ASHBURN, Va. (AP) – After the Washington Redskins finished last in the NFC East for the third straight year, coach Mike Shanahan realized his team needed lots of help. His solution: Stockpile a franchise-record number of draft picks.
The Redskins made a series of four trades over the first two days of the NFL draft, adding selections in the third, fourth and seventh rounds, plus two in the fifth – essentially by moving down just a bit in the first.
When they were picking players – which wasn’t often – they started with defense. Defensive lineman Jarvis Jenkins of Clemson was taken in the second round at No. 41 overall Friday, a day after linebacker Ryan Kerrigan of Purdue was chosen in the first at No. 16.
Meanwhile, the dealing came at a furious pace. As of late Friday, the Redskins were set to make 13 total picks, the most they’ve had since the draft was shortened to seven rounds in 1994.
They began the day with an extra second-round selection after moving down six spots in the first round in a trade with Jacksonville. They then managed to parley that pick into a hoard of lower-round choices in deals with Indianapolis, Chicago and Miami. The strategy seemed sound given that the team entered the draft without any selections in the third or fourth rounds.
Somewhere along the way, a player was chosen. Jenkins called it a “definite surprise” to be taken by the Redskins and said he expects to play nose tackle – the position Albert Haynesworth wouldn’t play last year – but he could also be used at end.
The Redskins ranked 31st in total defense in last year’s 6-10 season after switching to a 3-4 scheme
“I’m a run-stopper,” he said. “I can play double teams. I can beat double-teams. I’ve been seeing them all through Clemson. I have a big body. I’ve got a little bit more work to do on the pass rush.”
Jenkins, who weighs 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds, said he would be fine if he’s asked to do the “dirty work” along the defensive line.
“Man, I had Da’Quan Bowers on my team for three years. If anybody took all the accolades, it’s him. I’m the kind of guy that does dirty work,” Jenkins said. “As long as we’re winning games, I don’t care what they make me do. If they want me to get on two knees and just sit there, I’ll do it.”
Interestingly, Jenkins ended up getting selected before Bowers, who went at No. 51 overall to Tampa Bay. That surprised Jenkins as well.
“I wouldn’t have believed it 10 times if you told me 10 times,” Jenkins said.
The evening’s flurry of activity capped a long day at Redskins Park that began when about a dozen players showed up in the morning to work out in the weight room, the first time they’ve been allowed to do any sort of football activity inside the building since the NFL lockout was limited earlier in the week. The lockout was put by in place later in the day by an appeals court in St. Louis.
Then, at noon, the Redskins formally introduced Kerrigan, accompanied by his parents and girlfriend.
Kerrigan made a good first impression. He has a spotless reputation as a player who works hard, studies hard and has a solid family support structure at home in Muncie, Ind.
“You remember when he started out as a kid playing,” said his father, Brendan Kerrigan. “And we always would ask the coach and they’d say, ‘He’s good.’ And we’d say, ‘Are you sure?’ Especially, my wife Anita, she’d say, ‘Are you sure?’
“The high school coach wanted to move him up as a freshman to the varsity and she said, ‘I don’t want him to get hurt.’ ‘But he is good.’ And then we did the same thing at Purdue: ‘Are you sure?’ Then when they talked about pro football, the same thing ‘Are you sure?’ They said just trust us, we know what we’re doing.”
Now that he’s been plucked by the Redskins, there are no plans to direct the “Are you sure?” question to Shanahan.
“No,” mother Anita Kerrigan said with a smile. “I figured that I’d leave well enough alone.”
Ryan Kerrigan will need to use all his talents to make the switch from defensive end to outside linebacker in the 3-4 formation. He began preparing for that possibility after the college season to make himself a more attractive prospect for all 32 NFL teams.
But Washington was the place he wanted to be, something that became apparent when he came home from his predraft visit with the Redskins.
“Ryan really doesn’t say a lot,” Anita Kerrigan said. “But he’s like, ‘Yeah, I can see myself there, Mom.”’
Ryan Kerrigan said he good about the Redskins because he liked the coaching staff.
“I felt like I fit in well,” he said.
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