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Redskins owner Daniel Snyder (pictured) has recently held conversations with Chargers GM A.J. Smith.
The Washington Redskins have inquired about obtaining the top pick in next weekend's NFL Draft, San Diego Chargers general manager A.J. Smith said Friday.
Smith said he received a call Wednesday from Redskins owner Dan Snyder. "I spoke with Mr. Snyder and it was a football discussion," Smith said, declining to divulge specifics.
"I don't know whether Dan is the GM/owner like Jerry Jones in Dallas, but he's heavily involved," Smith said.
According to recent reports, the Redskins are interested in trading the No. 5 pick and tackle Chris Samuels for the right to move up and select Iowa tackle Robert Gallery. The Redskins have been frustrated in their attempts to restructure Samuels' contract.
The Redskins were surprised when they heard of Smith's comments.
"That's not the context in which Snyder called," Redskins spokesman Karl Swanson said. "Clearly San Diego is trying to use the Redskins as they've used the New York Giants, to generate interest in a trade. Everyone throws us into the mix because we're so active, but we're not interested in trading up to No. 1."
Said director of player personnel Vinny Cerrato: "We have no ammunition to trade. There's nobody we would want to get at No. 1. We're content at No. 5 or moving down."
Last week, New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi called expressing an interest in trading up from No. 4 to get the top pick. The Giants are known to covet Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning, the top-rated player in the draft.
The Chargers, an NFL-worst 4-12 last year, have the top pick for the second time in four seasons.
Smith had said earlier in the year that the Chargers would begin calling agents for the top three players 10 days before the draft to begin discussing contract parameters. Now, he said, those calls won't be made until the middle of next week because the scouting staff is behind in evaluating and ranking players.
Asked if the delay in contacting agents was a sign the Chargers were planning to trade out of the top pick, Smith said: "Don't read anything into it."
Manning's agent, Tom Condon, said he hadn't heard from the Chargers.
"I know they have a lot of different options," Condon said.
Condon also represents Manning's older brother, Peyton, who was taken by the Indianapolis Colts with the first pick in the 1998 draft. Condon said the Colts didn't decide until the night before that draft that they would take Manning, leaving the Chargers to take Ryan Leaf.
Leaf cost the Chargers an $11.25 million signing bonus and turned out to be one of the biggest busts in NFL history.
While quarterback and a tackle are high on the Chargers' list, they have several other desperate needs. Trading down would allow them to stockpile picks and possibly players as well as avoid paying a hefty signing bonus that a top pick would command.
Four years ago, the Chargers traded the draft's top pick in the draft to Atlanta for the fifth pick, receiver-returner Tim Dwight and additional picks. The Falcons took Michael Vick and the Chargers got LaDainian Tomlinson. San Diego is 17-31 since that trade.
Source: AP