Redskins Select a "Swiss-Army Knife"

The Washington Redskins tried to hit a home run in the third round of the NFL Draft in 2020, as they did in 2019 with Terry McLaurin.

Antonio Gibson, the Redskins latest hope and draft pick is already being compared to Christian McCaffrey by top Redskins executive, Kyle Smith. 

"He’s a little bit bigger than Christian, but he’s got a skillset like Christian." 

Smith is not saying Gibson will be McCaffrey but the two have some similar traits. 

McCaffrey was a first-round, top-ten pick four year ago. Gibson was largely flying under the radar until the Redskins selected him. 

Football people know how special and tantalizing his skillset is. 

.@Redskins took an amazing athlete in @AntonioGibson14

He is a RB/WR hybrid and needs to learn how to be a RB and it could take multiple yrs but has immediate ability in the kick return gm (avg 27.0 yds/return in CFB)

He reminds me of the versatility of @ceeflashpee84 pic.twitter.com/hW7SSy49k4

— Mike Tannenbaum (@RealTannenbaum) April 25, 2020

Clearly, the highlights, versatility and speed all jump out at you. 

For me, as I remarked to my partner Pete Medhurst on the radio Friday night - the thing that jumped out initially was his ability to run a 4.4 40-yard dash while still coming in at around 225 pounds. 

His size and frame is important. I loved Chris Thompson and how talented he was when he was healthy. The problem? He rarely was and his smallish frame and injury history at Florida State completely derailed his career. 

"He’s a return specialist, he’s got good hands, he’s 228 pounds, he runs fast, he plays fast, he’s got physicality to him,"  Smith said. 

Gibson jumped out to several members of the Redskins coaching staff at the Senior Bowl in Mobile in late January. In a year like this, that experience was even more crucial. 

The @seniorbowl just matched last year’s total of 40 total players drafted in the first three rounds. Rallied hard in the 3rd round with 26 picks! 🔥#TheDraftStartsInMOBILE

— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 25, 2020

The Redskins new offensive coordinator, Scott Turner, is getting his first full crack at calling plays and running a unit. You know that the Redskins weren't going to completely hang him out to dry without somebody new that has explosive ability. 

"Scott Turner really feels that this is a guy that can come in and be a very versatile player for us," Redskins Head Coach Ron Rivera said. "Plus, he has special teams value. He’s a very good fit, we believe, into what we do and how we want to do things.”

All of that is great. You can only hope that he's 50% of what McCaffrey is. If he was very close in talent to McCaffrey, he would not have been there for the Redskins at No. 66 overall. 

Let's just see what he can actually do on the football field first against much better, quicker and faster players than he  played against at Memphis. 

Antonio Gibson broke 33 tackles on 77 career touches at Memphis and ran a 4.39 at the combine. He could legitimately be the best RB in this class but we just didn't get to see him

— Mike Renner (@mikerenner_) April 25, 2020

Comparison's are nice but production is better. 

The Redskins probably would have been better served by just calling him a 'swiss army knife', which they did, rather than comparing him to McCaffrey. 

It puts a bullseye on the back of someone who is going to need some time to develop as an all-around weapon. 

Before he's truly even comparable to McCaffrey who might just the most explosive running back in the NFL. 

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Chris Russell is the Publisher of RedskinsReport.com & Sports Illustrated's Washington Redskins channel. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Redskins" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621.