Revisiting the Redskins' draft choices the last few years

Every time fans or talking heads suggest the Redskins should trade draft picks away, it makes me laugh. Not only because the Redskins are deficient in overall team talent, but because they've been trading away draft selections for years, and it hasn't been an effective strategy. Dan Snyder and the team's front office has (until recently, hopefully) completely refused to hold onto their allotment of draft picks.

Is it really surprising that the team's most successful draft in years may end up being last year's draft, when the team traded down a few times and selected 12 players? Time will tell how good those 12 players are, but most of them contributed at least something this season, which is a lot more than can be said about most of the team's drafts in the last decade-plus.

Mike Shanahan may have the final word on personnel decisions, but the Redskins' scouting and personnel departments haven't changed that much. Besides the departure of Vinny Cerrato, the guy previously calling the shots, things aren't much different. And that should be reason enough to hold onto as many picks as possible: More picks mean more chances.

Let's take a look at the last three drafts (2009, 2010, and 2011). In those drafts, starting with 2009, the Redskins had six, seven (third-rounder used in 2009 supplemental draft), and 12 draft choices, respectively. Take a guess which one's better.

2009:

1st: Brian Orakpo
3rd: Kevin Barnes
5th: Cody Glenn
6th: Robert Henson
7th: Eddie Williams
7th: Marko Mitchell

2010:

1st: Trent Williams
3rd: Jeremy Jarmon (2009 supplemental pick)
4th: Perry Riley
6th: Dennis Morris
7th: Terrence Austin
7th: Erik Cook
7th: Selvish Capers

2011:

1st: Ryan Kerrigan
2nd: Jarvis Jenkins
3rd: Leonard Hankerson
4th: Roy Helu
5th: Dejon Gomes
5th: Niles Paul
6th: Evan Royster
6th: Aldrick Robinson
7th: Brandyn Thompson
7th: Maurice Hurt
7th: Markus White
7th: Chris Neild

Again, who knows how all of those 2011 picks will pan out. But it's probably a good idea to stick with the 2011 strategy over the other two years. Yes, I know that this analysis is only looking back at the last three drafts, and the Redskins have obviously picked some talented players in previous drafts. But they've done so without stockpiling picks, which has also prevented them from creating depth at key positions.

The only players from 2009 and 2010 who have really contributed are Orakpo, Williams, and Riley. Barnes has received playing time, but he hasn't been very good. He also may not be on the roster next season because of his overall ineffectiveness. Austin and Cook haven't done much either. Of those 13 picks, only those six are still with the team -- which is hilariously bad. The worst pick of the bunch is probably Jarmon, selected in the 2009 supplemental draft. The Redskins forfeited a third-round pick for Jarmon's services, and right now he's out of the league. Jarmon was originally selected as a defensive end when the Redskins utilized a 4-3 defense, so the selection was at least defensible at the time. But after being traded to and subsequently released by the Broncos earlier this season, Jarmon may not get another NFL opportunity. Either way, I guess, that pick was wasted.

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If you're on board with the Redskins trading away future draft picks in order to get Andrew Luck (unlikely) or Robert Griffin III (more possible), that's just fine. I'd be extremely happy if the Redskins finally acquired/drafted a franchise quarterback. That's the team's biggest need. But trading away multiple draft choices, particularly first- and second-round picks, is not something that I agree with, especially when examining the team's draft resume the last few years. Obviously it's a requirement to analyze each trade individually, but trading up in the first few rounds is rarely cheap.

Yes, the NFL is a quarterbacks' league; most great teams have outstanding quarterbacks. But I shudder at the thought of the Redskins giving up the farm for a quarterback who ends up with the skills of someone like Mark Sanchez. Give me 2011's strategy instead, even if that means missing out on Luck and Griffin.

Not overreacting to Grossman's solid game

In Week 1 against a wounded Giants defense, Rex Grossman completed 21 of 34 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns. And he did so even though a couple of receivers dropped catchable passes and while under heavy pressure at times (he was sacked four times). Even the most optimistic Grossman supporters likely didn't think he'd play as well as he did.

