The one hole that towered over the rest is filled. The Commanders spent their marquee pick on Bo Nix, and for the first time in a while there is a real answer at quarterback. The sum of the weekend is a deserved A-.
If Rosengarten pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about. They won the margins on every swap, and it adds up fast. Whatever else happened, they won the night they took Dixon.
The Gray pick reads as want over need, and the roster will feel it at running back and interior defensive lineman. For all the activity, running back went untouched, which is hard to explain.
In short, they turned a good board into a better roster, and it shows.
Pick-by-Pick
R1.18
· Pick 18
· Bo Nix
· QB
· rank 30
In the Round 1 slot they get their quarterback of the future, reach and all. A clean fit for the roster.
R2.4
· Pick 36
· JC Latham
· OT
· rank 15
Somehow JC Latham was still sitting there in No. 36, and they pounced on premier offensive lineman value. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
R2.8
· Pick 40
· Ja'Tavion Sanders
· TE
· rank 36
Ja'Tavion Sanders in the 40th pick lands just on the right side of the ledger. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
R2.17
· Pick 49
· Chris Braswell
· LB-EDGE
· rank 44
Chris Braswell at pick No. 49 is a sensible buy, a touch better than market for the edge rusher. A need, and now a little less of one.
R3.3
· Pick 67
· Jeremiah Trotter Jr.
· LB
· rank 67
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. at the 67th overall pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A minor itch, scratched.
R3.14
· Pick 78
· Ja'Lynn Polk
· WR
· rank 73
A clean, defensible pick in Round 3, Pick 14 with a little surplus value in Ja'Lynn Polk. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
R3.34
· Pick 97
· Roger Rosengarten
· OT
· rank 135
Roger Rosengarten at pick 97 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
R3.37
· Pick 100
· Cedric Gray
· LB
· rank 113
The eyebrow-raiser of the weekend. They went linebacker with Cedric Gray while clear needs at running back and interior defensive lineman sat open.
R5.3
· Pick 139
· Sataoa Laumea
· OT
· rank 131
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Sataoa Laumea at No. 139. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
R5.16
· Pick 152
· Tommy Eichenberg
· LB
· rank 145
Tommy Eichenberg at slot 152 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
R7.2
· Pick 222
· Johnny Dixon
· CB
· rank 191
Johnny Dixon in pick No. 222 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
