Dallas Morning News football writer Rick Gosselin historically has one of the most accurate NFL mock draft track records of anyone in the business. On Wednesday, Gosselin came out with his 2011 NFL mock draft, and he has the Washington Redskins, in a major surprise, picking Christian Ponder of Florida State at No. 10.
Mike Shanahan is not going to enter a second season with Donovan McNabb, so the Redskins spent all day Wednesday trying to move up. Gabbert was the target. Failing there, they take the next best QB on the board.
Ponder is widely expected to be a second-round pick, so having him this high is a massive surprise to many. It is worth noting, though, that the Redskins are reportedly very high on Ponder, and we all know how much they need a quarterback.
The guess here is that Mike Shanahan would ideally like to trade down in the draft and pick Ponder later in the first round. However, if that cannot happen, don't rule out Shanahan making the unpopular pick. He's been known to do that before.