Still, Grossman did have one unfortunate play: a crucial fumble early in the fourth quarter that led to a field goal attempt by the Giants. Fortunately, Brian Orakpo blocked the kick, and Grossman (aided by an Antrel Rolle unsportsmanlike conduct penalty) marched the offense down the field and put the game away with a four-yard touchdown pass to Jabar Gaffney.

Grossman looked more than competent in the Redskins' first game, and he seemed more than comfortable in a familiar offense. But he was hardly the only unheralded quarterback to have a solid Week 1. Sure, top quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees had fantastic games, but that's expected. Grossman's strong start wasn't, and neither were great performances by:

Ryan Fitzpatrick: 17-25, 208 yards, 4 TD vs. Kansas City
Cam Newton: 24-37, 422 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT vs. Arizona
Chad Henne: 30-49, 416 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT vs. New England

The surprising thing about Fitzpatrick's game is the four touchdowns, but at least he had a decent 2010 season (meaning he'd put up OK numbers before). Henne did not; he threw more interceptions (19) than touchdown passes (15) last season. And Newton wasn't expected to put up those kinds of numbers in his NFL debut, regardless of which defense he was facing.

None of these quarterbacks will play this well all season. That's not exactly a strong statement to make, especially since only one game has been played. But that also doesn't mean that Grossman, or the other three quarterbacks, can't exceed expectations and have better seasons than others predicted. Maybe Fitzpatrick and Henne have improved. Maybe Newton is better than the experts thought. And maybe Grossman really is better in an offense he's been studying and practicing in for a few years now. Or maybe none of these things continues.

But here's what we know: The Redskins offense, led by Grossman, looked pretty good on Sunday. Grossman found open receivers all game long, many of them down the field. If the Redskins get more consistent offensive line play and receivers keep getting open, there's no reason to think that Grossman won't keep finding them. And there's also no reason to believe that he will all of a sudden stop turning the ball over at inopportune times. He can still be effective, just probably not that effective. He is, after all, Rex Grossman, and he'll need a few more games like Sunday's before fans stop saying that.

Redskins trade back, then select Ryan Kerrigan at No. 16

If the goal for the Redskins was not to do anything stupid, then they achieved that with their first move of the night. Then they decided to take a minor gamble.

Not content to just take someone they targeted at No. 10 (which may have been DE/LB Ryan Kerrigan anyway), the Redskins traded the pick to the Jaguars. In exchange for that pick, the Skins received the 16th pick and a second-round choice (49th overall). It's likely that the Skins wanted to move out of the 10th slot the whole time, or maybe another player they wanted just didn't drop to them. Either way, they got a player they really liked in Kerrigan.

Kerrigan seems like a guy who will fit well in the Redskins' 3-4 defense as an outside linebacker. Here's a brief summary of his skills via ESPN DraftTracker:

What he brings: Kerrigan lacks elite size and athleticism, but when you put on the film he shows the instincts to find the ball and make plays. He'll play outside linebacker for the Redskins and will be at his best moving forward rather than playing in reverse. He has above-average first-step quickness and a wide array of pass-rush moves to provide an immediate upgrade to the pass rush opposite Redskins OLB Brian Orakpo.

How he fits: He should fit nicely in Jim Haslett's 3-4 defense. The Redskins have really needed a bookend for their best pass-rusher, Brian Orakpo, who will now see less double teams. Right now, the other starter, Lorenzo Alexander, is probably a better run stopper than pass rusher and even though Kerrigan is not an elite edge rusher, he is a try-hard guy who will greatly improve the pressure this unit tries to create.

So he's not a perfect choice, but he has a lot of talent and is a hard-nosed player who won't be out of place in this defense. That already seems like a change of pace from a team that usually doesn't have any kind of organized plan and frequently tries to fit square pegs into round holes. An enormous defensive lineman or two will go a long way to making this pick look better, but it's a step in the right direction that the Redskins are seeking out the ability to get more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Instead of reaching for a quarterback too early, the Redskins ended up with a useful player and an extra draft choice. There's a lot of work still to be done, but is there really that much to complain about right now?

