C
Washington Commanders
The Commanders let Stukes fall and pounced. Final grade: C.
by skojec22 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 7 steals
· 2 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: Treydan Stukes, Round 4, Pick 12, roughly 38 picks past where he belonged.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped edge rusher, which is a strange place to end up.
Reaching for Wright left real value on the table behind him. It is a bet on later, and a defensible one for a team playing the long game.
So much rides on Jake Slaughter that the real verdict is a season or two away.
Pick-by-Pick
They will replay Jake Slaughter at Round 3, Pick 28 for years; that is how good the value is. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Somehow Elijah Sarratt was still sitting there in slot 95, and they pounced on premier wide receiver value. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The board fumbled Treydan Stukes all the way to the 112th pick, and they scooped it up. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Fair-plus on Charles Demmings, a quiet win that adds up over a draft. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They reached a country mile for Dae'Quan Wright at pick No. 171, and the board is aghast. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They let Bryce Boettcher come to them and pounced at the Round 6 slot. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, VJ Payne at pick 211. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
Dallen Bentley at No. 215 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
You do not let a wide receiver like Kendrick Law reach pick 223 and blink. They did not. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A conviction pick on Alan Herron at pick No. 247 that the board grades a round light. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.