While the Washington Redskins’ fanbase was elated by the selection of Chase Young with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, many were also extremely excited to add RB Antonio Gibson in the third round at No. 66. As a young and versatile back who can play both RB and WR, a comparison to Carolina’s Christian McCaffery has been prolific in these past few weeks.
One anonymous NFL Scout, though, wasn’t a huge fan of the pick. When talking to The Athletic‘s Ben Standig, he admits that his team had a later grade on him, and he was a bit surprised with the Day 2 selection.
I was not impressed with him as a wide receiver. He played tailback mostly late in the year. I know he ran below a 4.4 40-time at the combine (4.39), but I didn’t ever think that speed showed up on tape. For us, we were talking about him in the back-half of the fourth. For me, it was very rich in the third round for what we viewed as a franchise. He’ll be a tailback. That’s going to be obviously where his future is. And if he’s a second or third tailback, change-of-pace guy that can return kicks for you, he’s going to have some value there. He’ll be a coverage player on special teams unit, but I don’t ever see him being a No. 1 tailback and maybe a player with no position. Hopefully, Derrius (Guice) can be healthy because (Gibson) would be a good complement to him, but the third round was pretty rich for me.
The pick may have been surprising to a lot of fans when it was announced as well, due to the Redskins need for a TE, CB or WR. However, as the draft went on, it became clear that Ron Rivera and Kyle Smith had a plan to draft who they thought was the best player on the board at the time, and think about need later down the road. If you have trust in those two guys, then you can find a lot of trust and confidence in this selection of Gibson. Not everyone may like it, but what matters is that the people who made the call to grab him in the third round are happy that they did so.
