Redskins Are Pursuing C. Johnson

If they don't get Johnson, the Redskins might try to trade down in the first round if the top players they have targeted are off the board when they pick. Cerrato acknowledged he has spoken with many teams about trading down, but "whether it happens or not, you just don't know right now," he said. "There has been a lot of interest from teams to move up, but everybody is interested on Monday. Come Saturday, we'll see. It's just hard to say. It all depends on who's there and what they offer you."

While the Redskins continue to monitor the situation in Cincinnati, they have focused their draft efforts on Oklahoma wide receiver Malcolm Kelly and Clemson defensive end Phillip Merling, team sources said. Listed at 6-4, 224 pounds, Kelly fits the size requirements of a big wide receiver. The Redskins brought him in for a visit recently, traveled to Oklahoma to attend one of his workouts and are expected to evaluate him at another private workout tomorrow in Oklahoma.

Kelly, who declared for the draft after his junior season, is second on the Sooners' all-time list with 2,285 receiving yards and fifth with 144 receptions. With 21 career touchdown receptions, Kelly is tied for seventh in Big 12 Conference history.

At an April 9 workout for NFL scouts on the Oklahoma campus, Kelly had a disappointing performance in the 40-yard dash. And after being clocked at 4.68 seconds, Kelly raised eyebrows in making critical comments about the surface he ran on and how Oklahoma's staff conducted the workout.

Kelly, who said he had 40-yard dash times of 4.5 seconds and 4.47 seconds in another workout earlier this month, ran for scouts again last week at Oklahoma City and posted times of 4.69 seconds and 4.63 seconds, according to a release from Oklahoma's media relations department.

As for Kelly's comments after the workout, "that's not the type of person he is," Kelly's agent, Chad Speck, said last week. "He never had that type of reputation. It's not something that happened in the past and it's not something that will happen again. He was just frustrated. He would be the first person to tell you he didn't handle that as maturely as he should have."

The Redskins have dropped many players from their internal draft board because of character questions, Cerrato said. "You evaluate every piece of the puzzle," he said, not commenting specifically on Kelly. "All pieces of the puzzle, you put it all together, and evaluate it as a whole. You don't evaluate it individually. You put it all together and look at the whole body of work."

As for Merling (6-5, 280), Washington's attention has turned from defensive tackle -- which defensive coordinator Greg Blache considered to be a strong position of need -- to defensive end in recent days, in part because of factors beyond the team's control. There will be a huge drop-off after the top four defensive tackles are selected in the top 10 picks, scouts said, and it would be a stretch to take one in the top two rounds where the Redskins pick. Washington, however, likely will consider selecting Arkansas standout Marcus Harrison (6-3, 317) in the third round if he's still on the board.

Merling rates higher than Miami defensive end Calais Campbell (6-8, 280) at this point with the Redskins, sources said, but things could change after the final workouts this week. Merling slid down some boards after requiring sports hernia surgery. As with Kelly, however, Merling is a junior with a big upside, scouts said.

"He's working out on Thursday," Cerrato said of Merling. "We'll get a chance to evaluate him."