Rams 30, Redskins 16: a familiar feeling returns

In the first two weeks of the season, the Redskins gave up a lot of yards. In the Week 1 Redskins win over Dallas, the Cowboys gained 380 yards but were held to just seven points. Then in a Week 2 shootout, the Texans gained a whopping 526 yards and earned a comeback victory in a 30-27 win over the Redskins. In two weeks, that adds up to 906 yards -- way too many to give up. Still, traveling to St. Louis to play the Rams, the Redskins were supposed to blitz and confuse a rookie quarterback, Sam Bradford, starting only his third NFL game.

And that didn't happen. Instead, Bradford completed 23 of 37 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown as the Rams outplayed the Redskins and won, 30-16. Most of Bradford's passes were short ones, but that strategy worked to perfection since not only did it get the ball out of Bradford's hands quickly, but it also forced the Redskins linebackers to cover, which didn't work out very well for Washington. Failing to really pressure and frustrate Bradford -- the Redskins only had one sack, by Brian Orakpo -- the Redskins allowed 30 points and 365 yards to, at the very least, an average Rams team.

One of the main reasons that the Redskins hired Jim Haslett and switched to the 3-4 defense was to get more pressure on opposing quarterbacks and create more turnovers. Against the Rams, the Redskins got a Kareem Moore interception, but that was their only turnover besides a Rams fumble on a kickoff return. One sack and one forced turnover simply isn't enough, especially against the Rams. And with their next four games against the Eagles, Packers, Colts, and Bears, not only is the subpar defense going to be under attack, but the Redskins missed a golden opportunity to move to 2-1 with the toughest part of their schedule coming.

The defense was pretty bad; the offense wasn't much better. Donovan McNabb played just about as well as Bradford, which isn't a good thing. He finished 19-32 for 236 yards and also had one touchdown pass and one interception. He looked OK, but the offense only scored three points in the second half and couldn't get anything going. The offense also couldn't sustain many drives in the second half, and, for the game, the Rams dominated the time-of-possession margin by nearly 10 minutes.

Removing McNabb's two runs for 25 yards, the Redskins averaged over six yards per carry (15 rushes for 91 yards) in the running game. Ryan Torain, recently activated from the practice squad, had seven carries for 46 yards; Clinton Portis had seven carries for 44 yards. But even though the running game was better this week, it didn't lead to more points.

The one player who had a great game was Santana Moss -- six catches for 124 yards and a touchdown -- but even he had a horrible fumble early in the game that set the Rams up for their second touchdown. Besides the second quarter, when the Redskins outscored the Rams 13-0, just about nothing went right.

Yesterday, neither the offense nor defense were good enough to win -- a very scary thought for the rest of the season. And despite the mediocre offensive performance, the team's main focus should be to fix a broken defense, if that's possible. If it's not, the Redskins are in big trouble.

Orakpo and the 3-4 defense seem like a natural fit

I'll admit it: I haven't always agreed with Matt Mosley, who covers the NFC East for ESPN in his appropriately titled NFC East Blog. But Mosley seems to have hit the nail on the head in a recent post on Brian Orakpo, who just might be the Redskins' most destructive force on defense:

I spoke with Orakpo two weeks ago and he was thrilled to be working with new defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. He had 11 sacks while playing linebacker and defensive end in a [4-3] scheme.

Haslett told a local television station that Orakpo probably rushed the passer 200 times last season. He expects that number to be closer to 600 in 2010. I don't think there's a player on the team who will benefit more from the scheme change than Orakpo. The guy has no business dropping back in coverage. He needs to be hunting quarterbacks at all times.

Kudos to Mosley for also saying that Orakpo is the "best player on this defense" and that "16 sacks would be a pretty reasonable goal" for him next season. That would be fantastic. Also, how refreshing is it that the Redskins seem to be prepared to efficiently utilize their weapons? Orakpo is a nightmare for opposing offensive linemen to deal with, and he'll only be doing more of that next season.

