C+
Washington Commanders
The Commanders got the worse of every deal, and it shows in the C+.
by The Top Cat ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 17 picks
· 9 steals
· 3 reaches
Every swap seemed to tilt away from the Commanders, and the value they bled adds up to real damage.
Ramsey falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. The Zuhn III reach is the anchor dragging on the value grade. Leaving edge rusher unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall.
The Ramsey pick is fine in a vacuum, less so with edge rusher still on the board.
Not a disaster, not a triumph, just a middling class.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 26th overall pick they get a coverage-and-run second-level piece at fair value. More want than need.
They read the board right and Lee Hunter was the payoff at Round 2, Pick 25. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and A.J. Haulcy at pick No. 60 is the proof. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Jake Slaughter is a better player than slot 65 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
The eyebrow-raiser of the weekend. They went safety with Kamari Ramsey while clear needs at edge rusher sat open.
No edge and no loss on Emmett Johnson in the 104th pick; it is a wash and a sensible one. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They paid sticker price for Tacario Davis in the Round 4 slot, and that is fine. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing De'Zhaun Stribling in No. 123. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Billy Schrauth in the Round 4 slot is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Joe Royer at pick 129 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They paid up for Nate Boerkircher at the 147th pick when waiting would have done the job. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Aaron Anderson in the 183rd overall pick is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Domani Jackson at Round 6, Pick 6 is money in the bank, a cornerback taken below his worth. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They let Eric McAlister come to them and pounced at slot 206. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
A slide stopped in pick No. 209, with Cole Payton worth more than the price. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Trey Zuhn III. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A real head-scratcher, Bryce Foster in the Round 7 slot is miles ahead of his ranking. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.