A-
Washington Commanders
The Commanders worked the phones like thieves and earned a A-.
by mwilliams ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 17 picks
· 2 steals
· 8 reaches
If confidence were a draft strategy, the Commanders would have aced it. Javon Solomon at the Round 3 slot is 36 spots clear of where he belonged. They executed a plan and it shows in the A-.
The dealing alone would carry a lesser class. A whole weekend of picks and quarterback is somehow still a want. With quarterback unsolved, spending premium capital on OLB-EDGE is the choice that costs them.
Whatever else happened, they won the night they took Wilson.
A strong weekend's work, and a rare one to find this little fault with.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get an anchor for the offensive line at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
A straight-up fair deal on Chop Robinson at pick 36, value and slot in agreement. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
They jumped the gun on Patrick Paul, taking him earlier than his grade liked. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They reached a country mile for T'Vondre Sweat at pick No. 40, and the board is aghast. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Cooper Beebe in No. 47, miles early. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Javon Solomon adds an OLB-EDGE and leaves quarterback untouched.
Roman Wilson in slot 101 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Tommy Eichenberg in pick 102 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
No drama and no debate, Khyree Jackson went about where he belonged in the 103rd pick. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They took DJ James at par in the Round 4 slot, which is nothing to complain about. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A clean, defensible pick in pick No. 138 with a little surplus value in James Williams. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
They paid sticker price for Ben Sinnott in No. 139, and that is fine. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A conviction pick on Braelon Allen at Round 5, Pick 5 that the board grades a round light. It fills a real need, too.
A wild overpay on AJ Barner in the 165th overall pick, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Jaylan Ford in pick 181 lands just on the right side of the ledger. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Jared Wiley at the 220th pick is the proof. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A reach on Matthew Jones in No. 227; the board had better options right there. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.