A-
Washington Commanders
The Commanders fleeced the room on the phones and earned a A-.
by mwilliams ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 20 picks
· 4 steals
· 5 reaches
If confidence were a draft strategy, the Commanders would have aced it. Sam Hartman at pick No. 217 is 66 spots clear of where he belonged. Very little went wrong, and the A- is earned.
The trade ledger is the best part of the whole weekend. Whatever else happened, they won the night they took Jacobs.
In short, they turned a good board into a better roster, and it shows.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get a building block for the line. The biggest hole, addressed.
In the 27th pick they get a long-term starter on the line at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
A market-rate tight end, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Ja'Tavion Sanders. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
No edge and no loss on Chris Braswell in pick No. 40; it is a wash and a sensible one. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Nothing to complain about; Edgerrin Cooper went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Cooper Beebe in pick 67 is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Xavier Legette in the Round 3 slot is fair value, right on his grade. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They paid sticker price for Jaylen Wright in Round 3, Pick 15, and that is fine. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
DJ James at No. 90 is a sensible buy, a touch better than market for the cornerback. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Khyree Jackson slipping to pick No. 101 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Leonard Taylor III at the 103rd overall pick is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
They read the board right and Ray Davis was the payoff at slot 118. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Theo Johnson at pick 138 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Jared Wiley at the 177th pick is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Kamal Hadden in pick No. 181 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They paid a round early for Drake Nugent in No. 188, more than the board wanted. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Sam Hartman. It fills a real need, too.
Curtis Jacobs at slot 220 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
They paid up for Logan Lee at the 232nd pick when waiting would have done the job. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
A straight-up fair deal on Trey Knox at the Round 7 slot, value and slot in agreement. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.