B+
Washington Commanders
A masterclass at the trade table lands the Commanders a B+.
by Buck ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 3 steals
· 0 reaches
If you want a masterclass in dealing, watch the Commanders, who turned every swap into a profit this weekend.
They covered a lot of ground and still skipped cornerback, which is a strange place to end up. The Bertrand pick alone nudges the whole weekend up a notch.
The Sauce Gardner deal gives the class an established piece to lean on. Wide receiver is handled and the depth chart looks a good deal healthier for it.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
They paid sticker price for Rome Odunze in the Round 1 slot, and that is fine. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Tyler Guyton in pick 36 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A quiet steal in Round 2, Pick 8: Tyler Nubin for less than the market said. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
A slide stopped in pick No. 67, with Ja'Tavion Sanders worth more than the price. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
No edge and no loss on Matt Goncalves in No. 101; it is a wash and a sensible one. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Blake Fisher at the 103rd pick is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Nothing to complain about; Will Shipley went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. The roster fit checks out.
Curtis Jacobs at slot 181 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
A tidy bit of business in the Round 6 slot, where JD Bertrand graded well above the range. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.