5 reasons why sky’s the limit for Redskins receiver Skye Dawson

For Skye Dawson to make the Redskins as a UDFA, he will have to be a giant killer.  Specifically, that giant is Dez Briscoe.  Apparently he's off to a great camp turning heads with his catches and turning D-Hall's ankle trying to cover him.

Here's the case for why he could make the final 52.

1) Slight of hand

He has GREAT hands.  Besides the reports of dropped jaws at camp, see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB_liLJRH2U (Preview)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU6KiJ4Bq2g (Preview)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfWcULoORj0 (Preview)

https://vine.co/v/hq1U6d2AiUb (Preview)

The only person on the entire team that may have better hands is Jordan Reed.  Every other wide receiver and tight end on the Redskins has struggled with drops at some point or is struggling.  The Steelers game last year was like watching the Steelers play football and the Redskins play hot potato.

3rd down conversions were a huge issue last year.  Whenever converting 3rd downs is an issue, unreliable hands are often a subset of that problem.

2) Special teams

New special teams coach Burns had a lot of success with a speedster returner on the Broncos in Trinton Holliday.  Expect him to copy his formula with the Redskins.  I expect to see Aldrick Robinson, Chris Thompson or Skye Dawson returning kickoffs.

Shanahan said Skye Dawson has brought speed and quickness to the #Redskins' camp. That's Skye Dawson, not @SkyKerstein.

— Zac Boyer (@ZacBoyer) July 30, 2013

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3) The WR situation

Lance Lewis is a big guy and is really close to Dez Briscoe in skill set and size.  They could stash Lewis on the practice squad as insurance for injury and let Briscoe go.  

Also note that Moss is near the end of his career and Dawson is like a Moss copycat if he can get his route running down.

4) The Patriots

The Patriots are in a mess with their WR and TE situation.  Expect them to scour the country to see who is hot and poaching some practice squads.  The case against putting Dawson on the practice squad is that if he really shines in pre-season games, he may not last on the practice squad.

5) Tavon Austin envy/Rams jab

Tavon Austin is a better football player and is a tad bigger than Skye Dawson.  His stops and starts and wiggle are just incredible.  However, Skye is almost as fast as Austin and Skye has more reliable hands.  Skye has a better vertical jump (of course, with a name like Skye) and a small edge on his 10 yard dash time.  Skye has 4.3 40 yard dash times and has track records at his school.   The NFL is a copycat league and the Redskins could copy the Rams if they use Austin effectively.

Skye Dawson was one of two players in the Big 12 to rank in the top five in the conference in both punt returns (9.4 average) and kickoff returns (23.1 average).  Who was the other player?  Tavon Austin.

The Rams took Tavon with their first round pick (traded up to 8^th overall) and not their first round pick they got from the Redskins.  Nonetheless, given their gloating about all the first round picks they got from the RG3 trade and how sleazy they were when they played the Redskins taking full advantage of the replacement refs, it would be quite the jab for the Redskins to put the undrafted Dawson on the roster and have him turn out to be comparable to first-rounder Tavon Austin.

5.5) He's from a small town in Texas.  Redskins have been striking gold in Cowboy country recently (RG3, Aldrick Robinson, etc).

In any case, keep your eyes out for Dawson this preseason.  He could be the real steal of the Draft.

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