Transitioning to the 3-4 scheme may not be easy, but it should be a lot more fun to watch than another season of bend-but-don't-break defense.

Thursday night pick and some links

The Thursday night games on NFL Network begin this week (Week 10), so here's my pick for that game followed with some various links that have caught my attention so far this week.

49ERS (-3) over Bears

After starting the season with an impressive 3-1 mark, the 49ers (3-5) haven't been able to win a game since, dropping four games in a row against the Falcons, Texans, Colts, and Titans. The loss to the Falcons was a blowout, by 35 points, but the other three games have been decided by 14 combined points. The Bears (4-4), meanwhile, have been almost as bad after beginning the season 3-1. They've lost three of four, with the win coming against the Browns.

The 49ers are a little bit better on defense, allowing 21.8 points per game while the Bears give up 23.9. It's also easier to run on the Bears -- 119.5 yards per game vs. 93.3 yards per game for the 49ers.

If the Bears are going to win this game, then Matt Forte is going to need one of his better performances this season. After rushing for 1,238 yards (3.9 yards per carry) and scoring eight touchdowns on the ground last year, Forte has only 441 yards on the ground and has scored just three touchdowns. His yards-per-carry average is down to 3.6, and he's just not getting the ball as much as he did last year. Part of that can certainly be attributed to poor run blocking, but Jay Cutler's presence may also be taking the ball out of Forte's hands. To be blunt, Cutler has been pretty average so far this season. He's averaging 256 passing yards per game, but his touchdown-to-interception ratio is only 14-12, which isn't that good. Plus, his 12 interceptions are tied for the 2nd-most among all quarterbacks. Cutler's quarterback rating of 83.8 is also comparable to 49ers quarterback Alex Smith's (83.3), though Smith did just start take over for Shaun Hill a couple weeks ago.

I'll give San Francisco the edge. They're at home, and they should be able to run the ball more effectively. Besides, the Crabtree curse has to end at some point, right?

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• According to Carson Cistulli, the Orioles are in a pretty good position right now -- lots of talent for not a lot of money. [FanGraphs]


• Ben Reiter ranks the top 50 free agents and list the Orioles as the "Best Fit" for Adrian Beltre (No. 9) and Billy Wagner (No. 16). [Sports Illustrated]


• Brian Orakpo hates losing, and he wants to catch Andre Carter for the team sack lead. He also may be my new favorite defensive player. [Redskins Blog]


• According to Jason Reid, Jim Zorn actually got on his players at halftime during the Falcons game:
  

  
  "He hasn't done that before, not like that, anyway," said one veteran player who requested anonymity because what occurs in the locker room is supposed to stay in the locker room.
  
  "It was just different. Maybe that's what we needed all along."
  

  
  That, or, you know, to play better. [Redskins Insider]


• Chris Horton's season is over after being placed on injured reserve with an injured toe. Running back Quinton Ganther fills his roster spot. [Pro Football Talk]


• Aaron Harang could be an interesting buy-low candidate for the Orioles, who need another veteran starter or two. [Camden Crazies]


• With injuries to guards Randy Foye, Mike James, and Javaris Crittenton, the Wizards have signed veteran guard Earl Boykins. Let the height jokes begin. [Bullets Forever]


• Gilbert Arenas turned the ball over 12 times against the Heat, and a whopping seven of them came in the third quarter. Here's what they looked like. [Truth About It]

Also, congratulations to Adam Jones for winning his first Gold Glove, whether it was truly deserved or not. It's still a great honor for a rising young star.

Reflecting on the Redskins' loss to the Panthers

After the Panthers scored the last 18 points to sneak past the Redskins 20-17 yesterday, I have to be honest: I was mad, but I wasn't surprised at all. When the Skins went up 17-2, it was more of a mirage than anything. DeAngelo Williams's fumble (recovered by Albert Haynesworth) on Carolina's first offensive play set the Redskins up with excellent field position at the 13 yard line, as did DeAngelo Hall's interception in the third quarter that he returned 44 yards to the Carolina 1. So by forcing two turnovers in Carolina territory, the offense only had to go a combined 14 yards for two touchdowns -- that's 14 points. The Redskins scored only three more points, which is completely unacceptable. But is it shocking? No.

