B+
Washington Commanders
The Commanders robbed the room for Fitzgerald. Final grade: B+.
by Lucas Manatos ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 5 steals
· 3 reaches
The Commanders spent the weekend waiting on one name, and it fell: Ryan Fitzgerald, the No. 111 name on the board, in the Round 7 slot. Good, not great, and the B+ says as much.
They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own. A whole weekend of picks and offensive lineman is somehow still a want. The Stackhouse reach is the anchor dragging on the value grade.
A competent weekend that does not make headlines and does not need to.
Pick-by-Pick
Tyler Warren at Round 2, Pick 29 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
The board fumbled TreVeyon Henderson all the way to the 97th pick, and they scooped it up. It fills a real need, too.
Smael Mondon Jr. in No. 138 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
Dorian Strong in the Round 5 slot is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Dont'e Thornton Jr. in slot 159 is the kind of reach that only looks good if he outplays it. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Nazir Stackhouse well ahead of where he belonged. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Taking Cam Skattebo in pick 203 is close to grand larceny; a running back that good had no business lasting this long. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Ryan Fitzgerald at the 236th overall pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. They added to a strength when a need was still open elsewhere.