B+
Washington Commanders
The Commanders won the weekend at the trade table. Grade: B+.
by Maddmax ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 6 steals
· 1 reaches
Give the war room a raise for the dealing alone. The Commanders came out ahead on every exchange that mattered, and it was not close. A sturdy weekend that grades out a B+.
The Wright pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged. Every board in the league had Muhammad lower, and that gap is the story. That edge rusher hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 11 they get a difference-maker at receiver. Exactly the need they had to hit.
Value with a capital V on Dillon Thieneman in Round 2, Pick 17, a genuine coup. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Malik Muhammad at the Round 3 slot is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Connor Lew in pick No. 97. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Hezekiah Masses is a better player than slot 151 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Good price on Beau Stephens in No. 163, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They robbed the room for Cyrus Allen here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A top-tier tight end at a bargain, Dae'Quan Wright in the 209th overall pick, plain and simple. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They paid sticker price for Noah Whittington in the 223rd pick, and that is fine. A need, and now a little less of one.
You do not let a cornerback like Thaddeus Dixon reach the Round 7 slot and blink. They did not. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.