And that's the level the Redskins are at right now. The offense is so terrible that basically being spotted 14 points wasn't enough to pull out a win. Besides not scoring enough points, the offense had only 198 yards of total offense. Nice work, guys.

Other notes:

• Let's start with the good. The defense forced two turnovers and held the Panthers to 248 total yards. Carolina's running game was more than held in check by the Washington defense: On 32 carries, the Panthers averaged only 2.7 yards per carry. Carolina's longest drive of the game was also only 57 yards, and when Carolina scored three times in the second half, their drives were relatively short: 40 yards (TD), 38 yards (FG), and 12 yards (TD).


• Andre Carter had 2.5 sacks, and Brian Orakpo had half a sack. The Redskins forced a decent amount of pressure on Jake Delhomme, who looked average at best. So the defense didn't give up much yardage, forced two turnovers to set up the offense, and rushed the passer effectively -- which is basically what everyone has wanted from the defense. And it still wasn't enough to get a win.


• Jason Campbell finished the game 17-23 for 145 yards and a touchdown. For the amount of pressure he was under -- the Panthers had five sacks -- he was pretty efficient. But besides the touchdown pass to Clinton Portis, there weren't many, if any, explosive plays in the passing game.


• The rushing attack was ineffective. Portis ran 19 times for only 57 yards -- a three-yard average. He did run for a touchdown though, so that's something.


• No receiver had more than 44 receiving yards. Those 44 yards came from Santana Moss, who had four catches. The rest of the receiving corps combined for 13 catches and 101 yards. Shockingly, Chris Cooley failed to catch a pass, and I don't remember Campbell throwing his way even one time, but I could be wrong.


• As mentioned before, the Panthers had five sacks, and the offensive line looked really bad. Losing Chris Samuels so early in the game was a significant loss. The line failed to open up many holes for Portis, and by pushing the Skins' line back inside the five, the Panthers forced a safety. The Redskins have to have the worst offensive line depth in the NFL.


• Shaun Suisham made his only field goal attempt, and Glenn Pakulak filled in for Hunter Smith with an average game. The biggest play of the game, though, came when a player was pushed into Byron Westbrook on a punt return. The ball bounced off Westbrook and was recovered by Carolina deep in Redskins' territory. It's hard to believe that an opposing player can just shove a blocker into a returner, but these are the kinds of plays that happen to the Redskins on a routine basis. Losing teams put themselves in situations like that.


• The Redskins' clock management and Jim Zorn's carelessness with timeouts was terrible. When the Redskins needed to stop the clock late in the fourth quarter, all of their timeouts were gone.


• DeAngelo Hall's inability to tackle Jake Delhomme in the open field with the game on the line was hard to believe. Even Deion Sanders was (probably) shaking his head after that tackling attempt.

Now 2-3, the Redskins face the Chiefs, another team seeking its first win, at home on Sunday. If Kansas City wins, the Redskins will have allowed three teams to gain their first victory against them (not counting the Giants in the season opener).

Weekly Rundown: Campbell, Vitale, Zaun

Weekly Rundown is a combination of links and brief comments on stories and topics that I couldn't get to during the week. If there's something important that I missed, don't hesitate to send an email or leave a comment.

• The Redskins improved their defense by adding Albert Haynesworth and Brian Orakpo, but the offensive line is a legitimate concern. [Shutdown Corner]


• Jason Campbell is working hard and trying to be a team leader. [Pro Football Talk]


• According to John Feinstein, Tony Kornheiser is a diva when it comes to parking:
  

  
  Last February on a Saturday morning I’d just finished working out when my phone rang. It was my pal Sally Jenkins. She was in town and she and Tony wanted to go to that day’s Maryland game to, “show Gary support.” No doubt the two of them walking in would mean the end of any further controversy involving Coach Gary Williams.
  
  “Why don’t you go with us?” she said.
  
  “I’m going to another game,” I said.
  
