2nd round, and Spurrier was an offensive-minded coach. Can you blame Snyder for wanting to give Spurrier the tools he needed to win?

Ladell Betts showed a LOT of promise in his rookie season. It is true that he was injured for much of last season, but I think we’re going to need him this year. Would you prefer Chad Morton or Trung Canidate as our backups to Clinton Portis? Gibbs is a run-first coach and he needs solid depth at RB. I feel safer with Betts backing up Portis. Plus, I don’t think you can say how good Betts really is. Have you seen enough of him? I sure haven’t.

Cliff Russell has the makings of a bust, but like Betts, what have we seen of him? He’s been involved in maybe a dozen plays in regular season games. Plus, I think he played alright in the preseason game against Jacksonville last year. People were giving him crap about not making a catch in the endzone in that game, but the game tapes clearly show defensive pass interference. I also remember Russell burning a corner in a preseason game last year but unable to catch the ball. People also gave Russell sh-t about that play. However, it is unclear whether Rob Johnson (who threw the pass) threw to the right area of the field or simply overthrew Russell. In any event, I have not seen enough of Russell to declare him a washout.

More importantly, we Redskins fans are a little spoiled. We have gotten Champ Bailey, LaVar Arrington, Chris Samuels, Patrick Ramsey, Sean Taylor, Fred Smoot, Rod Gardner, and Jon Jansen in our early picks the last several years. Of those, I can’t think of a single bust. Take a long hard look at the high picks of other teams and you will find a TON of busts. The ability to draft well in the early rounds is just as important as drafting in the later rounds. Sure, you can build a good, cheap team if you draft well in the later rounds, but for the most part, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th round picks are crap shoots. Conversely, if you screw up early round picks, you’re team is going to be hurting in more ways than one. You cap is going to be shot up (See Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith, David Terrell (of CHI-town), Gerard Warren, et al) and you’ve wasted an opportunity to draft an impact player.

I think we’ve done a damn good job of drafting over the past five years.

I agree that it's way too early to write off Jacobs as a bust. Betts is getting close to being a bust, but I think we need to see a little more of him.

Jacobs was rated as a first round pick by a lot of teams and we were originally targeting him at #13 overall before the pick was traded to NY for Coles, so to have him available with the 44th overall pick was a steal. Again, I think it's way too early to write him off, he barely played last year after his freak injury. To be fair to him, he never really got started.

As for the discussion about Rosenfels, I really can't call him a bust simply because he was a project pick, and a big reach in the 4th round. To me a bust is someone you expect to pan out and doesn't, did anyone really think Rosenfels was going to develop in to a starting quality QB? Who knows, he may eventually, but I highly doubt it.

I agree that it's way too early to write off Jacobs as a bust. Betts is getting close to being a bust, but I think we need to see a little more of him.

Jacobs was rated as a first round pick by a lot of teams and we were originally targeting him at #13 overall before the pick was traded to NY for Coles, so to have him available with the 44th overall pick was a steal. Again, I think it's way too early to write him off, he barely played last year after his freak injury. To be fair to him, he never really got started.

As for the discussion about Rosenfels, I really can't call him a bust simply because he was a project pick, and a big reach in the 4th round. To me a bust is someone you expect to pan out and doesn't, did anyone really think Rosenfels was going to develop in to a starting quality QB? Who knows, he may eventually, but I highly doubt it.

I agree with your post Matty in terms of its conclusions. I just disagree with the definition of bust. I use it to describe any pickup (through the draft or free agency) who doesn't work out. Obviously, a 4th round bust is much less serious than a 1st round bust.

As I said in my previous post, picking in rounds 4-7 is a crap shoot and so I don't think we can condemn Danny Snyder for Rosenfels not working out well.

i'd kinda have to say, if they don't help the team, then yeah, they're a bust... and trading at a loss isn't good either. You're right in that i don't think many people expected too much from him, so he's not a major bust, but he's still not good enough now to really merit a 4th round pick in retrospect. I'd rather take undrafted hassleback for (cheap) added depth, and that's who we have.

a bust in my book is a player taken in the higher rounds (1 and 2) that is a failure. 3rd rounders, they can be busts, but they werent really counted on as heavily for production. All day 2 picks IMO are not busts. 4th roudn QB's arent supposed to be starters in their early years, so Rosenfels was not a bust to me.

As I said in my previous post, picking in rounds 4-7 is a crap shoot and so I don't think we can condemn Danny Snyder for Rosenfels not working out well.

I dont think ROsenfels was a bust at all, from what I remember he was well liked by the fans to. Sage had to leave because we kept bringing in a lot of QBs, whether it was Johnson and George, or Gators alumni he just wasnt going to fit in any of the coaches plans. I think once sage gets out of miami he will remake a name for himself later in his career.

THIS ISNT ABOUT BUSTS. My point was not that Jacobs and Betts and Russell are busts, but that we could have used those picks to select need based players. Ladell Betts was predicted to go 4 or 5 round, and we scoop him up. I do agree that we have done some good drafting, with lavar, jansen etc., but all of those guys were drafted when Snyder wasnt exerting as much influence. It seems to me in recent years he has been going after offensive players at the cost of our defensive line.
It is nice to have Betts as a backup, and to have Jacobs as a backup, but wouldnt it be nicer to have a starting pass rushing lineman?