While some in the NFL thought the Broncos fleeced Washington in their Tuesday trade of draft picks, the Redskins defended their decision at a news conference Wednesday.
Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato passed out a chart that assigns values to draft positions. They said the trade was favorable according to their chart.
Denver, which was shopping its first-round pick vigorously the past week, gave Washington the No. 25 choice and received the Redskins’ third-round pick (No. 76) this year along with Washington’s picks in the first and fourth rounds next year.
“The chart that everybody uses in this league to value things, we value that pick (No. 25) at about 750 points,’ Washington coach Joe Gibbs told reporters. “And what we gave for it was somewhere around 715.’
Denver now has a second-round pick (No. 56) and three third-round picks (76, 97 and 101) Saturday along with picks in the sixth and seventh rounds Sunday. The Redskins, who also own the No. 9 pick, could package their two first-rounders to try to move up into the top five picks. There have been reports Washington is interested in drafting Auburn quarterback Jason Campbell with the No. 25 pick.
Several observers said Denver was a winner in the deal.
“I really liked what Denver did,’ ESPN analyst and former Seattle and New Orleans general manager Randy Mueller said. “The No. 25 pick will be just marginally better than their No. 2 pick (second round) this year and they will get a good player in the third, and that fourth-rounder will be a core pick next year.
“To get that with next year’s No. 1 pick from Washington, which could be a great pick, Denver did really well for itself.’