  There was a pause. “Can we have your parking pass?”
  
  The real reason for the call. “Sure you can,” I said. “But it isn’t on the loading dock (right next to the back door) where Tony likes to park. You’ll have to walk about 50 yards.” (Since I rarely go to Maryland games these days the only time I’d ask Gary for a spot on the loading dock would be if I HAD to go and it was snowing or freezing cold).
  
  Sally called back soon after to say they didn’t need the pass. Tony had called Gary a few hours before tipoff and Gary had gotten him onto the loading dock. [Feinstein on the Brink]
  



• T.O.'s reality show isn't really doing that well. [FanHouse]


• Delonte West almost makes JaVale McGee look normal. [Ball Don't Lie]


• The Nets are expecting Jarvis Hayes to take on a larger role next season. Good luck with that. [Nets Daily]


• Although I do agree with Gene Wojciechowski, the best way to leave Bartman alone is to stop writing about him. [ESPN]


• Maryland fails to make Dick Vitale's preseason top 40, but Duke, of course, is in his top five. [ESPN]


• Chris Mortensen offers this interesting nugget on some Minnesota Vikings players:
  

  
  As for the lovable and crazy Jared Allen, he has formed a Yahtzee league with linebackers Chad Greenway and Heath Farwell, among others. "You gotta kill some time," Allen said. "We thought about all the old games like Clue and Monopoly, but Yahtzee won out."
  

  
  As long as they're not playing on a boat, I think that's just fine. [ESPN]


• The Mottrams take down the Cooleys in a throw-off. [Mr. Irrelevant]


• Melvin Mora, Aubrey Huff, and Danys Baez have all cleared waivers. Still, I'd be surprised if they went anywhere. [Baltimore Sun]


• Jason Whitlock wrote about Jeff George -- again. [Jason Whitlock]


• Finally, Tampa Bay Rays catchers have been so bad that even Gregg Zaun offers a significant improvement at the position. [FanGraphs]

Pasquarelli examines risk in Jarmon selection

In his latest column, ESPN's Len Pasquarelli dissected the NFL supplemental draft and the Redskins' recent selection of University of Kentucky defensive end Jeremy Jarmon.

Pasquarelli on the pick:

The Redskins, who finished with the league's fifth-worst sack total in 2008 (24 sacks), chose University of Texas defensive end/linebacker Brian Orakpo with the 13th overall pick in the April draft. To add another upfield threat, the Redskins took Jarmon in the third round of the supplemental lottery. Washington didn't have a single defender with more than four sacks in 2008.

. . . Washington officials can only hope that Jarmon is as superb a prospect as Orakpo, who caused a considerable amount of buzz during the minicamps and organized team activities in the spring. If Jarmon is even close to being that good, the Redskins will have beaten the very long odds in the supplemental draft. The lottery almost never turns out a productive player.

And though he usually doesn't have many nice things to say about the Redskins and owner Daniel Snyder, Pasquarelli basically stuck to the facts in examining the history of the supplemental draft. Long quote here:

Of the 37 players chosen in the supplemental draft from 1977 to 2008, nine never played a single snap in an NFL regular-season game. Seventeen of them never started even one contest. Just five carved out NFL careers that included 100 or more appearances. The average career span for those previous 37 supplemental prospects is 41.8 games, or barely the equivalent of 2½ full seasons in the league. There have been no eventual Hall of Fame players chosen in the supplemental draft, although wide receiver and ESPN analyst Cris Carter has a good chance of some day being inducted to the Canton shrine. The supplemental drafts have produced only four Pro Bowl participants.

. . . Little wonder so few teams participate in the supplemental draft. Seven franchises have never made a supplemental pick. Fifteen others have made just one.

There have been eight first-round choices used, none since 1992. But even some of the top lottery picks -- like linebacker Brian Bosworth (Seattle Seahawks[,] 1987), and quarterbacks Steve Walsh (Dallas, 1989), Timm Rosenbach (Arizona Cardinals 1989) and Dave Brown (New York Giants, 1992) -- never approximated expectations.

