D
Washington Commanders
The Commanders lost the trade table, and the D tells the story.
by Ccbm21 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 6 steals
· 7 reaches
You can hear the double-takes from here. The Commanders took Sean Martin at pick No. 242, roughly 126 spots before his name belonged. The process wobbled, and the D is where it lands.
That is a running back worth more than the slot they spent on him, plainly. Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere.
The quarterback hole is the one line item this class does not answer. The Commanders paired the rookies with proven help, DJ Moore leading the way.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even, and quarterback is still a hole.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 21 they get a cornerstone up front. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
A reach for Tyler Warren in the Round 2 slot; a little patience would have been rewarded. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Smael Mondon Jr. in the 80th pick, plain and simple. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Shemar Turner at the 93rd overall pick is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Omarion Hampton at pick 97 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They will replay Tez Johnson at Round 4, Pick 6 for years; that is how good the value is. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
The board had cheaper options than Zy Alexander at Round 4, Pick 20, and it noticed. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Harold Perkins Jr. in pick No. 147 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
By-the-book stuff, Cobee Bryant at pick 164 squarely in line with his ranking. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Tahj Brooks in the 198th pick is a gift, value that borders on unfair. A need, and now a little less of one.
Thor Griffith at No. 230 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Jamaree Caldwell at slot 235 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A safety of that caliber at the 239th overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
They talked themselves into Sean Martin at the Round 7 slot, and the board did not agree. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They reached a country mile for Tim Smith at the 245th pick, and the board is aghast. The roster fit checks out.