The Redskins announced a pair of signings this morning. Lache Seastrunk's signing was previously reported, but 3rd Round pick Spencer Long's deal is new. Long was selected with the 3rd Round pick the Redskins received from the Cowboys after trading down in the 2nd Round. He claims to be fully recovered from an MCL/PCL injury that ended his season at Nebraska early last season. Long is expected to compete with Chris Chester and a number of backups for the starting job at Right Guard. There is also speculation that Long could play Center for the Redskins, but that is not the current plan according to John Keim.
There is a chance that Long becomes a solid player for the Redskins. One scout called Long a potential longtime starter at center (though the Redskins, for now, view him as a guard). The scout considers him a smart, tough player with good size, so perhaps he works out well — and might ultimately end up being a steal. However, Long is coming off an ACL tear. It’s always hard to say a team could have waited and still gotten their man with the next pick, but in this case, that could be true. This is more of a pick for 2015 and beyond than anything else, so there is a definite benefit to selecting him. But if he doesn’t pan out, the perception will be that they reached in the third round for a guy who had been hurt.
Long told the media shortly after his selection that he is currently recovering from injuries to his left MCL and PCL, but Allen said the team was encouraged by his progress and his workouts. "What helped most was his pro day," Allen said. "He was healthy enough to conduct a pro day and not everybody was able to go to it around the league and what we saw in him, was he was back physically for him injury, because the tape that you had seen before, you saw a tenacious, tough [player]. We like what we saw on tape and once the doctors and the medical people cleared him and you saw him moving around during his pro day, we felt very comfortable."
PHOTO: G Spencer Long (3rd-round pick) and RB Lache Seastrunk (6th-round pick) sign their contacts at #Redskins Park. pic.twitter.com/SuhpgmsaFF
— Washington Redskins (@Redskins) May 16, 2014
As 78th overall pick, Long's deal will be similar to the 4-yr, $2.85M contract w $598,876 Marquise Goodwin got from Bills last yr.
— Mike Jones (@MikeJonesWaPo) May 16, 2014
[UPDATE]
The Redskins announced 6 draft picks are under contract.
The #Redskins have announced the signing of six of their eight 2014 #NFLDraft picks: http://t.co/g75isvSREc #HTTR
— Washington Redskins (@Redskins) May 16, 2014
Now the #Redskins announce more signings: Grant, Breeland, Bolser. Only two left to sign: Moses and Murphy, their top two selections.
— John Keim (@john_keim) May 16, 2014