The Right Move After All

Despite some of our comments yesterday (as well as our agreeing with Thomas Boswell that the Redskins would be better off trading the 6th overall pick), Washington has made a fine move in selecting LSU safety LaRon Landry. Perhaps more importantly, Skins management showed Draft Day maturity and skill, refusing to part with the pick in a trade-down that netted them less than what they wanted (or giving up too much to trade-up to select a bigger name, but non-needed, player), using almost all of their clock time in an attempt to milk something further out of potential trading partners. In the end, they showed uncharacteristic patience and actually used the pick they had, rather than being unhappy with their position and doing anything possible to move out of it. Even on the off chance that Landry doesn't pan out, the actions by management today should give fans hope that the freewheeling, the-player-we-want-at-any-cost mentality so prevalent in recent years is on the way out, in favor of smaller, less flashy, more prudent moves.

We do believe Landry will prevent at least some of the numerous long bombs down the middle that the Skins secondary loved to give up last year, and with his sure tackling might even stop a few running backs that have gotten past the D-line before they eat up 10-15 more yards. That D-line may arguably have been the more pressing need, but if Landry is the game-changing safety most pundits claim, this could be exactly what the Washington defense need. Sure, it would have been nice if the whole Adam whats-his-name thing had worked out, thus making this pick unnecessary, but that debacle may have been needed to finally force Snyder et al into realizing that sometimes standing pat and drafting wisely is the best course of action. With that, DCO welcomes LaRon and looks forward to he and Sean Taylor roaming the secondary this fall.