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Montez Sweat falls to Redskins after misdiagnosis

Montez Sweat's roller-coaster draft process ended in the first round on Thursday night.

The Mississippi State edge rusher was drafted by the Washington Redskins with the 26th overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Washington traded a 2019 second-round pick (No. 46) and a 2020 second-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts to hop back into the first round to pick Sweat.

Sweat's draft stock took a hit in March when it was reported that he had a heart condition. At least four teams had reportedly taken the pass rusher of their boards.

However, on the morning of the draft, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported that Sweat recently met with Houston Texans team doctor Dr. James Muntz and was told he had been misdiagnosed with that heart condition in February while at the scouting combine.

Tests taken at the combine revealed Sweat might have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which results in thickening of the heart walls, as doctors in Indianapolis measured nearly two centimeters of thickness, according to Rapoport. Sweat has since met with several experts, who concluded that doctors at the combine accidentally included capillary muscle in their testing and that Sweat's actual measurement is about 1.5 centimeters, Rapoport added.

The Mississippi State pass rusher vaulted into the top half of the first round for many after a dominant display at the Senior Bowl followed by an electric 4.41 40-yard dash at the combine.

Sweat, who was considered No. 12 on NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah's board, will join a Redskins front seven already stacked with SEC talent: Jonathan Allen, Da'Ron Payne, Ryan Anderson and Reuben Foster, to name a few.

It's a good thing that D.C. traded back into the first round. The Oakland Raiders were reportedly expected to pick Sweat if he had fallen to No. 27, Rapoport added. Instead, they chose his Mississippi State teammate, safety Johnathan Abram.

Sweat was the second player taken by Washington on Thursday night. The Redskins waited for Ohio State QB Dwayne Haskins to fall to them at No. 15 earlier in the proceedings.

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