Washington adds Gabe Wright and Najee Toran

Late this afternoon, Washington added a couple of additional players to its 90-man roster.

Neither Wright nor Toran have made much of an impact in the NFL thus far

Gabe Wright

Wright was a defensive tackle out of Auburn, taken in the 4th round of the 2015 draft by the Detroit Lions. An excerpt from his scouting report can be found below:

Strengths

Pass rush is the name of the game with Wright. He’s one of the best pure interior rushers in this year’s draft. And yes, the thought that six sacks makes him that seems counter-intuitive to most, but disruption is production in today’s NFL. He has 27 hurries to go with those sacks during his career.

He also makes plays behind the line against the run game by knifing through offensive lines and making plays in the backfield. He has a tendency to align right in the perfect spot on nickel formations to eat double teams to allow his linebackers or ends to face one-on-ones more often.

Weaknesses

Wright isn’t a great run defender and tries to penetrate the offensive line more than playing his standard fits. It causes him to get washed out of plays too often when he’s asked to play two gaps. The Falcons would likely have to put him on the one-gap side of the defense.

As a pass-rusher, he creates a ton of pressure using his initial burst, but he really has to develop some more pass-rushing moves. This is more of a spot of improvement than a true weakness. Wright is also very role specific as he should play a 3-technique or 1-technique where he attacks gaps all day.

Since being drafted, Wright has played for the Browns, Eagles, Dolphins, Raiders, Jaguars, and the Houston Roughnecks of the XFL. While at one time, Wright appeared to have a promising NFL career ahead of him, it will be interesting to see what the team sees in him after having languished for several years.

Najee Toran

Toran started his collegiate career at UCLA as a defensive lineman and was converted to the offensive line in his second season. He was picked up by the 49ers as an undrafted free agent after the 2018 draft. From his scouting report:

Strengths

There isn’t a lot on Toran, as far as scouting info. But we can gauge the overall effectiveness of UCLA’s offensive line a year ago. Football Outsiders showed the Bruins’ O-line pretty effective in adjusted sack rate (149.5 — 20th best of ranked schools) last season, and it seems as if Toran was equally solid in pass protection guarding quarterback Josh Rosen.

Looking at Toran’s frame, it’s likely he projects as an interior lineman. Mike Regalado of Go Joe Bruin suggested Toran could develop into a center, where the Niners don’t quite have as much depth behind presumed starter, Weston Richburg.

If Toran can capitalize on his apparent above-average pass-protection skills, there might be an effort to work him in on San Francisco’s second-team unit this preseason.

Weaknesses

Toran’s run-blocking abilities are suspect, which will hurt his chances. Same goes with his 5.40 40-yard time he ran at his pro day. Offensive linemen typically want to be between 5.0 and 5.25 in this category, and head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense calls for faster, more nimble linemen to operate in his outside-zone scheme.

It doesn’t appear as if Toran would excel in this kind of work, particularly in run support, which will ultimately hurt his chances.

Toran opted out of the 2020 season, and was cut by the Patriots in May of 2021.