While Washington gave strong consideration to trading up for a quarterback in the first round of the NFL Draft, head coach Ron Rivera says the Football Team feels confident in putting together all the surrounding pieces first, then making a commitment at the QB position at a later point.
In a Monday appearance with 106.7 The Fan's Brian Mitchell and JP Finlay, Rivera was asked, "Do you think this would have been the year for you guys to make that commitment to a young guy? Or do you think maybe a year from now is when you're gonna be more aggressive on the quarterback front?"
"I think as we go forward we'll see how it all comes together," Rivera said. "But the biggest thing that we have to look at more so than anything else, really, is when is the best opportunity? Is it when the team is complete and we have what we feel are all the other pieces? Or is it while we're still putting it together. We chose to make sure, see if we can do it by putting all of our pieces together. Then we'll start thinking about making the commitment as we go forward."
Earlier Monday, Rivera confirmed to NFL Network's 'Good Morning Football' that Washington did have discussions about potentially trading up for a QB, but ultimately didn't want to part with the draft capital it would take.
"It was a big conversation we had, talking about the quarterback position, talking about the young men that we really liked a lot," Rivera said on NFL Network. "But we also talked about an opportunity to solidify some other things, and if we dealt too much draft capital, we'd lose that opportunity. And so we just thought, maybe if we slip to the right number, we could go ahead and do it. So there was a conversation. But we really felt strongly about just holding and just trying to fill the rest of the needs."
Conceptually, there weren't many realistic opportunities — outside of the top nine picks — for Washington to trade up for a QB without giving up a king's ransom. Justin Fields went 11th to Chicago, only after the Bears swapped picks with the Giants to move up. It's hard to imagine the Giants making that same deal (a fifth-rounder in 2021, and a future first and fourth) with its division rival. Same goes for the Eagles, who picked 10th, and the Cowboys, who picked 12th.
The Patriots ended up nabbing Mac Jones at 15. The pick prior, the Vikings, another QB needy team, traded out of that spot with the Jets, presumably because they had eyes for Fields but not for Jones. Minnesota ended up selecting an athletic QB of its own later in the draft, grabbing Kellen Mond in the third round.
That left the Chargers at 13 as a potential trade partner, but by then, Fields was already off the board.
"I know there was a lot of questions about us doing something with a quarterback," Rivera told BMitch & Finlay. "But as we were weighing our options and going through that, JP, the biggest thing we were concerned about [was] missing the opportunity to fill several other needs."
"And if you look at what we did with our first few picks," he continued, "going a linebacker, going an offensive lineman, defensive back and wide receiver and tight end, we were able to fill some spots with guys that we believe are gonna be guys that have an opportunity to be here awhile. So we wanted to make sure we took advantage of the chance, and that was something we weighed and talked about and discussed all the way on up until we made picks."
As a result, Washington will roll with the four quarterbacks it had on its roster prior to the draft: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Taylor Heinicke, Kyle Allen and Steven Montez. And Rivera is comfortable with that decision.
"Ryan Fitzpatrick, if you go and look at his analytics, the last few years he's been one of the best quarterbacks," he said. "Statistically he's had the best three-year stretch in his career. I mean just putting up some positive numbers."
"We like what Taylor has done and brought to the table," he continued. "We like Kyle Allen. We thought Kyle was able to really help us grow a little bit. Unfortunately, he gets injured. But, we think those are guys who can compete.
"And then we're very intrigued still by Steven Montez, the young man who came out of Colorado a season ago and was on our [practice] squad all of last year. Never got an opportunity, so we don't know what we have in him as well. So are we comfortable? Very much so. And we'll see how things pan out as we go forward."
Outside of the quarterback position, Rivera says Washington still has four roster spots left address.
"We are looking at four more spots," he said. "We're gonna bring in some regular free agents, guys that are out on the street, work 'em out and decide on some things, too."
