Watch NFL Draft Live Stream: Redskins in Need

WASHINGTON — This, ladies and gentlemen, is appointment television viewing for a lot of folks. It's the NFL draft, which begins 8 p.m. tonight (April 27) and ends Saturday. It's a particularly time of interest for those who happen to follow the Washington Redskins, who hold the No. 17 pick in the draft.

Wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon are gone via free agency. Quarterback Kirk Cousins will stick around under the franchise tag. He has until July 15 to agree to a long-term deal or likely bolt. So that's where the Redskins are following their 2016 season that was solid but not great, what with the team failing to make the playoffs in an uneven season.

Once the event starts, a live stream of the proceedings can be watched here on the ESPN App.

The league's 32 teams will draft for seven rounds, beginning Thursday at 8 p.m. Round 1 will take place Thursday night, Rounds 2-3 will be held on Friday, and Rounds 4-7 will wrap things up on Saturday.

Here's a look at the Redskins' thinking, per the Washington Post.

NFL.com draft analyst Chad Reuter has predicted the following top 5 picks:

1. Mitchel Trubisky, QB, University of North Carolina
2. Myles Garrett, DE, Texas A&M
3. Solomon Thomas, DE, Stanford
4. Leonard Fournette, RB, Louisiana State University
5. O.J. Howard, TE, University of Alabama

The projected first overall pick, University of North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, would go to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns also drafted a quarterback with the 22nd overall pick of the 2014 draft in Johnny Manziel, who, after a variety of struggles on and off the field, was cut by the Browns.

Reuter has defensive end Myles Garrett, out of Texas A&M, falling to number two overall, but this is a hotly contested prediction. Many believe the Browns will scoop up Garrett first and then fill their quarterback needs later with a trade of some kind. Like any year, trade rumors will abound throughout the entire draft process, much like when many became convinced that former Eagles coach Chip Kelly would manage to trade up for his former protege, Marcus Mariota, in 2015.

After Trubisky and Garrett, who are the consensus top two talents in the draft, things become murkier for the Chicago Bears at number three. Reuter sees them taking Stanford defensive end Solomon Thomas.

Image via Patch file