A
Washington Commanders
Smith should have been long gone. The Commanders pounced, and earned a A.
by coreycheech ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 6 steals
· 0 reaches
Thirty-one other rooms let Ainias Smith slide, and the Commanders were the ones holding the card at Round 6, Pick 45. Highway robbery. Just about everything broke right, and the A follows.
The dealing alone would carry a lesser class. The quarterback hole is the one line item this class does not answer. The Commanders clearly valued win-now help, adding bodies who have done it before.
Job largely done: wide receiver settled and 5 of 8 of the wish list covered.
Add it up and few war rooms did better this weekend, Brock Bowers and all.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 7 they get a mismatch in the passing game. The biggest hole, addressed.
They let Brandon Dorlus come to them and pounced at the Round 2 slot. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Fair-plus on Chris Braswell, a quiet win that adds up over a draft. The roster fit checks out.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Jack Nelson. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A clean, defensible pick in the 151st overall pick with a little surplus value in Ty'Ron Hopper. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Malachi Moore at pick 166 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
A top-tier cornerback at a bargain, BJ Mayes in Round 6, Pick 10, plain and simple. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Ainias Smith at slot 220 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.
They barely believed it either: Isaiah Adams still on the board at pick 228. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They robbed the room for Mario Williams here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They took Xavier Truss at par in the 250th pick, which is nothing to complain about. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.