Post Draft Commanders Thoughts

Draft season is over. The Commanders came out of the weekend with five new players. All the dream classes you thought up are now and forever gone. The mid-round sleepers you picked out from online research are (most likely) on different teams. Maybe Washington can snag them in a year or two or three. Who knows what will happen.

But now that the dust has settled, it is time to take a look at what Washington did do. I'll compare my pre-draft thoughts to what Washington did.

1) Trade Down: Well, this didn't happen. I think everyone expected/wanted the Commanders to trade back to acquire more picks in this draft, and Adam Peters said prior to the draft that he was open to anything. But it takes two to tango, and apparently there were not two willing parties to make a deal happen. The curveball, however, is that it was Washington that didn't want to make a deal. After making the first two picks, Peters told the media he didn't want to trade and risk missing out on Josh Conerly and Trey Amos. Peters made some good trades on draft day last year, so it's a bit disappointing he didn't wheel and deal this year, but if we're gonna let Adam cook, then we need to trust him and the front office when they see talented players that they just have to take.

2) Don't trade down too far: No trades, so not much to discuss here. But I do want to point out that KC and Philly swapped picks, which was something I was pushing for Washington to do.

3) Skew towards defense: This also turned out differently than my pre-draft thoughts. But I'm not super worried about it. Basically,  they went RB in Round 7 instead of taking a flyer on a defensive player. 

4) Donovan Ezeiruaku: This was the guy I wanted with their first pick. Obviously, Peters and company graded Conerly higher. I'm not going to argue with the front office, but we are going to see how this choice turns out because Dallas picked Eziruaku in round 2. That's a great situation for him as he will likely get to see a lot of one on one matchups opposite Micah Parsons. Tunsil and Conerly vs. Parsons and Ezeirauku will be a fun matchup over the next two seasons (or more).

5) Speed, baby: One of the traits I wanted the Commanders to target was speed, and, boy, they sure did. Look at the forty times for their last four draft picks. Trey Amos: 4.43; Jaylin Lane: 4.34; Kain Medrano: 4.46; Jacory Croskey-Merrit: 4.45. That's good speed all around and among the tops at their position groups. And it's not like Conerly is slow, either. He ran a 5.05 with a 10-yard split of 1.70. So there are some good athletes in this group of players.

Overall, I like this draft class. Yes, there is still a pass rush concern, but I'm never going to argue against taking an OT who was an All-American. The Commanders feel like they got two guys with first-round grades in their first two picks, and based on where they were picking, that's pretty damn good.

And we have to consider that this draft class isn't just the five guys that were picked. The picks used to trade for Laramey Tunsil, Marshon Lattimore, and Deebo Samuel means you have to include them as part of the draft evaluation in some way. Look, the Commanders added a lot of talent, we just have to wait and see how it all plays out.