Consider the 10 supplemental players selected in the past 10 years. Four are out of the NFL altogether, and another has zero starts the past two years. Tailback Tony Hollings of Georgia Tech, chosen by the Houston Texans in the second round in 2003, has not registered a rushing attempt since 2004. Offensive lineman Milford Brown (Houston in the sixth round, 2002) has played with four different teams in seven seasons.

Well, Jarmon certainly has his work cut of for him.

I have to be honest: When I first started reading the article, I thought Pasquarelli was going to rip the Redskins for daring to use a (2010) third-round pick on Jarmon. Unfortunately for him, that's pretty hard to do when a few other teams, including the Eagles and Lions, were reportedly ready to pounce if Jarmon fell to the fourth round.

To summarize, based on the odds that Pasquarelli provides, Jarmon probably won't be a star. But the Redskins don't need him to be one; they're just hoping that he can develop into a competent defensive end who can improve the team's pass rushing abilities in the near future. The pick wasn't really made for the upcoming season, so Jarmon has some time to learn. And, more than likely, he'll need it.

Weekly Rundown: Orakpo, Braxton Dupree, Hillenbrand

Weekly Rundown is a combination of links and brief comments on stories and topics that I couldn't get to during the week. If there's something important that I missed, don't hesitate to send an email or leave a comment.

• With the 13th pick in the first round, the Redskins took defensive end Brian Orakpo, who many analysts figured would already be off the board. Orakpo should see lots of playing time, especially since his main competition is Renaldo Wynn and Phillip Daniels. [Redskins Insider]


• Should the O's top prospects be promoted to the majors as soon as possible? Rick Maese thinks it couldn't hurt, though using Brad Bergesen's first start as an example isn't really a strong argument. My opinion: Andy MacPhail knows what he's doing. [Baltimore Sun]


• Braxton Dupree intends to transfer from Maryland. [Baltimore Sun]


• Keith Law doesn't understand the contract the Nationals gave Ryan Zimmerman:

  
  Ryan (Richmond): Is it possible that Jim Bowden kidnapped Rizzo and is still showing up to work every day in a Rizzo mask? Sending down Milledge, all this uproar over the Dukes thing, giving Zim that huge deal. None of this seems productive to me.
  
  Keith Law: Don't forget the release of Shawn Hill, too. That Zimmerman contract ... wow. They gave him Markakis money and he's maybe half the player Markakis is. They gave him more than Youkilis got (adjusting for the years covered - Alex Speier pointed this out on WEEI.com) and he's not half the player Youkilis is. There should be no "face of the franchise" premium. If that's your face, put some damn makeup on. [ESPN]
  



• Amy K. Nelson describes the curious case of former first-round pick Matt Harrington, who turned down three big contracts and now works at Costco. [ESPN]


• Check out this article and video of a three-year-old baseball-hitting prodigy. [SweetSpot]


• Remember Shea Hillenbrand? Here's a fascinating feature on what he's doing now and what happened during his playing career, including his infamous confrontation with then-Blue Jays coach John Gibbons:
  

  
  Hillenbrand said the atmosphere in Toronto was 'circus-like' and to him it seemed like some of the players, despite the team's struggles on the field, were constantly joking.
  
  "It was like they weren't respecting the game," he said. "The team had just spent a lot of money and we weren't producing as a team. We were going downhill and the atmosphere in the clubhouse was circus-like. We had a players-only meeting and I was put in a position where I felt they wanted me to leave. I wrote 'the ship is sinking' on the board and another player wrote something like 'play for your paycheck.' The hitting coach saw it on the board and left, and then the manager (John Gibbons) came in and asked who did it. I said I did it. He tried to fight me there, calling me out in front of everyone.
  
  "Do I regret writing that? Yes. It's something I shouldn’t have done. But when a player gets put in a position where the team doesn't allow you to go visit your family, you stand up for yourself. I stood up for myself and I stood up for my teammates – and I'm the bad guy?"
  

  
  But that's just one part, and the article is definitely worth a read. [The Herald News via MLB Trade Rumors]