C+
Washington Commanders
The Commanders lost the trade table, and the C+ tells the story.
by bshea ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 3 steals
· 2 reaches
The phones were a trap the Commanders kept walking into, shipping out surplus on nearly every deal. The final tally is a middling C+.
A whole weekend of picks and tight end is somehow still a want. If Williams pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about.
Not a disaster, not a triumph, just a middling class.
Pick-by-Pick
Dallas Turner at the 22nd overall pick is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It fills a real need, too.
Troy Franklin slipping to pick No. 36 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Tyler Guyton at the 40th pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Graham Barton at pick 50 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A tidy little value on Patrick Paul in the Round 2 slot, a step better than break-even. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
By-the-book stuff, Junior Colson at Round 3, Pick 3 squarely in line with his ranking. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Cooper Beebe. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
James Williams in slot 119 is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
They paid sticker price for Cedric Gray in pick No. 138, and that is fine. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
The board had LaDarius Henderson higher than the 181st pick, and the offensive lineman fell to them anyway. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They paid up for Sam Hartman at No. 220 when waiting would have done the job. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.